Topic

Sustainability reimagined

Unleashing the full potential of sustainability to make organisations fit for the future

Sustainability is at the top of the strategic agenda everywhere. Trailblazing organisations are acting fast to reduce harmful impacts on people and the planet. And even those that have been slower to respond are being forced to act due to regulatory changes and stakeholder demands. Becoming more sustainable is now a given.

However, faced with a proliferation of stakeholder requirements, there is a risk that many organisations are merely scratching the surface of sustainability as they try to keep up. But what if we used the sustainability agenda to profoundly reimagine why our organisation exists and how we operate?

We believe that, instead of a “sustainability strategy”, organisations of the future will have a “sustainable strategy”. Instead of taking incremental steps towards what is good for them, they will dare to unleash transformational change towards a brighter future that is better for all of us.

Let us explore the future together and reimagine sustainability.

Perspectives on reimagining sustainability

Value creation

What if organisations of the future redefined their strategic choices to create long-term value for all stakeholders and abandoned short-term optimisation of performance to serve shareholders?

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Organisational purpose

What if organisations of the future reimagined their purpose by shifting their focus to solving deeply worthwhile problems and refused to produce whatever the customer considered they wanted?

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Leadership decision-making

What if organisations of the future integrated multiple bottom lines and externalities in all decision-making processes to make truly sustainable choices and asked the finance department to never produce a simplistic financial business case again?

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Collaboration and ecosystems

What if organisations of the future collaborated closely across value chains and ecosystems to accelerate systems-level change for a greater good and stopped battling competitors and caring only about ‘what’s in it for us’?

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Sustainability Reimagined

Watch a recap of our event below, or dive deeper into the topic here.

#1 Value creation reimagined

What if organisations of the future redefined their strategic choices to create long-term value for all stakeholders – and abandoned short-term optimisation of performance to serve shareholders?

Strategy is about making choices and, in a world of constant change, every organisation must continually evaluate and renew strategic choices about where to focus and how to succeed. But to consistently make great choices, the process of making choices itself must be guided by a set of fundamental principles about what constitutes good or bad choices. If not, decision-making may be arbitrary or subject to biased opinions.

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#2 Organisational purpose reimagined

What if organisations of the future reimagined their purpose by shifting their focus to solving deeply worthwhile problems – and refused to produce whatever their customers really wanted?

In essence, all businesses exist because they solve problems for their customers. They flourish if they either solve problems better than the customers themselves or do it better or cheaper than the alternatives already available on the market.

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#3 Leadership decision-making reimagined

What if organisations of the future integrated multiple bottom lines and externalities in all decision-making processes to make truly sustainable choices – and asked the finance department to never produce a simplistic financial business case again?

Myriads of decisions are made in every organisation each day. Some decisions are tactical and simple, typically based on straight-forward intuition and experience. Other decisions are strategic and complex, often demanding sophisticated problem-solving and careful testing of critical assumptions.

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#4 Collaboration and ecosystems reimagined

What if organisations of the future collaborated closely across value chains and ecosystems to accelerate systems-level change for a greater good – and stopped battling competitors and caring only about ‘what’s in it for us’?

Words and concepts matter. They frame our worldview and form the world around us. Examining the vocabulary of business strategy is a case in point and there appears to be an urgent need to rewrite the rules of business in an age of alarming planetary and societal issues. Let's stop talking about winners and losers and start caring about what's in it for all of us.

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What does it take to put sustainability at the core of your strategy?

In March 2023, we engaged in three conversations together with strategist Roger Martin as well as leaders from Rio Tinto, Novozymes and Too Good To Go to get inspired by bold moves that emerge when you reimagine sustainability.

Keynote

 

What if we used the sustainability agenda to profoundly reimagine why our organisations exist and how we operate? 
By Sheva Rostam and Christian Romer Vingtoft, Implement Consulting Group

Length: 10 min. 15 sec.

Bio

Roger Martin

Professor Roger Martin is a writer, strategy advisor and in 2017 was named the #1 management thinker in the world. He is also former Dean and Institute Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in Canada.

Roger Martin is a trusted strategy advisor to the CEOs of companies worldwide, including Procter & Gamble, LEGO and Ford.

He has written 30 Harvard Business Review articles and several books, e.g.: A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness, When More Is Not Better, Creating Great Choices, Getting Beyond Better and Playing to Win.

#1 Roger Martin

 

What does it take to put sustainability at the core of your strategy?
(Part 1)

Length: 6 min. 42 sec.

#2 Roger Martin

 

What does it take to put sustainability at the core of your strategy?
(Part 2)

Length: 5 min. 28 sec.

#3 Roger Martin

 

Choice-making is the CEO’s core job

Length: 5 min. 05 sec.

Amy Byrick from Novozymes

Amy Byrick from Novozymes

EVP of Strategy & Business Transformation, Novozymes

Novozymes is the global market leader in biological solutions, providing enzyme and microorganism technologies to a wide range of industries. They use enzymes and microbes to help enable, accelerate or transform an industrial process or a consumer product for better lives in a growing world.

Jakob Stausholm from Rio Tinto

Jakob Stausholm from Rio Tinto

CEO, Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is a leading global mining and materials company. They operate in 35 countries and produce iron ore, copper, aluminium, critical minerals and other materials needed for the global energy transition and for people, communities and nations to thrive.

Mette Lykke from Too Good To Go

Mette Lykke from Too Good To Go

CEO, Too Good To Go

Too Good To Go is the world’s largest B2C marketplace for surplus food. Present in 17 countries, including the U.S. and Canada, more than 69 million people, and 130 thousand businesses use the app to save surplus food from going to waste. In 2022, TIME named Too Good To Go one of the 100 Most Influential Companies in the World.

Jakob Stausholm, Rio Tinto

 

How does a company truly change direction to create stakeholder value for all?

Length: 6 min. 48 sec.

Amy Byrick, Novozymes

 

What does it take to make a sustainable strategy work?

Length: 9 min. 52 sec.

Mette Lykke, Too Good To Go

 

How can sustainability initiatives be scaled to create impact?

Length: 5 min. 01 sec.

Sara Rahmeh, Poet

 

Poetry slam: Good intentions and dirty secrets

Length: 3 min. 14 sec.

Watch the full event

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