Sustainability Is the New Advantage

Peter Mcateer

Description

A practical blueprint for building sustainable organizations.

During the last 150 years, we have stressed the oceans, warmed the planet and overextended almost every natural resource. To create real change will require a generation of leaders and businesses that think and act differently. "Sustainability Is the New Advantage" identifies the skill sets, best practices, and new ideas needed to teach a new generation to start, grow, and manage sustainable organizations.

The shift to more sustainable business practices is the third act in the age of the corporation. Research tells us that during major market transitions, early adopters reign. That means only 15%–20% of businesses will make a bold transition to a sustainable business model during the next five to ten years. Everyone else will likely make incremental changes with less risk.

Transformation is a difficult process for any company and ‘Sustainability Is the New Advantage’ offers a straightforward process for sustainability champions to advocate for accelerated change. Each company that succeeds in becoming a sustainable business is a collective win for the business community as well as future generations. To paraphrase Gandhi, we each need to be the change we want to see in the world.

Foreword; Introduction; PART ONE: SUSTAINABILITY AND THE EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS; 1. A Journey of Self-Discovery; 2. Connecting Sustainability to Your Life; 3. Sustainability and Emerging Business Models; 4. Smaller Companies Need a Different Solution; PART TWO: LEADING THE SUSTAINABILITY AGENDA; 5. It Always Starts with One Committed Leader; 6. Day-to-Day Problem-Solving Accelerates Change; 7.: Anchoring Sustainability into the DNA of Your Business; PART THREE: BUILDING TALENT AND OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE FOR SUSTAINABILITY; 8. Discovery, Value, and the Sharing of New Knowledge; 9. Building Your Talent Plan; 10. Strategies for Supporting an Evolving Business; 11. Key Areas for Training and Growth; 12. Can You Deliver Passion, Purpose, and High Performance?; 13. Resources for Sustainability Champions; Afterword; Acknowledgments; Appendix: List of Resources; Notes; Index.

