Forget the exceptional wonderkind who stumbles over The Idea and makes a billion dollars overnight. Most successful business people are strategic creatures who look into the future, identify emerging needs, and doggedly build the solutions, organizations and market positions to meet them.
'Sustainability' - the 'S' word?
In recent years we have regrettably seen more of the very opposite: banks, corporations, funds, governments and entire countries crumbling because their leaders were too nearsighted, too careless, and too much in a hurry to make it all the way.
In this perspective, corporate sustainability should be the natural approach to create reasonably predictable dividends and shareholder value. It’s no rocket science either: You simply embrace the longer-term view, look out for the opportunities and manage the risks that come naturally with today’s disruptive economic, environmental and social evolution.
Change management. Risk management. Strategic management and brand building. Common sense.
Yet even senior business people tend to use the term sustainability exclusively for "good causes” such as environmental or social responsibility – clinically severed from financial business objectives and business results. Why? Whether you are a corporate chieftain, an entrepreneur or manage a pension fund you obviously want your vision, your business positions and your capital to be sustainable, right?
When we developed the UP FOR GOOD concept, the financial dimension was at least as important as any external responsibilities towards nature and society. And ”for good” is the very opposite of ”for the next quarterly report”.
To ensure sustainable relations with loyal and inspired customers, suppliers, distributors and employees we must promote their future too. Without breathable air, fresh water and affordable energy; without fair trade and social harmony; without a sustainable infrastructure your business future would look rather bleak. And, don’t forget, Change has always been the mother of new business opportunities.
Should your concern for a sustainable future be channeled through non-profit engagement, you still need the money. Sustainable funding from insightful people in the business sector.
In other words, Sustainability is not a special interest, and it’s more than just a good cause – it’s at the very core of your business future. If you share that insight, you are almost certainly UP FOR GOOD.