Leadership, Change, and the Future of Business: Sustainability Is the New Advantage by Peter McAteer

Sustainability is reshaping the business landscape, offering a powerful advantage to forward-thinking leaders. Peter McAteer’s insightful book delves into this crucial topic, providing a roadmap for companies to thrive in an eco-conscious world. It’s a must-read for anyone looking to stay ahead in today’s competitive market.

Dive into this review to discover how sustainability can revolutionize your business strategy and secure your company’s future success.

Genres

Business, Environmental Studies, Leadership, Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, Organizational Change, Green Business, Management, Economics, Future Studies

McAteer’s book explores sustainability as a strategic advantage in modern business. He argues that embracing sustainable practices isn’t just an ethical choice, but a crucial factor for long-term success. The author outlines how companies can integrate sustainability into their core strategies, fostering innovation and driving growth.

The book is divided into three main sections. The first part examines the current business landscape and the growing importance of sustainability. McAteer discusses how environmental concerns, resource scarcity, and changing consumer attitudes are reshaping market dynamics.

The second section focuses on leadership and change management. McAteer provides practical advice on how leaders can drive sustainable transformation within their organizations. He emphasizes the importance of clear communication, employee engagement, and aligning sustainability goals with business objectives.

The final part looks to the future, exploring emerging trends and technologies that will shape sustainable business practices. McAteer presents case studies of companies successfully implementing sustainable strategies, offering valuable lessons for readers.

Throughout the book, McAteer emphasizes that sustainability is not a burden but an opportunity for innovation, cost reduction, and competitive differentiation. He provides actionable steps for businesses to assess their current practices, set meaningful goals, and implement sustainable initiatives.

Review

McAteer’s book offers a compelling argument for sustainability as a business imperative. His writing style is clear and accessible, making complex concepts easy to grasp. The blend of theoretical frameworks and practical examples gives readers a comprehensive understanding of the topic.

One of the book’s strengths is its focus on leadership. McAteer rightly identifies that sustainable transformation requires strong, visionary leadership. His insights on change management are particularly valuable, offering practical strategies for overcoming resistance and fostering a culture of sustainability.

The case studies scattered throughout the book are well-chosen and illustrative. They provide real-world examples of companies successfully implementing sustainable practices, adding credibility to McAteer’s arguments.

However, the book could benefit from more in-depth exploration of potential challenges and pitfalls. While McAteer acknowledges that implementing sustainable practices can be difficult, more discussion on overcoming specific obstacles would enhance the book’s practical value.

Overall, “Sustainability Is the New Advantage” is a timely and valuable resource for business leaders. It provides a clear roadmap for companies looking to thrive in an increasingly eco-conscious world. McAteer’s expertise shines through, making this book a must-read for anyone interested in the future of business and sustainability.

Recommendation

Business leaders have known for decades that there was a need to tackle environmental and social issues, yet most failed to take action. According to sustainability transformation consultant Peter McAteer, today’s leaders can’t afford to mirror that inaction. McAteer explains why all businesses, regardless of size, must start taking accountability for their contributions to problems such as unsustainable consumption patterns, social inequality, and environmental degradation. McAteer offers applicable insights to help leaders transform organizational practices and become sustainability champions.

Take-Aways

• Leaders must step up as change agents and connect sustainability to value creation.
• Approach sustainability from a systemic perspective, taking interrelated issues into account.
• Small and medium-size enterprises play an essential role in reaching global sustainability targets.
• Lead by enabling and influencing others to support sustainability.
• Implement a decentralized problem-solving process.
• Invest in knowledge transfer, and provide learning and development opportunities.
• Create an inclusive culture that supports collaborative decision-making and personal growth.
• Scale the transformation, and embed sustainability in the organization.

Summary

Leaders must step up as change agents and connect sustainability to value creation.

The world is facing the collapse of ecosystems and human infrastructure as a result of global warming and extreme weather events. At the same time, social challenges such as global poverty and the ubiquity of child labor persist despite the potential for solutions. Leaders must start taking accountability and engaging in self-reflection about how they may be contributing to these and other social and environmental issues. Business leaders can — and must — act as change agents to help humanity achieve global sustainability targets.

“To create sustainable organizations, innovation must be married to the goal of creating a better future.”

Many business leaders see sustainability as a liability rather than as an advantage that can help their business succeed. To shift their companies’ practices, leaders must address this fallacy. Case studies of how other companies have benefited from embracing sustainability can help change minds. For example, in 2010, the UK conglomerate Unilever’s new CEO, Paul Polman, instituted a plan to shift the company toward sustainable, environmentally friendly practices and values. By 2016, Unilever reported that its Sustainable Living brands were growing 50% faster than the company’s other products.

