In just a few weeks, a previously unknown
virus made us realise
that we are more vulnerable, smaller and more fragile than we thought. It has
made us aware of the fact that there is a close link between people's health and
the health of the environment. And it has finally brought us face to face with
the current way of doing things — from the macro (our model of economic growth,
of gauging welfare levels) to the micro (our relationships with key stakeholders
— including employees; or the immediate positive impact that organisations, can
generate in our surrounding environment). A key message from this crisis is that
"how" we do things is just as, if not more, important than "what" we are
doing. And this "how" is undoubtedly what we need to revisit.
How can sustainability help me build resilience? How can I be a better leader
through sustainability in these times? How can I justify investment in
sustainability in the current scenario? How can I strike a better balance
between global and local in my supply chain? Is it necessary to have a
business/brand purpose, or is it just “doing" enough? How can I make a
difference without coming across as opportunistic? If I have a purpose, how
should I reassess it to make it better? How to accelerate disruptive innovation?
How can I create a strong culture of adaptation that will help me through times
of crisis? How can I reconnect with my employees after what they have
experienced and in new work environments?
These are just some of the questions we have to ask ourselves in order to
navigate the uncharted waters that COVID-19 has left us for the next few years.
A new era: the era of transformation.
Because that's exactly what we need: a profound transformation of sustainability
in several dimensions. With a goal of contributing to change and to
understanding and reflecting on how this pandemic will influence sustainable
development, at Quiero — a sustainability platform
with more than 10 years' experience — we have undertaken an ambitious project:
#aBetterWay.
#aBetterWay is, above all, our search for answers to all these questions
from a global collective platform based on reflection, learning and action —
starting with roughly 100 conversations with experts from the Americas, Asia and
Europe; backed by Sustainable Brands™ (SB) and in coordination with
its network — because we can't stop doing, wondering and searching how to do
better.
We draw on the dimensions outlined in SB’s inspiring Brand Transformation
Roadmap
as the basis for reflecting on how we can do better. The tool clearly sets the
route for navigation and orientation thanks to the "whats" — from the "whats" of
Business as Usual (level 1) through to the "whats" behind a ‘Sustainable Brand’
(level 5) — in each of the five dimensions: Governance & Transparency,
Supply Chain and Operations, Purpose, Brand Influence, and
Products and Services.
All of our conversations with experts around the world analyse and teach us the
"how-tos" in these dimensions, in order to subsequently develop specific work
guides for each of the dimensions, as outputs of #abetterway. Hear our
recent conversation with Forum for the Future CEO Dr. Sally Uren (click here to view the whole conversation:
There is no doubt that this process of global conversations has allowed us to
identify how some trends that were in the offing prior to this crisis are now
deepening and accelerating. The COVID-19 crisis has also shown how renowned
sustainability-driven businesses have seen their share prices improve, in clear
response to those who always point out that sustainability "is very expensive."
Going beyond this initial learning and delving deeper into the dimensions of our
Roadmap — in terms of Purpose and Brand Influence, we clearly see the need to
focus on "activating" the
purpose.
Generous, efficient companies have stood out during these months of pandemic,
but they have not been a revelation in terms of how to activate a purpose. The
problem is that any purpose must always start from the inside out, from the
employee — the main audience of a purpose — and then extend out to other
stakeholders, including the consumer. The purpose, as the spine of the company
rather than the basis for communication, must build on the exponential route to
the
SDGs
that was emerging just before the crisis hit. A purpose activated from inside
requires leaders capable of seeing the risk on the horizon. We can only discern
risks if we give value to things that others do not see. Let's think about what
we didn't see coming with COVID-19.
If we address the organisation's influence, it becomes increasingly clear that
leading the company means leading the industry. To achieve this, we will need to
promote real, disruptive collaborations that go beyond just words. Real,
disruptive collaborations involve investing time in finding and meeting the best
partners; applying the best processes, methodologies and tools; ensuring a
tangible, valuable output, and giving everything you have: your essence, your
people, your resources. We are talking about reimagining sectors and industries,
not simply adjusting or fine-tuning individual companies. We are referring to
generating Moonshots as radical
solutions
to today's big problems. This will not be possible without those
transformational leaders who are needed right now.
In the Governance and Transparency dimension, it is certainly worth
reflecting on how transparency and corporate culture have been altered and
tested during the pandemic. COVID-19 can be an accelerator of the business
culture we are so anxious to find: a strong culture that guarantees flexibility
and resilience in times of crisis. We must ask ourselves what we want to keep
from our recent behaviours in order to build towards the future.
Regarding Supply Chain and Operations, we are seeing a plethora of dramatic
changes these days, but little of the resilience guaranteed by globalisation and
production decentralisation. The need for businesses to support the most
vulnerable
communities
in their supply chain, establishing truly strong partnerships, is also worthy of
note. Another question that is now being asked: Do we have to look again at the
local level? Decentralise? The concept of "ecological literacy" — as the basis
for real, systemic change and collaboration from the local level in order to
improve people's lives and biodiversity — emerged during some of our
conversations with experts.
Finally, in terms of Product and Service Innovation, it is clear that we are
lagging behind our purposes. Why is it so difficult? It is worth reflecting on
why we are not able to take advantage of the opportunities that this much-needed
moment of change offers to generate multiple business, environmental and social
benefits at the same time. Awakening entrepreneurial spirit and forgetting the
obsession with regulation in some markets; disregarding what we have learned in
the context of traditional educational constraints; datacrisation (data-based
decision making); pursuing a continuous-improvement
model
at every step of innovation; scaling up the creation of spin-offs ... These
concepts, among many others, are some of the hows we are beginning to outline as
a way to accelerate sustainable innovation.
These are just a few of the initial reflections of these conversations — signs
of how to build more resilient companies and organisations. More innovative —
because, if the recent situation has shown us anything, it is that we have the
ability to innovate quickly and successfully. Closer and more sensitive to what
is happening in the environment (social and environmental). Companies with a
face and a voice. At the service "of."
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Partner, Innovation & Research Director
Quiero
Sandra Pina, General Director at Quiero, is also the Director of Sustainable Brands Madrid, Sustainability speaker and advisor, Associate Professor at Instituto de Empresa Business School and member of the Advisory Board of Sustainable Brands Global. She has previous global experience in FMCG multinationals: Kellogg’s and Danone.
Published Jul 10, 2020 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST