Organisations that ‘get it’ are ones where sustainability is intrinsic to business behaviour

As our understanding of our interrelated nature becomes more apparent to us, we recognise that our values as individuals, organisations, communities and a Species are fundamentally what drive our ability to behave more sustainably and so embrace the transformational journey.

Organisations that ‘get it’ are the ones which appreciate that business is less about unethical short cuts in the name of profit, and more about value-creation through good business sense.

Organisations and individuals (leaders and employees) that begin to walk-the-talk of sustainability by believing in the holistic values and mission of the organisation shall be those organisations that embrace this next stage of sustainability maturity. It is a step beyond seeing sustainability as a business opportunity which can create value to realising it is the only appropriate way to do good business, and so becoming intrinsic to business behaviour.

This is about encouraging business activity which creates conditions conducive to life and no longer tolerating activity which is knowingly toxic to life. Unified visions, strong culture, corporate transparency and stakeholder dialogues ensure values-based sustainable business becomes everyday business.

This requires a transformation in business mentality, in business models and organisational culture.

As Norman Wolfe (author of The Living Organisation) rightly says

to function at the speed of today’s business environment, the corporate body must operate in a semi-autonomous fashion, much like the human body…the organisations that know their capabilities and their place within the total ecosystem will, like all living beings, outperform those that don’t

Our business paradigm is constantly changing and evolving as the times we live in change: mechanistic to humanistic to holistic – emergence from within the self, the organisation, the business ecosystem as part of the redesigning for resilience.