With strong evidence of climate change, multidisciplinary players – industry, government, academia, NGO’s and consumers – must work together to solve the environmental crisis. The lift is too massive for any one company, industry, country or policy to address. We know that solutions of this nature are unprecedented and will therefore require a creative, never-been-done-before reimagining of a bold, new world. How can we use change management and “eco-advantage” mindset in the current business landscape to steer this transformation?
To move beyond our current paradigm, there is no better guide than the perfect processes and systems found in nature. Nature wastes nothing and often requires very little to produce ample benefits. When left uninterrupted, nature is able to regulate itself in perfect harmony via intelligent systems and symbiotic relationships. Imagine our societal, economic and industrial systems assuming these same qualities. How can resources be distributed in a way that benefits all? How can one company’s waste become another company’s source of energy? How can atypical yet mutually beneficial partnerships and negotiations be forged?
The good news is that the world now broadly recognizes and depends on industry’s contributions to human and environmental sustainability. In other words, the trend around “business for good” is unstoppable; it’s no longer acceptable for sustainability NOT to be factored into designing for the future. Furthermore, increased competition driven by the dramatic rise in human population over the last century is a catalyst to achieve sustainability objectives. As competition intensifies – between global companies and across sectors; between countries, states, cities, and towns; and across universities and public agencies – organizations across the board need to rethink status quo and redefine their value proposition and process performance. Policy and incentives to tackle climate change and issues of security in energy, food and water are also a top priority for governments around the globe.
So why isn’t this life-threatening transformation happening at the speed in which it is so desperately needed? For one, people are not well educated on how their routine actions have a collective impact on finite planetary resources. Even if they understand this cause and effect, people may not be willing to change if personal costs are too high. Governmental leadership instrumental in shaping policy and incentives is severely lacking as politicians avoid unpopular votes. Perhaps the biggest challenge is that humans are “just seeing the trees, but not the forest”. In other words, we continue to piecemeal granular and isolated solutions rather than solving for an interconnected, global scale. What good is a collection of self- contained solutions that are not integrated at large? The patience and challenges associated with this mandate of co-created integration are not as easily attainable as the instantaneous, fast-pace silos we’ve experienced in recent decades.
Given our current entrenchment in capitalism, economic symbiosis serves as the most viable starting point for companies to negotiate new deals that are financially beneficial for all parties, and smart for people and the planet. We must think creatively about how one company’s waste is another company’s input. We must get curious about “big picture” needs and connecting the dots on products, processes and people in ways that are not obvious. We must reset our expectations away from existing development, delivery and sales cycles towards building long-lasting, cross-sector relationships and pipelines of possibilities. As citizens, we must use our purchasing power and votes to influence leaders to act more responsibly. And most importantly, we must collectively “see the forest and not just the trees” in order to tackle climate change as the most pressing challenge our human species and planet Earth has ever faced.