No individual leader holds entire responsibility for the complex challenges humanity is facing, but it’s vital that every leader accepts personal accountability for the individual actions they’ve taken that have contributed to the erosion of the greater good. Too many have stood by silently while their companies harmed the environment in the pursuit of profit — when they could have pushed for more eco-friendly practices. Leaders need to do more than self-reflect: They need to take action. Look closely at your business’s current practices, and ask how your organization could start shifting toward more sustainable business practices today. Sharing the accountability journey will positively influence others to do the same.

Approach sustainability from a systemic perspective, taking interrelated issues into account.

The definition of “sustainability” is evolving and varies across contexts, but sustainable organizations tend to share several characteristics. Sustainable companies often connect their goals to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) laid out in Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 17 goals listed in that publication include achieving gender equality, ensuring responsible consumption and production patterns, taking urgent action to combat climate change, promoting sustainable economic growth and decent working conditions, and ending poverty.

“For a bold few, sustainability offers the opportunity to reinvent their business.”

Accelerating the shift to sustainable business practices will require forward-thinking organizations in every sector to model higher standards of behavior. Sustainable organizations embed sustainability in their core business model, and a purpose statement connects the company’s strategic direction to a clear sustainability narrative. Reporting mechanisms align individual sustainability actions to social and economic value creation. These organizations embrace a systems-thinking perspective, and they harness the power of data, using functional models and assessments to identify sustainable business opportunities and take concrete actions such as job or project creation.

Small and medium-size enterprises play an essential role in reaching global sustainability targets.

When large organizations embrace sustainability, they can have outsize positive effects on the world — and their own bottom lines. But small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) can also contribute to the greater good and enjoy the benefits of more sustainable business practices. SMEs are companies in the United States that employ fewer than 500 workers or those in the European Union that employ fewer than 250 workers and have annual revenues under 50 million euros ($53.5 million). Given that more than 27 million SMEs operate in the United States alone, their participation is vital.

“SMEs are where entrepreneurs live, new ideas find investment, and risk-takers emerge to start new social enterprises.”

SMEs’ approach to sustainability transformation usually differs from how larger companies pursue this change. Bigger companies might employ a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) to oversee their transformations, and they often file corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. SMEs don’t always have a dedicated CSO or file CSR reports. SMEs also frequently lack the degree of supplier bargaining power that large companies have and therefore can’t exploit this avenue to pursue sustainability goals.

If you work in an SME, the following business practices can aid your efforts toward sustainability:

• Meet certification standards, such as the B Impact Assessment, which measures environmental, worker, customer, community, and governance practices.
• Ensure founders and promoters play an active role in sharing the message of sustainability.
• Educate staff through active learning mechanisms, and connect them to community networks of sustainability leaders who can act as teachers.
• Hire employees who are passionate about your mission, and recruit senior leaders who bring experience in overseeing sustainable business transformations.
• Nurture a robust ecosystem of vendors and industry or government associations that share your commitment to sustainability.

Lead by enabling and influencing others to support sustainability.

Become a leader in your organization’s sustainability transformation by taking the following steps:

1. Redefine your role to incorporate sustainability leadership — A leader guiding a company through a sustainability transformation must engage in multiple tasks: identifying value-creation opportunities that support an evolving portfolio of sustainable growth innovations; investing in and removing any barriers to sustainable growth; identifying employees’ potential and acting as a coach; and communicating with stakeholders about the transformation.
2. Communicate your new business objectives — Sustainability leaders need to translate the company’s new overarching objectives and purpose into practical, actionable goals teams and individual employees can strive to achieve.
3. Share your commitment to the social good — Consider launching an engagement program to communicate your interest in driving positive social change to stakeholders and the public. For example, Patagonia demonstrates its commitment to corporate social responsibility by auditing direct and tier 2 suppliers in an effort to prevent the exploitation of overseas migrant workers.
4. Train teams in executing sustainability goals — Share concrete goals with teams — such as “Reduce supply chain carbon footprint by 20% year over year.” Give workers the training they need to help the organization work toward these goals.
5. Enable innovation within the value chain — Train employees in innovation. Empower them to identify areas where they feel compelled to drive innovation, and offer training in these areas.
6. Improve outcomes with specialized development — Encourage critical stakeholders to reflect on new ways they could approach social goals and their relationships with and commitments to communities, governments, partners, and suppliers. Stakeholders should adopt a design thinking mindset as they identify new relationship opportunities and codify emerging practices and heuristics.

Implement a decentralized problem-solving process.

