Book Quotations – From “Sustainable Frontiers”

Sustainable Frontiers

Book Title: Sustainable Frontiers: Unlocking Change Through Business, Leadership and Innovation

Authors: Wayne Visser

Publication details: Greenleaf Publishing, 2015

For more information: See the Book Profile

Quotations

1. So much of making a successful transition to a more sustainable future depends on letting go
2. We must find ways to let go of an industrial system that has served us well, but is no longer fit for purpose
3. We have to let go of old styles of leadership & outdated models of business, high-impact lifestyles & selfish values
4. We must learn to let go of cherished ideologies that are causing destruction
5. We must learn to let go of beliefs about ways to tackle problems that are failing to resolve crises
6. We are scared to let go, because we are comfortable clinging to our consumptive habits & selfish behaviours
7. The future is uncertain – and our greatest fear as humans is a fear of the unknown
8. We would rather trust (and fight to protect) the present we know than gamble on the future we don’t know
9. Civilizations that fail to change are civilizations that ultimately fall
10. The decline of civilizations starts with the failure to open the public and political mind to new possibilities
11. People become trapped in a paradigm – a pattern of thinking – and are closed to a different, emergent world-view
12. If we are to reach sustainable frontiers, it must begin with changing our collective minds
13. First, we must change our collective minds – and only then will we change our collective behaviour
14. We will all have to let go of cherished beliefs and strategies that are not working
15. Sustainability I’ve discovered to be many things, but not an effective strategy for change – at least, not yet
16. The essential idea of sustainability is about as exciting as watching lettuce wilt under the midday sun
17. Sustainability has won many battles, but has lost the war for the hearts and minds of the people
18. Sustainability has been warning of scarcity & survival, when what people want is prosperity & thriving
19. The sustainability movement has failed to understand what it means to be human
20. As human beings, our lives are all about change – about growth & development & making things better
21. Sustainability “wonks” believe that they are all about Progress with a capital P. The world remains unconvinced
22. Sustainability is like a geeky, pimply teenager who has come to our party & turned off the music
23. Sustainability folks keep telling us that we would really be much happier if we stopped having so much darn fun!
24. The key to having a good time, declares the sustainability mantra, is to practice a lot more self-restraint
25. All those on board the sustainability austerity train, say “Hell, yeah!” … What, no one?
26. If we are to survive (let alone thrive), the world is going to have to change – dramatically, radically & irreversibly
27. When change does turn our lives upside down (as it will), how can we become more resilient?
28. Change is all about connection. In other words, connectivity is the underlying catalyst for change
29. Learning only happens when synapses are formed: they connect the neurons to each other
30. Scaling the number of networked relationships is at the heart of change, including biological & social evolution
31. If we want to save the sustainability movement, we will have to get much smarter about change
32. We desperately need transformational leadership in order to advance the frontier of sustainability
33. Calamitous leadership led us all, Pied Piper-like, into the 2008 global financial crisis
34. The global financial crisis was ushered in while leading companies happily chanted “greed is good” in unison
35. To survive in the sustainability era, companies will have to move beyond their aggressive tendencies
36. Companies need to become genuinely concerned about the perspectives & wellbeing of all their stakeholders
37. Stakeholders, if maltreated, can bite bite back – & even the most macho multinationals can bleed
38. Too many companies have grown used to speaking to stakeholders only on a ‘need to know’ basis
39. There is no shortage of companies that mistake ‘telling’ for ‘dialogue’ & get backchat from angry stakeholders
40. Our incumbent global cadre of executive leadership is being forced to shapeshift, like it or not
41. Those that have the foresight to change fundamentally are more likely to survive and thrive
42. When it comes to sustainability, we are actually talking about changing a vastly complex system
43. It takes a complex mix of different players to bring about lasting change for sustainability
44. The bottom line is that we are gambling with our climate future, but we can still spread our bets
45. If we want real transformation in society, our best chance is to keep spinning the wheel of systems change
46. If there is one reason why organisational change fails, it is because we underestimate resistance to change
47. Resistance to change comes from inertia – and inertia happens because change is like an iceberg
48. Shifting our habits, attitudes, beliefs and values is the real secret to making change happen
49. Changing a leader’s world-view is the first step to changing an organisation
50. Sustainability reports are practically burping with all the ‘low hanging fruit’ companies have gorged on
51. As humans, we are always ‘chasing the blue’ – so we have to be convinced that where we are going is sunnier
52. Most people in most parts of the world don’t believe a sustainable future is necessarily a better future
53. A blue skies strategy means being willing to take a risk as a leader & to set big hairy audacious goals
54. Blue-sky leaders know that we are only inspired by reaching for an impossible dream
