The “S” word has run out of steam; today, our goals should be more ambitious.
The term was imprecise to begin with—what even is sustainability? A 2010 list of the year’s most overused jargon characterized sustainability as a “squishy, feel-good catchall for doing the right thing.” Of course, a more precise definition is available—one that describes a system of development in which the needs of the present generation are met without compromising those of future generations. It’s a prudent, commendable goal, but difficult to define in practice—anything, from printing double-sided to reducing the carbon footprint of a nationwide supply chain, could be considered a “sustainable” business practice.
Frankly, sustainability no longer inspires or excites people anymore.
But a still deeper issue is implied by the term, and the initiatives it engenders. Most sustainability programs are, in essence, oriented toward damage control; corporate sustainability policies ultimately focus on how to do less harm, and rarely raise the question, how can companies do more good?
“Frankly, [sustainability] no longer inspires or excites people anymore.” Such is the opinion of sustainability expert and professor, Chris Laszlo—an opinion he expresses unabashedly in a classroom lecture [video below]. Laszlo hammers his point home with this metaphor: “If you were to imagine asking a friend—a married friend—you know, ‘how is your marriage going?’ and if they were to say, ‘oh, it’s sustainable. . .’ you know they’re probably in trouble. . .”
What Laszlo goes on to explain is that when sustainability is the guiding principle, subsistence and continuity are the goalposts—but what if the aim was higher than simply surviving? What if instead companies were pushed to create thriving environments, both within their own corporate culture, and outside it? This mindset embodies what Laszlo and co-author Judy Sorum Brown, along with a handful of other colleagues, define as the flourishing enterprise, which they describe in the opening chapter of their new book:
If the term sustainability has run out of steam, we need not only a better meaning but a better word, one that points to fresh practices and the possibility of far better results. For us, as well as for a growing number of renowned thought leaders, the right word is much more ambitious: flourishing. Flourishing at all levels—individual, team, organizational, and global.
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To become a flourishing enterprise, a much more radical evaluation is at stake, one that replaces reviewing and revising discrete policies with a thorough reassessment of a corporation’s raison d’être. When a business shifts its goals from reducing harm to creating prosperity it assumes a greater purpose and responsibility for the health and well-being, not only of its environs, but of its employees, and the communities of which it is a part.
Consider the Tata Group, an Indian conglomerate whose express purpose is “improving the quality of life of the communities we serve” and “returning to society what we earn.” This nearly century-and-a-half-old company has, in recent decades, grown into a global powerhouse—and when they’re not challenging social taboos with progressive ad campaigns, they’re raking in $100 billion in sales on products like water purifiers and low-emissions cars. As Wired Magazine succinctly put it, “Tata is saving lives and making a killing.”
In Flourishing Enterprise: The New Spirit of Business, authors Laszlo and Sorum Brown explore what it means to create businesses, like that of Tata or other industry leaders, that thrive on an individual, organizational, and global level, by investing in the well-being of employees, creating sustainable value as a company, and contributing to the broader communities in which they are embedded. They also discuss why such a shift is urgently needed at this particular moment, when declining resources are dovetailing with ever-louder calls for corporate responsibility and transparency. Such an atmosphere is guaranteed to force drastic shifts in a wide array of industries from manufacturing, to healthcare, to agriculture.
In this atmosphere, Laszlo and Sorum Brown anticipate major changes in the attitudes of executives and business owners. “This means that the winning companies and organizations in almost every sector will be those that innovate and contribute to finding new (and profitable) solutions to these global problems,” they argue. This means, in other words, that the future of business belongs to the flourishing enterprises.
But don't just take our word for it:
Flourishing Enterprise: The New Spirit of Business, an important book on how businesses can #Thrive http://t.co/rk7OzbS31z #BAWBforum
— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) August 5, 2014
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