3 missteps to avoid when setting the pace for sustainability
I’m unclear as to whether it’s due to the post-Olympics hangover or because an entire high school track team left me in the dust during yesterday’s jog. But today I find myself deeply struck by the poor race strategy deployed by many leaders of corporate energy and sustainability programs – even the good ones.
What? You say this is a race? Most definitely. Conceiving, launching and maintaining an effective energy and sustainability management focus is perhaps one of the longest and hardest races a company will face. This is a race against dwindling and shifting energy, water and raw material sources. A race for the best talent from a generation that cares where they work and how they spend their dollars. It’s also a race against the physics of a changing climate.
Many companies have yet to fully grasp that not only has the starting gun sounded, but that they’re in the pack – complete with shorty running shorts, sweatbands and all. And shareholders, civil society and future generations on the sidelines are alternately cheering, jeering and judging their progress.
So what’s a great long-distance runner to do? Let’s begin by showing up to the starting line with a race plan on what to avoid in order to make steady progress.