55. We desperately need more Apollo-like sustainability missions that the public can get genuinely excited about
56. Impacts that are far away, or in the future, are like smoldering fires in the distance: not action-worthy
57. People need to feel the heat: directly, personally, here and now. That might mean lighting a few fires
58. If you’re trying to make change happen, use burning platforms to create the urgency for change
59. Use blue skies to create the reasons to change, baby steps for momentum & big beliefs to sustain energy
60. Unlocking change is not only about what you do, but also whether you are tapped into your own power
61. There are deep psychological – even existential – reasons why we “do” sustainability
62. Sustainability allows us to feel that our work is aligned to our personal values
63. Sustainability is a bit like chess – it is complex, dynamic & challenging, like an earth-puzzle that needs solving
64. There are four sustainability leader archetypes – experts, facilitators, catalysts & activists
65. Experts, facilitators, catalysts & activists each represent a different kind of sustainability change agent
66. In the world of sustainability superheroes, you should know which cape and tights fits you best
67. Aligning with your inner superhero allows you to be more professionally effective and purpose-inspired
68. For change to be sustained and transformational, we need the joint efforts of the sustainability Fantastic Four
69. The sustainability Fantastic Four superhero powers are knowledge, collaboration, imagination & compassion
70. The first step to overcoming short-termism is to challenge the prevailing wisdom
71. Sustainability must be recast as being fundamentally about the way a company does business
72. We must keep identifying & promoting actions that question shareholder supremacy & financial speculation
73. Trust comes from investing in long-term relations, rather than attempting to buy positive opinions
74. Companies lose the trust of stakeholders because they over-promise and under-deliver
75. Only if there is a genuine strategic commitment to sustainability from the top will we see meaningful change
76. Stakeholders remain skeptical of companies’ motives & commitment to societal improvement – & rightly so
77. To overcome stakeholder skepticism, companies must commit to bold strategic social & environmental goals
78. To succeed, sustainability has to be translated into the language of the business or sector or functional area
79. Unless sustainability is built into the company’s compensation schemes, middle managers will not align
80. We need sustainability leaders to be consistent role models & to put their money where their mouths are
81. When employees feel proud of their organization’s sustainability efforts, they become its biggest champion
82. Unless the C-suite is on board with sustainability, all other efforts are bound to fail
83. Sustainability leaders are able to think systemically, to see interconnections & to bridge silos
84. Sustainability leaders will always find a way to put their values to work, no matter what industry they’re in
85. We all share responsibility for inspiring & supporting each other to create a better world
86. Revolutionary change is more often the result of new ways of thinking than new ways of doing
87. CSR & triple bottom line efforts have been criticised as little more than window dressing & corporate spin
88. Employees believe they work for great organisations when they trust the people they work for
89. We must create work environments that support women who do not want to trade-off their career & family
90. Creating a family-friendly enterprise requires a shift in leadership perceptions & organizational culture
91. Let’s celebrate workplaces that support not only you & your job, but also your family & your quality of life
92. Promoting cycling among employees is not only good for personal health, but also good for the planet
93. It is a popular myth that CSR is not relevant, too expensive or not incentivized for SMEs
94. Implicit CSR includes informal ethical practices that are not dependent on size or financial muscle
95. I look forward to the day when “small is beautiful” applies as much to sustainable business as economic activity
96. Understanding virtual water – embedded in the things we trade – is critical as our global water crisis increases
97. To get us through the day, it takes about a hundred times our own weight in water [in industrialised economies]
98. We all have footprints. But we can lighten the tread & ensure they are heading in a more sustainable direction
99. Research shows that businesses with more women on their board of directors bring a string of sustainability benefits
100. The circular economy – where closed-loop production brings us closer to zero waste – is a real business opportunity
101. Our economy is so inefficient that less than 1% of the resources we extract still exist as products 6 months after sale
102. Scaling up the circular economy requires concrete measures to meet mult-stakeholder sustainability targets
103. The circular economy represents an annual $380-630 bn material cost saving opportunity in the EU
104. If we fail to achieve a sustainable technology revolution, we will face “overshoot and collapse” as a civilization
105. Not only is technological innovation booming, but it is rapidly shifting twoards sustainable solutions
106. Many of the World Economic Forum’s top 10 most promising technologies have a clear enviornmental & social focus
107. The market for clean energy technologies is projected to grow from $248 bn in 2013 to $398 bn in 2023
108. More patents have been filed in the past 5 years than the previous 30 for climate change mitigation technologies
