The Private Side of Sustainability Is Sexy Too: Engaging CEOs in More Than Just Sustainable Window Dressing

By olivia on July 7, 2010 in Uncategorized

There seems to be a problem. An influential group of global CEOs list brand, trustand reputation as their “primary considerations for acting on sustainability.” Motivators like revenue growth and cost reduction, consumer demand, employee engagement and retention and personal motivation lagged significantly behind.

Many CEOs seem to have reversed cause and effect. Brand trust and reputation are the result of a company’s sustainability actions. Are we being set up for a decade of window dressing and cause-washing as companies cobble together sustainability programs to burnish their public image?

These findings were published last week by the United Nations Global Compact and Accenture. Internationally, 766 CEOs were

polled on sustainability and businesswith 72% identifying brand, trust and reputation as their biggest motivator for sustainability, 44% citing revenue growth and cost reduction, 42% personal motivation, 39% consumer demand and 31% employee engagement and retention.

Seven years ago we would have celebrated the fact that 93% of these CEOs see sustainability as critical to their companies’ success. But really, how can that be disputed? Today, sustainability is fundamental. The remaining 7% will be swept along or swept away soon enough.

So the challenge I see is exciting business leaders and employees about the non-public facing side of sustainability. How can we communicate the subjective and financial value of creating a sustainable workplace? Or of reducing waste? Or switching to environmentally preferred materials? We need more Interfaces–companies that transform their entire system and resource selection, not their advertising and marketing strategies–and less (Product) RED-like campaigns.*

*I have a lot of respect for the (Product) RED campaign for the money and awareness it has raised and for the way it’s allowed diverse companies to get involved. But we’re evolving past the stage of one-off (even long-term) cause marketing campaigns to significant systems change.

About olivia

Olivia Kuhn-Lloyd believes in the reach of business to effect real social change. She works with companies who are forging a new paradigm of cause capitalism and writes about the power of consumer choice at Cause+Capitalism. She managed international trade advocacy with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., working with both foreign ambassadors and national business owners to tell their stories. She left the Chamber to spend a year in the Marshall Islands as a volunteer teacher and journalist. When she returned to the States, she worked with nonprofits and grantmakers in Los Angeles on program development, capital campaigns and executive coaching. Olivia now works with businesses to integrate social cause at a fundamental level and build community around the product or service. She lives in Santa Monica, CA.

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