Extract from a presentation by Dr Wayne Visser at the Korea Social Responsibility Institute (KOSRI) 2013 conference in Seoul.
Are You Fit for the Future? – Part 2 of 8 (5-S Framework)
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Future Fit: Part 2 (Video)
Finding your inner sustainability superhero
Finding your inner sustainability superhero
Article by Wayne Visser
Part of the Unlocking Change series for The Guardian.
For change to be sustained and transformational we need to tap into the powers of different types of sustainability superheroes.
Have you ever wondered why do we do it? The sustainability hokey cokey, I mean. Most of us – whether we are sustainability professionals, academics, consultants, students, activists or wannabes – could have pursued different career paths. For my sins, having studied marketing, I could have become a spin-doctor or an ad-man. So what makes us choose sustainability instead? What makes us tattoo the S-word to our foreheads (metaphorically speaking, I hope)?
My research shows that there are deep psychological – even existential – reasons why we ‘do’ sustainability. And you may be surprised to know that it is not because we want to save the world, or because we care about people, or even because we want to ‘make a difference’. At least, not directly. The real reason is because it gives us personal satisfaction – not of the sugar-rush or warm-cuddly variety, but of the purpose-inspired, life satisfaction kind.
If we dig a bit deeper, we find that six motivational forces drive our work in sustainability. First, it allows us to feel that our work is aligned to our personal values, whether these are faith-based or humanistic. Second, we find the work stimulating. Sustainability a bit like Sudoku for hippies – it is complex, dynamic and challenging, like an ultimate earth-puzzle that needs solving. Most sustainability enthusiasts share these two drivers.
The other four drivers tend to be distributed across the sustainability tribe. Some find meaning in giving specialist input, while others prefer empowering people. Some are motivated to come up with effective strategies, while others feel most satisfied if they are making a contribution to society. These drivers translate into a set of sustainability leader archetypes – think of them as our very own Fantastic Four, namely: Experts, Facilitators, Catalysts and Activists. Each represents a different kind of sustainability change agent.
Sustainability Experts tend to be focused on the details of a particular issue, with a deep knowledge and understanding, often of a technical or scientific nature. They like working on projects, designing systems and being consulted for their expertise. Their satisfaction comes from continuous learning and self-development. They are most frustrated by the failure of others to be persuaded by the compelling evidence, or to implement systems as they were designed.
Sustainability Facilitators are most concerned with using their knowledge to empower others to act, using their strong people skills to make change happen. They like working with teams, delivering training and giving coaching. Their satisfaction is in seeing changes in people’s understanding, work or careers. They become frustrated when individuals let the team down, or when those in power do not allow enthusiastic groups to act.
Sustainability Catalysts enjoy the challenge of shifting an organisation in a new direction, using their political skills of persuasion to change strategies. They like working with leadership teams and articulating the business case for sustainability. They are often pragmatic visionaries and are frustrated when top management fails to see – and more importantly, to act on – the opportunities and risks facing the organisation.
Sustainability Activists are typically passionate about macro-level issues and their impacts on society or the planet as a whole, using their strong feelings about justice to motivate their actions. Their satisfaction comes from challenging the status quo, questioning those in power and articulating an idealistic vision of a better future. They tend to be great networkers and are mainly frustrated by the apathy of others in the face of urgent crises.
As you reflect on what type of sustainability superhero you may be, I expect all four will resonate to a greater or lesser extent. This is because we are composite beings when it comes to making sustainability change happen. But we do gravitate more strongly to one archetype, based on what gives us the deepest personal satisfaction. And there are three good reasons why you should know which cape and tights fits you best.
First, aligning with your inner superhero means embracing a mode of action in which you are most professionally effective and purpose-inspired. Second, it allows you to check that your formal role, or the direction of your career, is consistent with your archetype – the mask must fit the cape and tights. And third, it encourages you to consciously put together teams with a balance of Experts, Facilitators, Catalysts and Activists – the ideal earth-crime fighting force.
So it is not enough that all change begins with individuals. For change to be sustained and transformational – for sustainability to be a force for good in the world, and to save the earth from humans – we need the joint efforts of the Fantastic Four, each with their particular superpowers: knowledge for the Experts, collaboration for the Facilitators, imagination for the Catalysts, and compassion for the Activists. Will you join in the heroes’ crusade?
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[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/books/the-quest-for-sustainable-business”]Link[/button] The Quest for Sustainable Business (book)
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Visser, W. (2013) Finding your inner sustainability superhero. The Guardian, 21 October 2013.
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Unlock Change with Big Beliefs, Blue Skies, Burning Platforms and Baby Steps
Unlock change with big beliefs, blue skies, burning platforms and baby steps
Article by Wayne Visser
Part of the Unlocking Change series for The Guardian.
You’ll need a range of strategies to overcome the inevitable and much-underestimated resistance to sustainable organisational change. Here’s how to make it happen.
I know I’ve been banging on about “changing the world” in this series about unlocking change, but let’s be honest, for most of us, that is a bit like shooting for the stars. In practice, the moon we’re most likely to hit is changing our own organisations. Easy to say, hard to do. If there is one reason why organisational change fails, it’s because we underestimate resistance to change. As Hunter Lovins once told me, “Only a baby with a wet diaper wants changing, and even then, it cries throughout the process.”
Resistance to change comes from inertia – and inertia happens because, as Bob Doppelt, author of From Me to We, puts it, change is like an iceberg. It is futile to keep pushing against what is above the surface – the things we can see and control directly, such as rules, policies and procedures. Shifting the volume and weight of what lies below the surface – our habits, attitudes, beliefs and values – is the real secret to making change happen.
