What’s YOUR Sustainability Blueprint?

An hour ago I got a spam e-mail with the subject line of, “Gold is risky, Green is a solid investment”. I usually never open spam, but this one intrigued me for two reasons.

First, gold is not risky. In fact, sophisticated (i.e. experienced and successful) investors are putting their cash into gold right now, which is doing well because it is quite stable and is very liquid.

And second, I agree that “green” can actually be a solid investment, depending on what it is. Well, it turned out they were trying to convince the reader that selling their vitamins and supplements created a healthier body and planet. But there was no information nor evidence that convinced me of this.

Nothing. Just the marketing hype, or what is known as greenwashing.

On April 1st at Baruch College here in New York City a panel of us will be speaking about these issues at the seminar Everyone is Going Green: A Corporate Executive’s Challenge in the 21st Century.

And while being “green” can be an extremely profitable business strategy, getting busted greenwashing will bite you in the butt big time. In fact it can take up to four years for businesses to recover from the bad publicity and a tarnished reputation, according to a September, 2003 Burson-Marsteller press release.

What I recommend to my students and growing squadron on green entrepreneurial clients is to create what I call their Sustainability Blueprint.

A Sustainability Blueprint is that foundation from which your business (or company you work for) stands on and lives by, day in and day out.

It is that message your company delivers to the world. It is that message acknowledging your business, the planet and people are all interconnected.

And by defining your Sustainability Blueprint, you will create and articulate your business’ purpose and mission to the world and show us you are here for the long haul and intend on contributing to the planet’s well being along the way.

My esteemed colleague, Bob Willard— in his recent book The Next Sustainability Wave— successfully illustrates how this can translate into a strong business advantage. In 2002 a reputable market survey showed 22% of people in the G7 countries consider themselves green consumers. Additionally, 237 of all 862 resolutions filed by shareholders of public companies in 2003 concerned social and environmental issues.

And this was five-six years ago. These numbers are much larger today.

Now here’s the Sustainability Blueprint conundrum: while teaching at the renowned Earth Institute at Columbia surrounds me with really, really smart environmental scientists, none of us can fully understand the impact our actions are having on the planet.

Yet interconnected we all are. And as these same expert scientists have been saying, time for keeping our planet in balance is now rapidly running out.

So we business owners and professionals don’t have much of a choice but to figure this one out… quickly.

ACTION STEPS FOR THE WEEK:

Define your Sustainability Blueprint. Start by reflecting on your business and/or profession:

What areas do you see you can improve that will positively impact the planet and people?

How will they also benefit your business?

What environmental issues are you most passionate about: climate change, energy, deforestation, biodiversity, fishery depletion…?

How can you incorporate your passion for these issues into you sustainability blueprint?

Write a brief declaration for your Sustainability Blueprint from this.

NOTE: Next week we will look at 10 ways you can amp up your Sustainabity Blueprint.

What’s YOUR Sustainability Blueprint? - To learn more about this author, visit Stefan Doering's Website.

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