Helping Leaders Build 21st Century Enterprises

It is increasingly evident that business and industry’s current patterns of consumption and production are not sustainable. The enormous economic and population growth worldwide over the last 50 years has forever changed the playing field. No longer can our economic endeavors be the main driver of our lives, nor can we place it above our human, societal and environmental interests.

Leaders in business, government, academia, public-interest organizations, and communities are responding with innovative new solutions to these issues. Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility strategies have germinated within a few businesses and communities that attempt to make business accountable to more than the owners.

Sustainablity has many definitions, but here are a few:

"Sustainable development involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity. Companies aiming for sustainability need to perform not against a single, financial bottom line but against the triple bottom line."n . . . World Business Council on Sustainable Developmentn

"Sustainability may be described as our responsibility to proceed in a way that will sustain life that will allow our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to live comfortably in a friendly, clean, and healthy world. We believe that people should: n - Take responsibility for life in all its forms as well as respect human work and n aspirations; n - Respect individual rights and community responsibilities; n - Recognize social, environmental, economic, and political systems to be n inter-dependent; n - Weigh costs and benefits of decisions fully, including long-term costs and benefits n to future generations; n - Acknowledge that resources are finite and that there are limits to growth; n - Assume control of their destinies; n - Recognize that our ability to see the needs of the future is limited, and any attempt ton define sustainability should remain as open and flexible as possible.n . . . Thomas Jefferson Sustainability Counciln

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) promotes socially responsible business practices that strengthen corporate accountability, respect ethical values and acts in the interests of all stakeholders, not just owners. Responsible business practices respect and preserve the natural environment, helping to improve the quality and opportunities of life, empower people and invest in communities where a business operates. CSR, addressed comprehensively, can deliver the greatest benefits to a company and its stakeholders when integrated with business strategy and operations.

When combined, Sustainability is a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks derived from economic, environmental and social developments. Corporate sustainability leaders gear their strategies and leaders to harness the market's potential for sustainable products and services while at the same time successfully reduce and avoid sustainability costs and risks.

This is not a passing fad, nor just another “slogan-of-the-month.” This is the way we can usher in the next industrial revolution.

Business leaders are looking for ways to do business, make a profit, and DO GOOD by their employees, communities, suppliers and the environment. There is a way to operate a business without harming the other resources that every business relies upon. You don’t have to be an idealist to accomplish these goals, just open to the possibilities that are unfolding around us.

Basically there are six reason to take sustainability seriously:nn- Increase Operational Efficiencyn- Competitiveness and Market Positioningn- Expand Employee Motivationn- Improve Investor Relations and Access to Capitaln- Reputation Management and Ability to Operaten- Develop a Learning / Continuous Improvement Culturen

The New Model of the 21st Century Enterprise

Sustainable Vision, Values and Purpose:
Simplify the reason your business exists, beyond making money. Determine what needs your firm fulfills. Believe in and adopt the core values of awareness, trust, responsibility, freedom, sharing, cooperation, service, simplicity, harmony, reverence.

Sustainable Guiding Principles:
Sustainable enterprises understand and follow the universal principles of natural laws, sustainability, balance, equity, diversity, democracy and local control.

Sustainable Systems and Processes:
Sustainable firms utilize processes that integrate such functions as customer expectations, design, production optimization, radical resource productivity, biomimicry, cradle-to-grave product/ service flow, investing in natural capital, and adopting standard management systems such as
ISO 9000 and 14000.

Sustainable Measurements and Milestones:
Using Life-cycle Analysis, benchmarking against Best Practices, and other tools the sustainable enterprise is fact-based and results driven. Measuring success for the Triple Bottom Line (economic, social and environmental) makes the firm totally accountable while spreading responsibility of the key business activities to all employees.

The 21st Century Enterprise requires new approaches to leadership, organizational purpose and structure. It integrates all the best and highest ideals human hold dear with proven, effective business organizational processes. It is driven by a unified execution of shared goals, and tempered by rational expectations. It is a Win-Win situation that results in healthy, productive, meaningful outcomes for all stakeholders, present and future.

The 21st Century Enterprise will redefine the American dream by creating a global mind change. Forward thinking leaders are on the frontline of this movement. nnn