#SB14London Mnemonic #2:
10 Insights from the Final Morning

And the third morning of SB London picked up where the second one ended.

By Sally Uren | Published 9 years ago | About a 2 minute read

And the third morning of SB London picked up where the second one ended. Another great speaker line-up featuring some well-known brands including Sky, Philips, Kimberly-Clarke, Greenpeace and CDP, along with perhaps some lesser-known ones, including Novelis and the Vetiver Farms Philippines. As with the previous morning, between them this brilliant line-up delivered some important insights, this time spelling the third objective of the overall conference:

R is recycle. From aluminium in the case of Novelis, to fishnets in the case of Interface, to ideas – we heard pretty compelling business cases for the circular economy from Desso and Philips (closed loops, anyone?);

E is for explain the value, or as Philips put it ‘show them the money,’ a sure-fire way to change mindsets;

G is for government isn’t the answer. Paul Dickinson from CDP made a powerful case for business and brands as the most powerful levers for change in the current system, describing brands as ‘the membrane of the new democracy’

E is for the elephant in the room, the issue the sustainability community hasn’t wanted to talk about until now – social inequality and social impacts. Time to put social sustainability firmly on the radar;

N is for networks.

E is for empowering service managers, not product managers. This will enable the product to service shift;

R is for restorative. Doing less bad isn’t enough. We need products and services that put value back. Like vertiver grass, the ‘bad-ass’ grass used in the Philippines to clean up dead rivers;

A is for anchoring your endeavours and overall programme with deep sustainability principles, not only guaranteeing robust sustainability, but ensuring sustainability is ‘baked in’;

T is for think purpose. Both as your North Star – your destination - but also as your current rationale. The purpose of Andrex is dignity, not loo roll;

E is for excite and inspire. Scaring and saying no does not create change.

And a little sustainability haiku …

Reimagine now
It’s an opportunity
Grab it, you know how

Be that change.