Unfortunately, this requires the intrinsic drivers of human behaviour to be rewired, which is what makes it so much more difficult. And yet, when we succeed, the scale and speed of change can be profound. Turning carpet company Interface into the first truly restorative business on the planet began with founder Ray Anderson’s “spear in the chest” revelation. Changing his worldview was the first step in changing his organisation.
Change was possible because Anderson was able to combine decades of experience as an industry leader with the fire-in-the-belly that came from his conversion to a new belief system. And, as with Steve Jobs, if a leader has true conviction, he or she can create a “reality distortion field” in which others get swept up in the cause.
Sadly, these missionary-type leaders with their big beliefs are about as common as Greenpeace activists serving on the management boards of oil companies. Most organisations have to rely on three other strategies to overcome inertia: burning platforms, blue skies and baby steps, which echo the elements of Gleicher’s formula for change.
Let’s start with baby steps, because this is usually the easiest strategy. Most organisations do not need much persuasion to commission a pilot facility, construct a demonstration project or develop a showcase product, especially with the giddy prospect of good PR-spin. In fact, sustainability reports are practically burping with all the “low-hanging fruit” that these companies have gorged themselves on.
The reason these baby steps for sustainability have never become giant leaps for humankind is because there is no real incentive to stride out. For that, we need the other two strategies, starting with blue skies. The fact is, as humans, we are always “chasing the blue”. But first we have to be convinced that where we are going is sunnier. Yet, for most people in most parts of the world – as crazy as it seems – we don’t believe that a sustainable future is necessarily a better future.
Veteran environmentalist Jonathan Porritt is hoping he can still change our minds. His new book, The Future We Made, sketches a vision of a what he calls a genuinely sustainable world in 2050 and why it is so much better than today. It’s a change management tactic that we could all learn from – the kind of thinking that inspired Elon Musk to invent Tesla Motors. Until then, nobody believed that electric cars could be not only green, but fast and cool too.
A blue skies strategy means being willing to take a risk as a leader, to set big hairy audacious goals. Whether it is Unilever’s plan to double in size, while reducing its environmental footprint and helping a billion people out of poverty, or Google’s ambition to make all the world’s knowledge free and accessible, blue-sky leaders know that we are only inspired by reaching for an impossible dream. That’s why we desperately need more Apollo-like sustainability missions that the public can get genuinely excited about.
The combination of big beliefs, baby steps and blue sky strategies will almost certainly get us moving forward, but if we want a pace to match the urgency of our global challenges, organisations need a burning platform. Someone else’s burning platform – HIV/Aids in South Africa, Amazon destruction in Brazil, or corruption in Russia – won’t do the trick. Impacts that are far away, or in the future, are like smouldering fires in the distance: noteworthy but not action-worthy. People need to feel the heat: directly, personally, here and now. For organisations and leaders, that might mean lighting a few fires.
In summary, if you’re trying to make change happen in your organisation, use burning platforms to create the urgency for change, blue skies to create the reasons to change, baby steps to create the momentum for change, and big beliefs to sustain the energy for change.
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[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/books/the-quest-for-sustainable-business”]Link[/button] The Quest for Sustainable Business (book)
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.csrinternational.org”]Link[/button] CSR International (website)
Cite this article
Visser, W. (2013) Unlock change with big beliefs, blue skies, burning platforms and baby steps. The Guardian, 14 October 2013.
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Systems Change Requires Multiple Agents and Dynamics
Systems change requires multiple agents and dynamics
Article by Wayne Visser
Part of the Unlocking Change series for The Guardian.
If Shakespeare was right that “all the world’s a stage”, then consider this cast of characters: Svante Arrhenius, Al Gore, Franny Armstrong, Inez Fung, Mercedes Bustamante and Colin Beavan. Now imagine the stage is set with a few props – the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and the Copenhagen Accord. Finally, weave in some plot twists, such as Hurricane Katrina, Chinese solar subsidies and Fukushima.
We now have all the ingredients for an intriguing play about climate change – or, to be more precise, a story about how whole systems change happens.
Let’s begin with the individuals. Each represents a different type of person that is needed for societal change to be effective. Svante Arrhenius, the Swedish scientist who discovered the greenhouse effect in 1896 and linked it to fossil fuels, is typical of what we might call a genius heretic, someone who changes our paradigm, the way we see the world.
Al Gore, former US vice president and star of An Inconvenient Truth, might be regarded as an iconic leader, someone who uses charisma to communicate ideas and persuade us to change. Franny Armstrong, on the other hand, with her documentaries like McLibel and The Age of Stupid, as well as her 10:10 climate campaign, is more like a freedom fighter.
So here we have three cast members and three different kinds of change agency – paradigmatic, charismatic and activist. Each individual is fairly high profile and offers the possibility of bringing about relatively rapid transformation, using ideas, persuasion and action. So how are next three individuals different?
Ines Fung is a professor of atmospheric science at the University of California, Berkley, who has been working on climate change ever since she won the MIT Rossby Award for outstanding thesis of the year in 1971. She is what we could call a systematic scientist, patiently and persistently studying how things fit together.
Mercedes Bustamante is a director in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in Brazil and coordinator lead author of the 5th IPCC Assessment report on mitigation. Her work is all about finding leverage points to change behaviour in society – and especially in agriculture and forestry – so that we can prevent dangerous climate change.
Colin Beavan is neither scientist nor politician. However, he does do experiments. He is most well known for No Impact Man, a documentary account of his attempt to live in New York City for one year with as close to zero environmental impact as possible.
Again, we have three individuals, all advocating different pathways to change – what I call Cartesian, Newtonian and Gandhian strategies. They are typically not high profile people and the process of change is much slower, but they form essential spokes in the wheel of systems change.
Now what of our props and plots? The IPCC also represents a relatively gradual change strategy, but operates at a collective level using the principle of consensus. The EU ETS uses a different mechanism, creating price signals as incentives for behaviour change.