A collaborative, decentralized problem-solving process will aid teams in working toward their goals. The following framework is adapted from General Electric’s “Workout” process:

1. Select people and refine the problem statement — Appoint a team to investigate the problem. The team should begin by analyzing the issue and making general recommendations.
2. Define the problem’s boundaries and options for solutions — The problem-solving team should analyze the root causes of the problem, from both a systems perspective and a design thinking perspective, and consider potential solutions. The team should discuss how the company’s assets, resources, and relationships with tier 1 and 2 partners might play into the problem and potential solutions. The team should then rank potential solutions in terms of their value creation — for the company, society, and the environment — and in terms of their alignment with the organization’s sustainability goals or CSR statements.
3. Review recommendations with an executive team — An executive team should review the recommended strategic actions and either approve them, revise them, or send the problem-solving team back to the development stage.
4. Identify project sponsors — Senior executives should take on the role of project sponsor for approved options.
5. Brief senior executives and ensure accountability — The problem-solving team should brief project sponsors on the process as it moves forward. The sponsoring executives must be prepared to remove any barriers to implementation and rapidly allocate any needed funds.
6. Communicate — The team should communicate the new sustainability plans to the entire organization.
7. Allocate resources and implement — Leaders should dedicate resources necessary to implement the selected solutions, and the team should work within short reporting cycles — no longer than 90 days. Executives should monitor the long-term effects of the implemented solutions.

Invest in knowledge transfer, and provide learning and development opportunities.

Embed sustainability throughout the organization by overseeing the transfer of four types of knowledge:

• Rule-based knowledge: information people can collectively accept as accurate, such knowledge grounded in accepted scientific research.
• Rules of thumb or heuristics: new information people believe is most likely true, such as knowledge derived from predictive analytics.
• Mental models: ways of thinking and making decisions.
• Rituals: the social norms and rites of passage that create a sense of community and nurture the corporate culture.

Organizations that invest in employee learning and development tend to post higher stock market returns than competitors that don’t provide these opportunities. Consider providing team members with access to training through corporate universities, such as the Royal Bank of Scotland’s corporate training center. Corporate universities often offer both in-person and online learning opportunities, so gig and remote workers can also benefit. These programs typically provide feedback systems, often driven by artificial intelligence insights, to support learners. By sharing high-quality sustainability-related content with stakeholders, a company can differentiate itself from competitors.

Create an inclusive culture that supports collaborative decision-making and personal growth.

A culture of shared decision-making leads to better decisions by protecting against cognitive bias. Building this kind of culture begins with recruiting and training people who align with the organization’s values and best practices. Endeavor to create an inclusive culture where all team members feel safe sharing their authentic perspectives, and encourage peer-to-peer engagement. Recognize the strengths and capacities employees from diverse backgrounds can bring to collaborative decision-making. For example, older employees may possess valuable community and social knowledge and feel motivated to “give back” to the company.

“The value of collaboration in new knowledge creation and the importance of peer-to-peer interactions in development cannot be understated.”

To attract, engage, and retain employees who have the core competencies you need, nurture a culture that supports personal growth. Teach team members how to make good organizational and management decisions through the lens of business ethics. For example, the division of Galaxy Entertainment based in China’s Macao region provides team members specialized training in topics such as corruption and money laundering to help ensure ethical compliance. Give leaders who work across geographic borders to support sustainability transformation the training they need to manage issues with sensitivity. Provide education about local contexts, including how national identity and religion shape social norms.

Scale the transformation, and embed sustainability in the organization.

As an individual leader, you can become a sustainability champion by taking these steps:

1. Validate the new business model — Overcome any fears people may have related to transitioning to a sustainable business model by demonstrating returns on the new value proposition.
2. Experiment, test, and refine to hone the new approach — Gather data and conduct a regression analysis to determine the relationship between actions taken and social and economic outcomes.
3. Capture knowledge — Ensure the organization can repeat successes by building case studies that can contribute to codified practices.
4. Convert early lessons into scalable practices — Investments in training and development, and the establishment of social rituals, will build an aligned sense of purpose and support the replication of sustainable practices.
5. Embed sustainability in the organization’s values — Consider creating signature events where leaders recognize employees’ contributions to sustainability goals. Ensure hiring, onboarding, and promotions all align with the organization’s sustainability principles.
6. Embrace opportunities — Create value by pursuing new avenues for sustainable growth.

About the Author

Peter McAteer is the managing director of SustainLearning LLC, a firm that provides training to help organizations reach sustainability and well-being goals. He’s the author of books such as Pathways to Action: How Keystone Organizations Can Lead the Fight for Climate Change.