Sujets

• Organization development
• Leadership

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 23 mars 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783089482
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Praise for Sustainability Is the New Advantage
McAteer has created a masterpiece on sustainability. He personalizes the sustainability agenda, then surrounds it with facts and offers guidance on how to grow the sustainability movement. He notes especially that planet, profit, and people can coexist and mutually reinforce each other to benefit all. Kudos for this great work.
DAVE ULRICH, Rensis Likert Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and Partner, The RBL Group
Peter McAteer has written an extraordinary book. Sustainability Is the New Advantage is an all-in-one instructional manual that companies (of any size) can use to gain a clear competitive advantage by exploiting the opportunities offered by a commitment to sustainability. Every business school should be teaching at least one course based on this book. McAteer analyzes and illustrates the leadership required to meet a range of sustainability challenges, along with the new knowledge that will be needed, techniques for recruiting and developing the right talent, and strategies for providing continuous training.
LAWRENCE SUSSKIND, Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Director of the MIT Science Impact Collaborative
The book is really good. It’s interesting. It’s practical. And it displays great expertise. Drawing on his vast knowledge, McAteer’s book is a masterly, practical synthesis showing what companies—and their leaders individually—need to do to build a more sustainable future. His comments about smaller businesses are spot on. Well done!
THOMAS A. STEWART, Executive Director, National Center for the Middle Market, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University
Combining practical tools and powerful stories, Sustainability Is the New Advantage is an indispensable guide to one of the most critical issues of our time.
SCOTT D. ANTHONY, Innosight Senior Partner and lead author of Dual Transformation
Sustainability Is the New Advantage opened up a whole new world for me as a leader. It challenged me to move from advocacy to action. Based on cutting edge insights, this is a game changing book and a “must read” for any leader.
SUSAN LANSING, Senior Vice President, Head of Learning and Development, Bank of the West
As dean of a European school with six campuses and a global student population, I am acutely aware of the fact that sustainability issues cross borders and require a collaborative sense of responsibility. McAteer’s focus on current corporate leaders deals with a practical reality. If we are going to make progress on environmental and social challenges in the coming decades, the people currently working in organizations need to be re-trained to solve the problems. All business practitioners should read Sustainability Is the New Advantage . It is a stimulating book that invites readers not only to revisit their personal accountability on this topic but encourages everyone to take concrete actions. McAteer provides a practical path forward.
BERTRAND MOINGEON, Dean for Executive Education and Corporate Initiatives, ESCP Europe
Leaders urgently need new models and tools for doing business more sustainably. In this detailed yet pragmatic guide to adopting and driving sustainability practices, Peter McAteer shares a lifetime of hard won lessons and examples, providing valuable tools to help diverse teams and organizations to adapt to the essential challenge of our time.
DR. HAL MOVIUS, President, Movius Consulting and co-author of Built to Win
Sustainability Is the New Advantage taps into a topic of great relevance to everyone who cares about our planet and our local communities. McAteer offers examples from all over the world and adds personal insights that make the book inspiring.
S. HARIKUMAR, CEO and Managing Director, Origin Learning India
I’ve known Peter McAteer and his family for many years and have long respected their commitment to entrepreneurial business ideas, profitability, and values. Education was a force for change for Peter’s family and advancing the acquisition of knowledge underpins all his career decisions. This new book has a personal touch and offers an argument that is deeply rooted in his family traditions and that interprets family as the global village to which we are all tied.
McAteer’s vision for a sustainable business culture is one that individual leaders and businesses large and small can incorporate in practical ways. McAteer writes in an accessible way while arguing with data and reason. He is able to tell stories of successful strategies that are engaging and scalable. As an educator preparing the current generation for leadership, I see this as a book that will engage and challenge.
SUSAN KING, Dean, UNC School of Media and Journalism
This book is a fresh call for action. A beautiful and necessary effort underpinned by the experience that comes from a long-standing professional career. McAteer puts the reader at the crossroads of the private and public sectors, of education and corporate life. At a time when discussions about sustainability seem entangled in politics, McAteer’s book calls us back to the stage where human choice and motivation make a difference. His persuasive voice and creative use of research and stories encourages us to lead, learn, and collaborate.
ALFONS SAUQUET ROVIRA, Professor of Learning and Knowledge, ESADE, Chairperson, Academy of Business in Society (ABIS)
ANTHEM ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE
The Anthem Environment and Sustainability Initiative (AESI) seeks to push the frontiers of scholarship while simultaneously offering prescriptive and programmatic advice to policymakers and practitioners around the world. The programme publishes research monographs, professional and major reference works, upper-level textbooks and general interest titles. Professor Lawrence Susskind, as General Editor of AESI, oversees the below book series, each with its own series editor and an editorial board featuring scholars, practitioners and business experts keen to link theory and practice.
Anthem Strategies for Sustainable Development Series
Series Editor: Professor Lawrence Susskind (MIT)
Anthem Climate Change and Policy Series
Series Editor: Dr. Brooke Hemming (US EPA)
Anthem Diplomacy at the Food-Water-Energy Nexus Series
Series Editor: Professor Shafiqul Islam (Tufts University)
Anthem International Environmental Policy Series
Series Editor: Professor Saleem Ali (University of Delaware)
Anthem Big Data and Sustainable Cities Series
Series Editor: Sarah Williams (MIT)
Included within the AESI is the Anthem EnviroExperts Review . Through this online micro-review site, Anthem Press seeks to build a community of practice involving scientists, policy analysts and activists committed to creating a clearer and deeper understanding of how ecological systems – at every level – operate, and how they have been damaged by unsustainable development. This site publishes short reviews of important books or reports in the environmental field, broadly defined. Visit the site: www.anthemenviroexperts.com.

Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition first published in UK and USA 2019
by ANTHEM PRESS
75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA
© Peter McAteer 2019
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-78308-946-8 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78308-946-6 (Hbk)
Editorial and design development by LifeTree Media Limited
Editor: Don Loney
Design: Greg Tabor
Cover image: Kit8
This title is also available as an e-book.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Introduction
PART ONE: SUSTAINABILITY AND THE EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS
Chapter 1: A Journey of Self-Discovery
From Migrants to Citizens
The Fundamental Dilemma
So, Where Are We Today?
Reader Reflection
Chapter 2: Connecting Sustainability to Your Life Experience
What Is Sustainability?
Evolving Definitions of Sustainability
Reader Reflection
Chapter 3: Sustainability and Emerging Business Models
Old Thinking and New Thinking
The Link between Business Models and Talent Development
Reader Reflection
Chapter 4: Smaller Companies Need a Different Solution
W. S. Badger’s Green Team
Jana Small Finance Bank: Focused on the Urban Poor
Rype Office Ltd: Matching Mission to Government Policy
Fishing in East Africa: Local Challenges Are Complex
SME Investment Challenges in Brazil
The Four Sustainability Promises of KPPM Global
Reader Reflection
PART TWO: LEADING THE SUSTAINABILITY AGENDA
Chapter 5: It Always Starts with One Committed Leader
Where Change Can Begin: The Demonstration Project
Six Steps Every Sustainability Leader Can Take
Reader Reflection
Chapt