Meanwhile, the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, while disappointing to many, may still turn out to be the tipping point when all the world’s major nations – including developed, emerging and developing countries – finally agreed that deep cuts in global emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic climate change.
These three types of change – consensual, incentivised and pivotal – are slow societal processes that help to build the momentum towards more dramatic change. Our final trio represents revolutionary change, with catastrophic events like Hurricane Katrina, combining with rapid growth trends like the way massive Chinese government subsidies have halved solar panel costs since 2010.
We also have butterfly effects, things we could not have predicted, such as Germany’s policy response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, putting it on a fast track to renewable energy. We can call these three types of change cataclysmic, exponential and chaotic.
So, taken together, what does it mean? By recognising the multiple agents and dynamics on the wheel of systems change, we start to see how shifts occur in society. At any one time, there needs to be activity in all four change triptychs – let’s call them invention, intention, evolution and revolution – as is happening with climate change.
We know the story of climate change is far from an end. If it were a three-act play, we’re undoubtedly still in act one. It is one of the issues that has caused the most disruptive change to society in recent decades and – as the recent IPCC 5th Assessment Report confirms – it will probably get worse before it gets better.
The bottom line is that we are gambling with our climate future, but we can still spread our bets. If we want real transformation in society – by choosing a plus two degree rather than a plus six degree world – our best chance is to keep spinning the wheel of systems change.
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[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/books/the-quest-for-sustainable-business”]Link[/button] The Quest for Sustainable Business (book)
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.csrinternational.org”]Link[/button] CSR International (website)
Cite this article
Visser, W. (2013) Systems change requires multiple agents and dynamics. The Guardian, 7 October 2013.
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The Sustainability Movement Faces Extinction – What Could Save It?
The sustainability movement faces extinction – what could save it?
Article by Wayne Visser
Part of the Unlocking Change series for The Guardian.
We all want to change the world, but where to begin? A good start would be getting as far away from sustainability as possible. If you are already in its clutches, don’t despair: it’s not too late to turn around, walk away and never look back. Forget you ever heard the s word and take a vow of silence never to speak it again. Once you’ve done that, you might consider joining a tech company (infotech, biotech, cleantech – it doesn’t matter which; they will all be indistinguishable soon). I’m betting that would be a good way to kickstart your world-changing mission.
I say this after 20 years as a professional in sustainability (capital S if you’re a devotee), which I’ve discovered to be many things, but certainly not an effective strategy for change – at least, not yet. The reason is fairly simple: the essential idea of sustainability – that we must endure, perpetuate, hold on to the past and drag it into the future – is about as exciting as watching lettuce wilt under the midday sun. As Michael Braungart, co-author of Cradle to Cradle, likes to say: “sustainability is boring”.
I imagine your expressions of shock and horror, but it’s true. Sustainability has won many battles – for best-new-jargon-inventor, for most-likely-to-make-you-feel-good – but has lost the war for the hearts and minds of the people. It has pinned its colours to the mast of scarcity and survival, when most of the world is far more interested in prosperity and thriving. I’d go so far as to say that the sustainability movement has failed to understand what it means to be human.
Let me explain. As human beings, our lives are all about change – about growth and development. At best, life is about making things better. Even as a civilisation, we’re all about evolution, although we prefer to call it progress. Now, as it happens, sustainability wonks believe that they are all about Progress with a capital P. Unfortunately, the rest of the world remains unconvinced.
Sustainability is like a geeky, pimply teenager who has come to our party, turned off the music and told us that we would really be much happier if we stopped having so much darn fun! The key to having a good time, declares our party-pooper, is to practice a lot more self-restraint. All those on board the austerity train, say “Hell, yeah!” … What, no one?
Make no mistake; if we are to survive (let alone thrive), the world is going to have to change – dramatically, radically and irreversibly. The question is: how will it happen? In this “unlocking change” series for the Guardian, I’ll be digging into the nature of change and what role we play in making it happen – in our societies, our organisations and as individuals. And when change does turn our lives upside-down (as it will), how can we become more resilient?
To begin, let me plant a seminal idea, which is that change is all about connection. In other words, connectivity is the underlying catalyst for change.
We are living proof of this. The first neurons in our brains, called predecessors, are in place 31 days after fertilisation. In the early stages of a foetus’s brain development, 250,000 neurons are added every minute, and, by the time a baby is born, there are about 100bn neurons, which remain roughly constant through life. Learning only happens when synapses are formed: they connect the neurons to each other. At birth, the number of synapses per neuron is about 2,500; by age two or three, it has risen to 15,000 and some neurons later develop up to 50,000 connections each.
Hence, the dramatic changes in the early years of a child’s life – all those remarkable feats of learning and development – are due to increasing connectivity, or, as scientists like to call it, complexity. And we see this same pattern at work in society. The first computer, Charles Babbage’s analytical machine of 1837, would have had the equivalent of 675 bytes of memory. By comparison, according to Cisco, between 1984 and 2012, the internet generated 1.2 zettabytes of data – that’s 1.2 with 20 zeros after it.
The point is that scaling the number of networked relationships is at the heart of almost all change, including biological and social evolution. My contention is that, if we wish to save the sustainability movement from an ironic fate of extinction, we will have to get much smarter about change: better at riding the waves of science and technology, better at becoming intelligently connected, and better at designing change efforts that align with evolutionary dynamics.
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[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/books/the-quest-for-sustainable-business”]Link[/button] The Quest for Sustainable Business (book)
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.csrinternational.org”]Link[/button] CSR International (website)
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Visser, W. (2013) The sustainability movement faces extinction – what could save it? The Guardian, 30 September 2013.