109. Contrary to what some may think, emerging markets cannot be assumed to lag on sustainable technological innovation
110. What does the future hold? The sustainable technology innovation wave is only just building
111. According to McKinsey & Co., resource productivity opportunities could save us $2.9 trillion by 2030
112. The challenges of the 21st century will stretch our collective capacity for innovation like never before
113. To ensure food security, we need to find 175-220 million hectares of additional cropland by 2030
114. To ensure food security, we need to increase total food production by about 70% by 2030
115. We have to tackle the problem of 1.3 billion tonnes of food wasted every year – a third of all food produced
116. Resource productivity opportunities show that reducing food waste could return $252 bn in savings by 2030
117. Creating a sustainable “cold chain” in the developing world could eliminate 25-50% of food wastage
118. The sustainability revolution is as much about changing perceptions, attitudes & behaviours as changing technology
119. Agricultural demand will require a 140% increase in water supply over the next 20 years compared with the past 20
120. It is estimated that the global biofuels market could double to $185.3 bn by 2021
121. We are all, with our modern lifestyles, hooked on chemicals, for energy, colourants, food, health & beauty
122. The WHO estimates that the chemical industry causes around a million deaths globally every year
123. Chemicals are harming people, yet because of their benefits & the world’s addiction, they cannot be eliminated
124. The cost to the global economy of chemical pollution has been estimated at $546 bn, rising to $1.9 tn by 2050
125. Can the chemicals ever be sustainable? The answer is maybe. The big leap forward is green chemistry
126. The “green” label has been so abused over the past few decades that it is wise to suspect PR spin or greenwashing
127. The green chemistry market is set to grow from $2.8 bn in 2011 to $98.5 bn by 2020, saving the industry $65.5 bn
128. The top benefits from implementing sustainable technology are resource productivity & economic development
129. The top barriers to sustainable technology adoption are the local of local qualified workers & institutional capacity
130. The marketing benefits of demonstrating sustainable technologies in developing countries can be significant
131. Major reductions in the environmental impacts of the chemicals industry can be achieved by adopting best practices
132. Resource scarcity & human rights issues surrounding metals extraction mean the industry is facing some tough realities
133. People living in extreme poverty could drop from 1.2 billion in 2010 to under 100 million by 2050
134. An environmental disaster scenario could mean 3.1 billion more people living in extreme poverty by 2050
135. Unless the world’s booming economies can lighten the weighty anchor of resource consumption, we will all sink
136. The largest metals & mining companies have environmental external costs of $220 billion, 77% relating to carbon
137. The picture that emerges is of a metals sector under seige, an industry that is soon to be the victim of its own success
138. Iron & steel energy efficiency & end-use steel efficiency could deliver $278 billion in resource savings by 2030
139. The sustainability impacts of the extractive sector are serious – sometimes even tragic & catastrophic
140. Technology, the source of so much destruction in the mining & metals industry, can also be its saviour
141. Today, less than a third of 60 metals analysed have an end-of-life recycling rate above 50% & 34 are below 1%
142. The best available sustainable technology is not always the most applicable, especially in developing countries
143. Technology can help to rescue the high-impact extractives sector from its siege by the forces of sustainability
144. Extractives companies need to recast themselves as resource stewardship companies
145. Extractives companies must become experts at circular production and post-consumer “mining”
146. Customers & governments need to give up their compulsive throw-away habits & embrace the take-back economy
147. Necessity, rather than an unexpected attack on conscience, will drive the transition to a circular economy
148. Sustainable technologies are transforming our outdated industrial model, which is no longer fit for purpose
149. Without innovation, we are unlikely solve many of global social & environmental problems
150. Eco-innovation is the next evolution beyond eco-efficiency, to strategically transform the whole business model
151. When it comes to reinventing capitalism, eco-innovation is one of the next waves business will want to surf
152. Technology presents citizens with far greater opportunities to engage with sustainability issues than ever before
153. Hyper-connectivity makes responsiveness more possible – and less likely
154. Value-action gaps make stakeholder feedback more collectable – and less valuable
155. The wisdom of the crowd can – without validation – also become the tragedy of the commons
156. The proliferation of sustainability standards has led to market confusion for investors & consumers
157. What is missing across the sustainability standards arena is greater clarity & more co-ordination
158. It is inevitable that advances in “big data” analytics will start to be applied to sustainability databases
159. Sustainability data structuring, searchability & signposting will become at least as important as a qualitative narrative
160. What really matters for the fututre of transparency is how sustainability data is organised & made accessible
161. Sustainability reporting is only one face of the transparency coin; on the other side is sustainability ratings