THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Here are 4 takeaways from the 2024 WEF annual meeting that the business world
should incorporate into sustainability strategies for the year ahead.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Daggerwing Group’s Michelle Mahony discusses operationalizing sustainability strategy, purpose-washing, and equipping teams to be ambitious in the face of the greatest challenges of our time.
NEW METRICS -
The key lesson is to question older practices to ensure they remain fit-for-purpose. After all, practices can morph over time to the point they become ends in themselves — so ubiquitous that no one questions them.
LEADERSHIP -
Wicked problems are solved by seeing problems and solutions in new ways, by working with people with very different skills and approaches. As we frequently tell our clients, ‘Uncomfortable does not have to mean unnavigable.’
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
Policymakers everywhere now have a blueprint — and role models — for purposeful policy to better align corporate behaviour with public interest and to create allies for the work that lies ahead.
NEW METRICS -
One of many recurring themes at SB’22 San Diego was the need for a new lexicon and new metrics for the regeneration movement, which more accurately reflect the level of work and transformation needed to not only avert climate collapse but to enable a flourishing future for all.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Creating meaningful consumer behavior change remains a ‘white whale’ for Purpose-driven brands. Here, we hear a behavior-first approach to changing culture, needed paradigm shifts for regenerative leadership, and the latest research on meaningfully connecting with dithering consumers.
WALKING THE TALK -
Corporate Knights has developed the world’s first rating system to assess companies’ implementation of their social purpose commitments. Its research finds that the gap between ‘say’ and ‘do’ varies from one company to the next.
WALKING THE TALK -
Sustainable Brands’ proprietary tool was launched in Asia at the 2022 edition of the Sustainable Brands Asia-Pacific conference.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
‘The New Purpose Governance Framework’ is the first comprehensive set of purpose-governance guidelines in the world, which charts the path for boards to up their game in approving and governing their organization’s purpose.
NEW METRICS -
While ESG frameworks such as MSCI and Sustainalytics help investors spot and manage risks, the Brand Transformation Roadmap also helps companies account for social or environmental value and brand leadership — all are needed for a holistic sustainability strategy.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
The proliferation of ineffective communications is
holding sustainability back in its most critical decade. There is no more time for boring, beige writing. We need language that teaches, convinces and inspires — before it’s too late.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Once your purpose is in everything you do, it becomes an indelible part of the customer experience. By attracting customers who believe society is better off if they do business with your company, you can create a social movement around your brand.
LEADERSHIP -
Boards and the executives and advisors they hire need to be proficient in Purpose Governance, which will put their organizations on a viable path that
creates value for the company and the society on which it depends.
LEADERSHIP -
ESG governance is now an established imperative for boards; and a new report sheds light on steps companies should pursue to ensure the long-term viability of their organizations.
LEADERSHIP -
Rather than dwelling on problems, a solutions-centered focus — within individuals, organizations, governments, etc — naturally leads to breaking
negative feedback loops, feelings of hopelessness, and cycles of redundant and unproductive work.
NEW METRICS -
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. But standard formulas for calculating risk leave out critical factors — such as vulnerability and submerged risks — that would more holistically and accurately assess risk. A new model addresses this.
LEADERSHIP -
Organizations will be defined by the decisions they make during the pandemic. Now, companies with a social purpose — or those which aspire to have one — have a tool that can inform their day-to-day decisions in ways that build and sustain a better society.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
COVID-19 has fragmented the future. Your best-laid plans may lie broken. But it is possible to bring order to a world of multiple, uncertain futures; and lay the groundwork for the reset we need.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
In the 1920s, people didn’t pay attention to the problems brought on by market excess — and that decade begat the Great Depression. Today, truly modern companies are showing the way to a different kind of decade.