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Personal Reflections on Responsible Competitiveness
Personal reflections on responsible competitiveness
Article by Wayne Visser
The changing face of global competitiveness
A few years ago, I was invited to make a presentation on CSR in Brussels to the EU High Level Group (HLG), comprising 27 Member State representatives. The topic of my presentation was ‘CSR and the global financial crisis’, and it gave me a fantastic opportunity to talk with some of the people helping to shape the EU agenda. There were a number of trends that I found interesting.
The first was that, whereas formerly CSR was discussed purely as a voluntary activity by business (this was especially clear in the EU’s policy statement on CSR in 2006), there was now increasing discussion and even demand for what Susan Bird, CSR co-ordinator in the Directorate-General for Employment of the European Commission and part of the EU HLG on CSR, called ‘a more active role’, which may involve ‘conditions’ being introduced in the future, although this was all still up for debate.
A second insight was how the competitiveness agenda has changed. The first ten-year economic strategy of the European Union—the Lisbon Agenda, which ended in 2010—was all about competitiveness and paid very little attention to CSR issues. However, the 2008 European Competitiveness Report dedicated an entire chapter to CSR and countries such as Denmark were claiming that responsible, green growth was central to its international reputation and hence its competitiveness. This changing emphasis is also reflected in the new Lisbon Strategy for 2020, which has as its central goal ‘smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’.
Responsible competitiveness
One of the people who has done the most work on responsible competitiveness is Simon Zadek. In 2010, I had the pleasure of visiting him in the lakeside city of Geneva, when he was still CEO of AccountAbility. The purpose of my visit was to interview Zadekabout his book, The Civil Corporation. This formed part of a research project I was conducting for the University of Cambridge, which resulted in the publication of The Top 50 Sustainability Books.
Reflecting back on the book, which was published in 2001, and on what has changed since, Zadek pointed to the geopolitical shift towards Asia and Russia, the increasing influence of investment markets, the re-emergence of a strong state role and greater emphasis on partnerships and collaboration. I asked him what had prompted his more recent focus on responsible competitiveness. Zadek explained that it emerged largely as a response to the views of David Henderson, expressed in his book, Misguided Virtue: False Notions of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Henderson argued that corporate responsibility increased poverty, because it reduced market flexibility and added costs, whereas markets were the route to prosperity. ‘It was a rather caricatured view of everything’, claimed Zadek. ‘But the underlying point made came through to me, which was: what are the macroeconomic effects? We’ve all been concentrating on the micro side.’ Zadek began to realise that: ‘micro-level innovation would be halted if the national policy implications of advancing corporate responsibility at the micro-level would undermine national or regional competitiveness. So to understand the political economy of corporate responsibility or sustainability or citizenship required an understanding where national competitive strategies and the political dimensions of that ‘hit the road’ on this agenda.’
To illustrate what he meant, Zadek noted that: ‘the debate about a post-Kyoto deal is a debate about competitiveness. What’s going to prevent it moving on is a zero sum view without a pay-off matrix; that is, about a loss of competitiveness at both the top of the economic pyramid and mid and low levels in the pyramid.’
I pushed him to elaborate. ‘Climate change is the perfect storm’, he said. ‘It is credible systemic risk accompanied by demonstrable failure of our two primary large-scale instruments of change, namely public policy and capital market allocation. Because public policy is not reshaping markets to be forward looking at anything like the pace that’s needed, and capital markets are not recognising the value-added opportunities, or factoring them into their asset valuation methodologies. And so at that point the importance of collaboration, new models of partnerships, new ways of constructing market rules, becomes the game.’
Lessons from Singapore
I think Singapore can give further insights on responsible competitiveness, especially around the issues of water and human resources. It was only after a political crisis with Malaysia that Singapore instituted the range of measures, including leading-edge filtration and desalination technologies, that now make it not only virtually water self-sufficient, but also a leading exporter of water technologies. I did hear talk of Singapore becoming a green IT or clean-tech hub for Asia, but I think the government’s softly-softly approach will leave it far in the wake of countries such as Korea, Japan and China.
Even so, there is a lesson to be learned from Singapore. As a geographically small city-state, with a relatively high population density, the government quickly faced up to the fact that there is no ‘away’. It had to deal with its own externalities, rather than export them. Innovation was born of necessity. Poverty and pollution could not be tucked away in remote rural regions or ignored as the inevitable lot of a fringe slum society. Either the whole city prospered, or it didn’t. There was nowhere to hide poor governance.
As the Asian tigers jockeyed for position in the region and the world in the 1980s and 1990s, Singapore made strategic investments in two areas—its people (creating a highly skilled labour force) and its infrastructure (making it one of the most friendly trade and investment hubs in the world). Singapore knew that if it didn’t get these two things right, it would have no competitive advantage. Most crucially, it would lose its upwardly mobile workforce to Japan, Korea or the West, and global economic activity would divert to other parts of Asia.
Conclusion
We can all learn from this ‘spaceship earth’ (city-state) thinking of Singapore. But, for me, the jury is still out on responsible competitiveness. Unless the government and companies in India and around the world can shake off the ‘competitiveness at all costs’ mentality, it will always be a responsible business laggard, moving with the late majority; certainly not the worst, but far from the best. Somehow, India needs to answer for itself the ‘why’ question. Why is responsible business relevant, or important in India? I am betting this will inevitably lead straight to another question: how can sustainable business make India more competitive?
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[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/books/the-quest-for-sustainable-business”]Link[/button] The Quest for Sustainable Business (book)
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.csrinternational.org”]Link[/button] CSR International (website)
Cite this article
Visser, W. (2013) Personal reflections on responsible competitiveness. CSR & Competitiveness, July 2013.
