Friends
As I wrote last week, this is a series of posts on the critical areas that business leaders should prioritize to stay in business based on inquiries and work we have been doing with our clients in MIT Sloan Executive Education.
Sustainability as a Competitive Edge
🌿 My colleague John Sterman, a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management and leader of the MIT System Dynamics Group is a longtime sustainable business researcher and advocate of international renown. Some of hiis students apparently call him (lovingly!) “Dr. Doom,” thanks to a consistent theme in Sterman’s lectures that feels antithetical to the whole idea of capitalism–the Earth will run out of resources if we don’t better manage our consumption on all levels.
Sterman emphasizes that sustainable development can only be possible when we reconsider how we go about our lives and ask ourselves “How much is enough?” Business is growth-oriented, so how do we continue producing, marketing, and using goods and services in ways that won’t bankrupt the planet and write us out of existence?
🔦 Sterman suggests we look at complex issues such as climate change as systems with multiple interdependent elements, not a pileup of problems, and explore that complexity to find opportunities for innovation for a more sustainable future.*
🏫 A good place to start is by educating business leaders on the urgency of existential threats posed by climate change, as well as on the long-term effects of continuing business as usual. I am heartened to see organizations come to us lately not only to learn how to transform their own business for sustainable operations, but also how to magnify the impact of that knowledge.
Just in the last few years, we have worked with three major global professional services firms that not only brought their top executives to our programs but also their clients.
🔊 These organizations are amplifying their impact via their clients across many sectors, suggesting that their customers are seeking this information and education. They are spreading the message to more organizations and industries that may have not had the opportunity to benefit from MIT Sloan Executive Education otherwise.
These organizations are recognizing that sharing sustainability education is a competitive advantage. Even though their business typically is about having all the answers, they have the foresight to invite their clients to learn together and co-create solutions for truly sustainable business models.
💡 Visit the MIT Sloan Executive Education website to enroll in the next sustainability-focused course or explore custom solutions for organizations.
https://lnkd.in/eQ_NNcad
https://lnkd.in/eweK97c4
*“Climate Change, Refrigeration, and an Invaluable Lesson in Complexity” by Nicola Twilley http:/ / bit.ly/49nkbQ9
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