Future Proof
I
f corporate cultures are geared towards
maximising profits, the impact on
stakeholders will only be sustained
as long as there is a solid business
case behind this. These cultures are
embedded in the business case for sustainability
that asks: “Can we afford to invest in it?”
Companies that embrace stewardship should turn
this around and instead start from a sustainability
case for business, asking: “Can we afford not to
invest in it?” This triggers a discussion about the
connectedness between companies and society
and how crucial it is to manage these interfaces
for the wellbeing of us all.
André Nijhof
Market transformations
Such a starting point requires organisations to
go further than simply doing something nice for
society. It requires a profound understanding
of how the actions of one party trigger different
reactions in others and how the formal and
informal rules of the business game determine
the outcome of corporate activities.
If you’re working in a sector where the ‘grab-it-
while-you-can’ mentality is rewarded, it will be
almost impossible to enact real stewardship. For
example, many are already aware that the current
business model of companies such as Shell are
on the wrong side of history. Models based on
extraction of fossil fuels cannot be sustained in
the long term, and have to be transformed at some
point. It might be wise to remember the words of
American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
committed citizens can change the world. Indeed,
it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Market transformations are apparent in many
sectors. For example, 10 years ago electricity was
solely produced by big plants owned by a handful
of anonymous companies. Nowadays, electricity
production is increasingly decentralised, small
start-ups in renewable energy are flourishing
and the big companies face a challenge to survive
without subsidies. More importantly, people are
(and feel) involved in their use of energy.
Once we accept that traditional sectors must
change their ways, the next question is “how?”
In every sector, we see leaders stating a stronger
“Stewardship requires a different set
of leadership qualities”
Professor,
Nyenrode
Business
Universiteit
nyenrode.nl
commitment towards sustainability. A well-
known example is business magnate Elon Musk,
who created Tesla to transform the automobile
sector and harness renewable energy. Even more
interesting are the many unknown examples
in the new economy. Peter Heijen, the initiator
of LendaHand, created a new way of banking,
connecting people with savings accounts directly
with entrepreneurs looking for access to capital.
Or there are the founders of Mpesa, a company
which facilitates monetary transactions via mobile
phones throughout Kenya, that add up to about
30% of the country’s GNP. Successful leadership
or entrepreneurship in the new economy cannot
exist without a commitment to stewardship.
Whether we like it or not, business is the
most powerful institution on Earth. So if we
want to create more sustainable ecosystems,
companies must become part of the solution. The
aforementioned leaders all apply open innovation,
because they trust that sharing their technologies,
problems and solutions openly with others will
contribute to a stronger case for transition. And,
since their organisations take a leading part in this,
it can benefit them in the long term too.
Where to begin
Leaders who have the courage to have open,
honest exit conversations with people leaving their
organisations, may gain valuable information. If
this becomes routine it could generate a great deal
of knowledge about what employees walk out of,
and into, in our current age.
Stewardship starts with paying real attention
to each other, including the intrinsic motivations,
concerns and taken-for-granted assumptions
that we all have. It also requires a different set of
leadership qualities.
Research by the Academy for Business in
Society shows that in the sustainable economy,
leaders are selected based on systemic thinking,
embracing diversity, balancing global and local
views, emotional awareness and – maybe most
importantly – initiating meaningful dialogue.
What these qualities have in common is that they
do not reflect characteristics of individuals, but
characteristics of relationships. This is needed
for sustainable development because the issues
we are facing can only be dealt with through
co-creation. This might sound like a bigger
challenge, but the good news is that issues such
as climate change and social inequality are based
on collective interests, which implies that the best
solutions might be found by co-operating with
the ‘unusual suspects’: competitors, start-ups
and governments.
Issue 2 - 2017
21