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Visions of the Future
Visions of the Future:
CSR, sustainable business and capitalism in 2020
A blog by Wayne Visser
Over the last 12 weeks, I have shared examples from around the world of an approach to CSR (by which I mean Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility) in which companies seek to identify and tackle the root causes of our present unsustainability and irresponsibility, typically through innovating business models, revolutionising their processes, products and services and lobbying for progressive national and international policies.
Forecasts for 2020
Based on this vision – and the evolution of sustainable business over the past 20 years – I have made ten forecasts for 2020. They are meant as a basis for discussion and action, rather than an attempt at predictive certainly. Hence, I am inviting you to join a dialogue about the future. Here is my opening gambit:
Forecast 1 – By 2020, we will see most large, international companies having moved through the first four types or stages of CSR (defensive, charitable, promotional and strategic) and practising, to varying degrees, transformative CSR, or CSR 2.0.
Forecast 2 – By 2020, reliance on sustainable business codes, standards and guidelines such as the UN Global Compact, ISO 14001and SA 8000, will be seen as a necessary but insufficient way to practise CSR. Instead, companies will be judged on how innovative they are in using their products and processes to tackle social and environmental problems.
Forecast 3 – By 2020, self-selecting ‘ethical consumers’ will become less relevant as a force for change. Companies—strongly encouraged by government policies and incentives—will scale up their choice-editing and cease offering ‘less ethical’ product ranges, thus allowing guilt-free shopping.
Forecast 4 – By 2020, cross-sector partnerships will be at the heart of all CSR approaches. These will increasingly be defined by business bringing its core competencies and skills (rather than just its financial resources) to the party.
Forecast 5 – By 2020, companies practising sustainable business will be expected to comply with global best-practice principles, such as those in the UN Global Compact or the Ruggie Human Rights Framework, but simultaneously demonstrate sensitivity to local issues and priorities.
Forecast 6 – By 2020, progressive companies will be required to demonstrate full life-cycle management of their products, from cradle to cradle. We will see most large companies committing to the goal of zero-waste, carbon-neutral and water-neutral production, with mandated take-back schemes for most products.
Forecast 7 – By 2020, some form of Generally Accepted Sustainability Practices (GASP) will be agreed, much like the Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP), including consensus principles, methods, approaches and rules for measuring and disclosing sustainable business. Furthermore, a set of credible CSR rating agencies will have emerged.
Forecast 8 – By 2020, many of today’s sustainable business practices will be mandatory requirements. However, CSR will remain a voluntary practice – an innovation and differentiation frontier – for those companies that are either willing and able, or pushed and prodded through non-governmental means, to go ahead of the legislation to improve quality of life around the world.
Forecast 9 – By 2020, corporate transparency will take the form of publicly available sets of mandatory disclosed social, environmental and governance data—available down to a product life-cycle impact level—as well as Web 2.0 collaborative sustainable business feedback platforms, WikiLeaks-type whistle-blowing sites and product-rating applications.
Forecast 10 – By 2020, CSR will have diversified back into its specialist disciplines and functions, leaving little or no sustainable business departments behind, yet having more specialists in particular areas (climate, biodiversity, human rights, community involvement, etc.), and more employees with knowledge of how to integrate CSR issues into their functional areas (HR, marketing, finance, etc.).
Transforming capitalism
These forecasts all suggest a transformational agenda for sustainable business, or CSR. I call this CSR 2.0, but the labels do not matter; the substance of the change matters. However, underlying these trends is an even more potent shift, which is an evolution from our winner-takes-all shareholder-driven model of capitalism to what we might call Sustainable and Responsible Capitalism, or Purpose-Inspired Capitalism.
For me, this means testing all economic activity against five principles:
- Productive investment – Ensuring that money is channelled towards productive investments and not into speculative trading in the casino economy, as the Co-operative Bank has demonstrated successfully.
- Long termism – Understanding that real wealth is created by taking a long-term perspective, including the needs of future generations, as Al Gore’s Generation Investment and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway practice.
- Transparency – Embracing transparency in revenues and social and environmental impacts, in line with the Global Reporting Initiative, International Integrated Reporting Council, Carbon Disclosure Project and Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
- Full cost accounting – Internalising social and environmental costs (externalities), through taxes (e.g. on carbon and pollution) and social and environmental profit & loss accounts, such as Puma is pioneering.
- Social inclusion – enacting Michael Porter and Mark Kramer’s concept of creating shared value, and Stuart Hart and C.K. Prahalad’s model of serving the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) markets, as demonstrated by the BOP 2.0 Protocol.
We live in exciting times – a true period of bifurcation. We live on the cusp of the post-industrial revolution, and for the first time, we can finally glimpse what a new model of sustainable business and purpose-inspired capitalism could look like.
But as with so many things in life, the quest for a sustainable future is like a wheelbarrow. The only way we will make progress is if we pick it up and push forward. And the only way we will motivate people to join us in this effort is if they believe in what we are building.
That means having a compelling vision of the future, what I call a 5-S vision of “future fitness” in which our products, organisations, communities, cities or countries are Safe, Smart, Shared, Sustainable and Satisfying. What that means and how we get there is another quest, another book and another set of stories.
For now, we have come to end of this “Searching for Sustainable Business” series of articles, which were all extracted, summarised and adapted from my book, The Quest for Sustainable Business. I hope that they have given you a glimpse into some of the insights from my own journey to more than 65 countries over the past 20 years – and that you will be inspired to continue on your own quest.
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[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”download” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/blog_csrwire13_wvisser.pdf”]Pdf[/button] Visions of the Future: CSR, sustainable business and capitalism in 2020 (blog)
Related websites
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/books/the-quest-for-sustainable-business”]Link[/button] The Quest for Sustainable Business (book)
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.csrinternational.org”]Link[/button] CSR International (website)
Cite this article
Visser, W. (2013) Visions of the Future: CSR, sustainable business and capitalism in 2020. Wayne Visser Blog Briefing, 10 September 2013.
