Eco-Catalyst: A Capital Idea

As I've been combing thru articles and skimming books that I'd like to spend much more time absorbing, I have recently come to this: the answer to sustainability is in true cost accounting. Well, at least if we approach it from that perspective and with that goal in mind – the ability to understand, acknowledge, and account for all the forms of capital responsible for our success, for our very existence – we will be able to achieve a level of sustainability.

This means we must rethink our current values and business practices, even our living practices. It means we must adjust to our new state of being, just as the industrial revolution and conventional capitalism were a response to the state of being in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. And isn’t it about time? Our new state of being requires that we understand our interdependence with natural capital and its limits (and therefore our own) within a global setting. We must change the fact that our current definition of economic growth does not adequately account for the cost of natural capital and values all expenditures based on $s spent regardless of whether society benefits or loses, whether the cause and effect are positive or negative. Too often the effect of consuming natural capital and the waste that is deposited into the ecosystem as part of that consumption, are not accounted for.

The challenge is large, but begins with some very attainable steps and goals:

Employ Systems Thinking

• assess entire system of your business: inputs & outputs (as well as their source and destination), resources, waste, available technologies
• establish value for resources that can't always be expressed in $s (human and natural capital)

Engage All Stakeholders

• identify all stakeholders and understand their role within your ecosystem
• apply systematic ways to capture and act on stakeholder input, feedback, and ideas
• employ strategies to address stakeholder concerns
• establish new systems of recognition and reward

Enable Innovation

• collaborate internally & externally
• partner with other businesses to expand your joint capabilities
• consider all ideas, however radical or simple
• look for quick wins, but make sustainability a long-term commitment

To survive - and ultimately to thrive - in the coming years and generations, we must address the need to redefine cost and value to include natural capital in our evaluation of 'growth', progress, and prosperity.

Influences for this post include:
Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins
Presentation by Jeffrey Hollender, CEO of Seventh Generation, at the University of Denver on 11/09/2009

Corporate Sustainability, Workforce Planning and HR Strategy

The information within this post is a direct result of a conversation Tanya and I had with Seema Iyer - Workforce Planning Strategist.  Seema has an amazing background serving in key strategic HR and Global Workforce Planning roles at both Sun Microsystems and HP.  The goal of our conversation was to delve into the HR Drivers of Corporate Sustainability.

The first part of our discussion centered around where HR Drivers of Corporate Sustainability fit into Maslow's Hierarchy.  This is a very interesting concept, which frankly requires additional thought in order to fully flesh out the mapping.  At this point, I'm setting aside the Maslow mapping.  Here's a more general hierarchy of some of the benefits of Corporate Sustainability:

• Employee Satisfaction and Attraction / Retention....
  
• Risk Management / 'Exceeding' Compliance Requirements.....
• Improving Revenue (top-line  growth)......................................
  
• Operating Costs, Tax Implications (expense reduction).............................
  
• Regulatory Compliance............................................................................
  

I know what you're probably thinking.  "Wait, the only 'HR item' in the hierarchy is at the very top!"  And you'd be correct.  That was Seema's position right from the start - the HR Drivers of Corporate Sustainability are realized only after several other key benefits are achieved.

CONCLUSION #1: Corporate Sustainability can have a very real impact on driving benefits in the HR realm, but there are a lot of 'foundational elements' that need to be covered before these HR benefits can truly be realized.

The next part of our discussion centered on the Executive-level HR-related KPIs where Corporate Sustainability has an impact.  Here's a high-level summary of what we came up with:

    Executive-level KPIs:

• Employee Satisfaction
• Mapping Sustainability to Specific Dimensions of the 'Great Place to Work' Survey
• Credibility
• Respect
• Fairness
• Pride
• Camaraderie
  
• Attraction of talent from top universities
• Executives present at top universities and engage students in dialog
• Students form opinions of company based largely on these interactions
• Students are looking for companies that operate in a sustainable manner and that take Corporate Responsibility seriously
• Not having a clear, strong message around Sustainability and CR is seen as a large weakness by students
• Less Important: Retention (unless voluntary turnover is in double-digits it's not a focus area)
• If voluntary turnover is in double-digits it's more likely due to management culture and nature of work
  

CONCLUSION #2: Corporate Sustainability has a major impact on attracting talent from top universities.

More to follow in a subsequent post....

Off the Cuff: How Education Plays Into It

What better place to focus sustainability efforts than schools. It’s where we learn new ways of thinking, new behaviors, and have the opportunity to explore, research, and innovate. Our experiences permeate how we act in our homes (both backwards to the homes we are leaving and forwards to the homes we have yet to create), what we bring to our jobs, and how we impact our world. Some new reports on how our schools are performing and what they’re up to in the sustainability arena are worth checking out:

• College Sustainability Report Card 2010 http://tiny.cc/K7d6D
• Net Impact's 2009 Business As UNusual guide http://tiny.cc/DDga5