Sustainable Leadership
What does 'sustainability really mean?
Sustainability is the possibility that humans and other life will flourish on Earth forever. ~John Ehrenfeld
The Earth as Paradise. ~Jim Channon
These meet my definition! Now, how can leaders create companies that can help make this happen?
The Future
The skills needed to move organizations into the very fragile and volatile future will have their basis in ethics and systems thinking. The ability to see and manage whole systems and the relationships within them are critical. Neither of these skills are simple nor are they learned quickly. They require leaders to grow personally, to show the courage of self-knowledge coupled with the willingness to be a public example and model. These are not easy things to be, but without people who are willing to take the first steps there will be no path for others to follow
Download the Sustainable Leadership White Paper HERE
Ethics and Leadership
As an entrepreneur you are in a perfect place to create the business you've always wanted to be a part of. Your legacy can be the creation of a workplace that people LOVE to work in. You can create a company that is not only profitable, but one that develops people. You contribute to their life as they contribute to yours.
A deeper understanding of the interdependence of organizational effectiveness and ethical behavior can offer new insights into simple (not easy) and cost effective ways of improving the bottom line while increasing morale and product/service quality. Ethics can an engine for success!
Why is ethics versus business even a question? Often people see this as a tension – an either/or kind of situation and that kind of thinking is based on a false understanding of the relationship between effective and powerful business practices and ethics.
This confusion leads to a number of myths that allow people to rationalize behavior they would be ashamed to claim in any other endeavor. Human beings are very good at compartmentalizing their thinking and different aspects of their life, but they often pay for that "freedom" in both physical and psychological ways. Sickness and high turnover costs are both ways that companies pay for their willingness to ignore the core needs of people at work.
Take this free Leadership and Culture Assessment HERE
Sustainability and Leadership
Nature has evolved to be sustainable. Her 3.8 billion years of research and development has created a world astonishing in its beauty and breath taking in its diversity. Surely there is something to learn here. Biomimicry has open up our eyes to the incredible creativity found in the natural world as nature has solved problem after problem - sustainably. She uses minimal energy, no lasting toxins, no pollution, and no waste. She clearly understands how to manage her resources! When leaders take lessons from her then their organizations begin to learn these lessons too and reap the benefits of doing so!
Ecological thinking - thinking like the planet, systems thinking - seeing wholes and patterns, and acting in concert with natural law all improve the bottom-line, internal and external efficiencies, increase innovation, and even reveal new income streams.
We offer coaching, education and consulting to help you take the first steps on this amazing journey.
Members of the Resilience Institute reap big discounts - check it out!
|