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America’s Idea Incubators
America’s idea incubators:
Seeding a revolution in capitalism
A blog by Wayne Visser
In this article I want to share insights from some of America’s greatest ‘meme-weavers’ – pioneers of new thinking, who I have been fortunate enough to meet and talk to about the future sustainability of business and the world.
Joseph Stiglitz: Globalization Guru
Let me begin with Nobel Prize winner in Economic Sciences and former World Bank Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist, Joseph Stiglitz. I wanted to know his views on globalisation, which is a theme running through many of his books. It is clear that Stiglitz is sympathetic to the critics of globalisation. As he told me:
We have learned how to temper capitalism – how to make the market economy work in the advancing industrial countries for most citizens – but we haven’t learned how to temper globalisation. One of the paradoxes is that, while in principle everybody was supposed to be better off as a result of globalisation, in practice the opposition to globalisation rose from both the North and the South. There were some winners but there were a lot more losers.
The problem with globalisation, according to Stiglitz, is not with the concept or the trend itself, but with the way globalisation has been managed. However, he is hopeful that change is possible:
The most exciting developments are the result of the efforts of civil society. Before the Seattle riots, there was an enthusiasm that was not tempered by reality. As people started looking at what happened at the IMF and World Bank – failures of regulation of the global financial markets – there was a widespread recognition that something has not worked well. So understanding there is a problem is necessary before you’re going to change.
Stuart Hart: Capitalism Reformer
Someone who shares concerns about the way the global economy has evolved is Stuart Hart, author of Capitalism at the Crossroads and co-creator of the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ (BOP) model of doing business with the world’s poor. He told me that:
We haven’t resolved the dark side of 19th century industrial capitalism. But I’m absolutely convinced that we’re in the midst of the next transformation, to a sustainable form of capitalism that actually has the potential to solve social and environmental problems; to create wealth for everyone in the world and to take us more quickly to the next generation of potentially clean and sustainable technology.
Interestingly, unlike many other authors who have written on capitalism, such as Naomi Klein, Hart focuses on the positive role that business can play. I asked him if that is justified, given their track record, to which he replied:
I’m a pragmatist, in the sense that I try to assess where the leverage points are for change to occur most rapidly. We’re headed rapidly for the cliff, so to speak. But there is also great potential to change quickly. What makes the world of commerce interesting is its ability to creatively destroy itself, to fall back on Joseph Schumpeter’s term. We have a mechanism through which this change could unfold at the rate that it needs to in order to move us towards a sustainable world before it’s too late.
One way that Hart sees this happening is through the ‘great convergence’ of disruptive clean technology and innovation at the base of the pyramid, which is the focus on his newly established Enterprise for a Sustainable World.
Jeffrey Sachs: Poverty Wizard
Jeffrey Sachs, twice been named among Time Magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders and author of books like The End of Poverty and Common Wealth, is similarly an optimist, but places less faith in the market and more in effective government policy and global collaboration. He told me:
I love markets wherever they work, but markets don’t work for everything. For cell phones, yes, you may be able to reach 40% penetration in Africa, and it’s phenomenal; it’s world-changing. But 40% penetration for immunisations won’t do it. Business has scalability, information and management systems and it holds the technology. But if there’s no market at the end for the public good that we need, then at a minimum we need a public–private partnership.
Sachs concedes that ‘we have to make a global transition to sustainable technologies’, but is adamant that ‘you can’t leave technological transformation to market forces alone.’ Sach has seen enough poverty not to be in denial, but his spirit remains indomitable:
Every time I turn around – whether it’s in India, China, Malaysia, or Tanzania – there’s no shortage of reasons for optimism. What is the hardest part of all is managing change and having the understanding of how crucial and how fruitful cooperation can be right now. The problem isn’t our lack of tools; the problem is our ability to manage all these wonderfully powerful tools that we have, to a human effect.
Amory Lovins: Design Imagineer
Another person who seems to relish ‘wicked problems’ is maverick engineer, Amory Lovins, Founder and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute and co-author of books like Factor Four and Natural Capitalism. What makes Lovins happy is ‘barrier-busting – turning into business opportunities each of the 60 to 80 well-known market failures to buying energy and resource efficiency’. He told me:
We’re talking not so much of technologies, as of design methods, or design mentality. Many of the new buildings we’re designing use no, or negative, amounts of energy – they create more than they use. It’s now perfectly normal to talk about tripled efficiency cars, heavy lorries and airplanes. United Technology has cut its energy intensity 45% in five years. DuPont cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels, and made three billion dollars’ profit on the deal. Efficiency is cheaper than fuel.
I concluded my conversation with Lovins by asking what gives him hope, to which he replied:
Three things stand out. One is the rapid rise of awareness and leadership in the private sector and the corresponding awakening of civil society, empowered by the emerging global central nervous system. Secondly, I’m encouraged by the fact that brains are evenly distributed – one per person –
and as far as we know, there’s nothing in the universe so powerful as six billion minds wrapping around a problem. And third, I’m very encouraged by the quality of the young people I see. They realise there is less time and they need to get on with it. So I think the future is in pretty good hands.
Postscript
These and many other interviews with sustainability thought-leaders from around the world are covered in more depth in The Quest for Sustainable Business, and featured as videos on http://www.waynevisser.com/videos.
Download
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”download” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/blog_csrwire12_wvisser.pdf”]Pdf[/button] America’s idea incubators: Seeding a revolution in capitalism (blog)
Related websites
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.waynevisser.com/books/the-quest-for-sustainable-business”]Link[/button] The Quest for Sustainable Business (book)
[button size=”small” color=”blue” style=”tick” new_window=”false” link=”http://www.csrinternational.org”]Link[/button] CSR International (website)
Cite this article
Visser, W. (2013) America’s idea incubators: Seeding a revolution in capitalism. Wayne Visser Blog Briefing, 3 September 2013.
