Sustainability - New and Different Thinking

If you're like most business leaders, you're seeing and hearing more and more about sustainability, carbon-responsibility, clean-tech, and, of course, "green" - and that this collection of issues will be one of the primary forces transforming business for the next 20+ years.

Perhaps you are business leader who has already and/or is currently taking tangible action in this arena. The ranks appear to be growing - in small and large companies alike across industries, including among others, WalMart, GE, Tyson, and BP. In addition, venture capital and private equity devoted to this "emerging" market, especially in "clean-tech", have increased dramatically.

And yet, the current reality seems to be that most business leaders are at the point of:

"I know this is upon us, I know it's big and only going to be bigger, I know I need to be taking action, but where do I start and how do I take action with my team in a meaningful, effective, profit- and growth-oriented way?" and

"I know we are doing a few things on this, but the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing - it's not deliberate, defined, purposeful - and I see that, at the least, being counterproductive - and more than likely, resulting in us being left behind."

Taking action in a meaningful way - a sustainable way, if you will - will require new and different thinking - pushed thinking - a new mindset. Notwithstanding the technical issues involved, perhaps most important to the long-term success will be answers to these questions: Do we have a coherent vision and strategy for how our organization will address this set of issues? How do I align my leadership and employees around this vision? How do we communicate a cohehsive and coherent set of messages internally? How do we align and develop the culture to support our vision? Are our external and internal actions and messages consistent? How do I ensure that the infrastructure is in place for the new ideas and different thinking required to address this new business reality?

How are you answering these questions? Are you prepared to tackle them? Are you ready for the new and different thinking that these questions require?