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Speaker Q&A
Interview by Speakers Corner
How did the corporate speaking all start?
It probably began at university, when I was President of AIESEC, an international economics and commerce students organisation, but only really took off when I launched my first business book, Beyond Reasonable Greed.
Can you remember your first speaking engagement?
It was at high school, when I entered a public speaking competition. The topic I chose was ‘wisdom’ and I won the cup for the best speaker.
And your last event?
My last ‘event’ is really a series of events, as I am on a continuous 12 month, 20 country, 50 event ‘CSR Quest’ lecture tour. My last event in this series was for a business school in Pune, India (earlier this week), and today I am at a conference in Kiev, Ukraine.
Which event has been your favourite and why?
Addressing the Heligan Dialogue Process in Mexico City. This is a committee of the G8 and G5 countries. I found it interesting because this North-South group are at the fulcrum upon which the future is being shaped. A contrasting and equally fascinating event that I addressed was the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Cape Town.
If you could speak at any event, past or future, what would it be?
It would be an event hosted by former South African president, Nelson Mandela or (since we are fantasising here), one where Leonardo Da Vinci was participating.
Who would you most like to share a platform with?
One of the most profound thinkers and writers I have met (and interviewed), Fritjof Capra.
On average, how many times a year do you speak at corporate events?
2010 is an unusual year, with my world lecture tour, where I will probably speak at 50 events. In a more typical year, it is probably half that.
Do you use powerpoint
Yes, although I try to make the slides as graphic as possible, and to avoid bullet points.
Are you as happy speaking to 50 as to 1,000 people?
Yes, I like both ends of the spectrum. Obviously the delivery style varies, with the latter being more interactive.
How do you like to be introduced?
As a writer, social entrepreneur and eternal student on the impacts of business on society. More formally, as Founder & Director of CSR International, author of books (most on the role of business in society) and Senior Associate of the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. And a poet, for pleasure.
Do you always like to do a briefing call before the event?
No. I think briefing notes and the conference topic and agenda suffice. Speakers should be given some leeway in addressing their subject.
What are the most asked for topics?
In my field (the role of business in society), the most popular topics are The Future of Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR 2.0 (as I call it), climate change & business, and creating social change through business.
Is your speech at all interactive with audience participation?
If the audience size allows it, I always like to involve the audience through questions, discussion and even group breakouts.
Do you have any funny/embarrassing speaking anecdotes you care to share?
I was once presenting on a business school campus, using a computer that was connected to the internet. In the middle of the presentation, a porn site loaded. I had my back to the screen, so I couldn’t understand what the students were laughing at. It was probably a set up, but was good for a laugh.
Your favourite film?
Brazil. There is so much that is wise, funny and disturbing in that movie that I can watch it over an over. It is a parody of our institutions, our obsessions and a warning for the future.
Favourite book?
Shantaram (by Gregory Roberts), followed closely by Possession (A.S. Byatt) and The Bridge Across Forever (Richard Bach).
Favourite holiday destination?
This would have to be Egypt. I took a trip down the Nile to all the temples. The history, architecture and ancient culture were just fascinating.
What’s your tipple – wine, beer, champagne?
I have an alcoholic sweet tooth, so it would be a South African liqueur called Amarula (a cream liqueur made from Marula fruit). I like port wine as well.
Country or townie?
I like cities, which are more dynamic and diverse, so long as I can get a regular dose of nature.
Personality Q&A
This Q&A is taken from a “Friendship Quiz” that I responded to in 2005, when they were doing the rounds on email. A bit of fun …
2005 Interview
What time did you get up this morning?
About 7.30. Long, long time ago, I used to jump out of bed at 6 am like clockwork. But more recently, I’ve been spoiled. Maybe I just need beauty sleep more and more these days?
Diamonds or pearls?
I like the organic lustre of pearls, preferably ones that look natural, rather than artificial. I am also a sucker for pearl symbolism (something beautiful emerging from a tiny piece of grit). In general, I like simple, elegant jewellery on women.
What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Mr and Mrs Smith. I enjoyed it as an action-entertainment film with an interpersonal twist of humour, although I must qualify that I went in with extremely low expectations. It was a good distraction for a few hours. Generally, I like a good suspense/whodunit, epic scifi and romantic comedy. And now I’m developing a taste for filme la francais.
What is your favourite TV show?
I don’t watch a lot of TV – there are too many other better ways to spend my time. But I do enjoy a good series. Way back when, it was Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure. I really like David Lynch’s quirky communities and eccentric characters. Currently, it is probably CSI – nothing like a good bit of forensic investigation, although I can do without the cam zoom-inside-the-body (usually mutilated or decaying) tricks which seem all the rage these days.
What is your middle name?
Well, I either have none or two. I was born middle nameless. But on my 21st, I added two middle names – Africa and Merlin-Tao. For me, names should have symbolic meaning, and these self-chosen names are all about my roots in Africa and the contribution I can make to the continent, as well as the path that I am treading in this life, which aspires to be the Way of the Mystic.
What is your favourite cuisine?
It has to be Indian curry (vegetarian of course, nothing with a face) – the spices, textures and flavours are a sure guarantee that I’ll overeat every time. Cheese probably comes a close second, but I’m quite fussy which cheese. I like flavoursome kinds like Gruyere, Apple-smoked Cheddar and crispy Danish Blue, but I avoid the gooey ones like Camembert (unless of course they are crumbed and deep fried with a fruit preserve on the side).
What foods do you dislike?
All time most disgusting (I am ashamed to say as an African) must be okra – green, slimey and stringy. Asparagus also falls into the category of stringy foods (although it has the additional sin of being anaemic). Although to be honest, I have been known to eat the dreaded stuff if it is fresh and well disguised. The other never-eat-unless-you’re-starving-to-death food is olives, of any hue. But I like olive oil – how does that work?
What are your favourite potato chips?
That’s an unfair question, like asking your favourite sexual position. How to choose!? ALL potato chips are good (and sex is even good without potato chips). But if I were forced to choose, it would probably be Chinese Chutney flavour, or Sour-cream and herbs, fried to a crispy golden delight (I think I need a job in a Chip Marketing department).
What is your favourite CD at the moment?
Tough one again. I like so much music of such a variety. But right this moment, it is probably a compilation I made myself, called Haunting Beauty. It includes tracks like My Immortal (Evanescence), Lonely Sky (Chris de Burgh), and You Have Been Loved (George Michael). If it has to be a bought CD, it would probably have to be the Moulin Rouge soundtrack.
What kind of car do you drive?
Umm, a gold (read: dirty beige-brown) one. Rover, automatic. Cars are not really my thing, beyond getting me from A to B. But if I had to go a bit more upmarket, I’ve always liked the Honda Prelude, and further up the ego-chain, Mazda’s sports cars have a nice sleek look about them, without having to lie flat on your back to drive them.
Favourite sandwich ?
Toasted Italian bread, melted butter, with bacon (vegetarian of course) and fresh tomato slices, seasoned with salt and pepper. Darn – now I’m drooling on the keyboard!
What characteristics do you despise?
Misguided self-importance, devious manipulation, deliberate dishonesty, any kind of proselytising
Favourite item of clothing?
I have a weakness for African-style shirts. The colours and patterns invigorate me, and the loose-fitting style relaxes me. Having said that, I live in t-shirts, and will seldom put on trousers if I can get away with it – not everyone feels as comfortable about this as I do.
If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
The Amazon rain forest is probably the one place I have a real yearning for. Lush, natural forests are where my soul finds peace. And then I want to travel in Africa forever – I can never get enough of its earthy sights and sounds. The list of other places I’d like to see is as long as the world is wide – mostly places of natural beauty (like Alaska and New Zealand) or ancient civilizations (like Petra and Machu Picchu).
What colour is your bathroom?
Let me first confess that I had to go and look. White walls, olive-green bath, basin and toilet, pink(ish) carpet. If the water is hot and everything flushes, I’m not particularly concerned to be honest.
Favourite brand of clothing?
No-name brands. Although, I could tell you a little secret about a certain Presidential Shirts company in South Africa. I expect one day, I will only wear Madiba (Mandela) type shirts when I go to formal functions (with trousers of course, despite the inconvenience).
Where would you retire to?
Leaving aside that I don’t plan to retire, I would like to live somewhere near the sea or indigenous forests. Misty Cliffs in Cape Town or Knysna up the east coast of South Africa come to mind.
Favourite time of day?
It has to be the time I so seldom see (through no-one’s fault but my own) and that is dawn. Every time I see a sunrise and breathe in the fresh, crisp morning air, I berate myself for not being up to experience it more often. I am at my most alert and creative in the morning (although, as my wife will testify, NOT immediately after waking up).
What was your most memorable birthday?
My 21st. I had a ceremony where I invited family and friends, I went through a renaming ritual (see 5 above), and accepted a wooden Ankh (Egyptian Key to Life), which my parents carved and inscribed with hieroglyphic symbols that held special meaning.
Where were you born?
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Favourite sport to watch ?
Virtually any sport (although I still struggle to appreciate golf and motor racing) – I’ve even world championships for darts and poker. But favourite, I would probably say rugby (or one-day cricket .. or athletics .. or ..). I have presumed that women in skimpy bikini’s playing volleyball isn’t so much a sport as a guilty pleasure.
Who do you least expect to send this quiz back to you?
God (she’s a notoriously bad correspondent!)
Coke or Pepsi?
Coke, although it has to be with popcorn at the movies, or when I’m hot and thirsty (like after a game of soccer), and preferably with a slice of lemon. Otherwise, I’m not a great cold drink drinker. (A beer shandy slides down well sometimes though .. beer mixed with lemonade for the uninitiated).
Are you a morning person or night owl?
I think I answered this one already. I occasionally get a late-night burst of energy.
What is your shoe size?
Seven, so yeah, about the same age as I act most of the time.
Do you have any pets?
Absent pets, back in South Africa, yes – Bobby and Dusk (dogs) and Pippa and Shadow (cats). I used to have a wonderful pet rat with a kink in his tail, called Sniffles. I also have quite a few pet carvings (mostly made from wood), which I dote on and find are remarkably low maintenance.
Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with your family and friends?
Sure, why not. I’ve just signed the publishers agreement for my next book, called Business Frontiers.
What did you want to be when you were little?
Bigger? No, seriously, I’m not sure I remember wanting to be anything. I know I did consider being a missionary at one stage.
What were you meant to be doing today?
Analysing my research interviews for my doctorate.
What is your favourite colour?
Probably purple and yellow.
What is your favourite ice cream flavour?
Lemon / citrus .. preferably creamy ice cream (Italian), but sorbets are also nice.
What book are you currently reading?
I seldom read one book at a time. At the moment it is South Africa: The First Man, The Last Nation (RW Johnson), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (CS Lewis), Nelson Mandela: In His Own Words, Poem for the Day, The Seed Is Mine: The Life of a South African Sharecropper (C van Onselen), Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change (DE Beck & CC Cowan), and The Impressionists: The Complete Guide From Cezanne to Van Gogh. Oh, and I suppose I should add the Encarta Concise Dictionary and Websters Thesaurus (I’m on a little spree of reading them, page by page). So there you have it – sounds more impressive than it is. It just means I take aeons to finish books.