The Godfather of Sustainability’s message for business leaders: ACT. STRATEGICALLY. NOW.
When people think of Romania, do they think of a pioneer in sustainability? Not yet. “It is essential that you work out who you are, what you stand for, and how you are likely to be experienced by others.” This is John Elkington’s tip for all leaders brave enough to challenge the existing sustainability narratives in the Romanian business landscape and beyond.
Globally known as “The Godfather of Sustainability”, John has encouraged hundreds of leaders to embrace “once-unthinkable ways” of addressing new social, economic, environmental, and governance priorities. He is a renowned business advisor, entrepreneur, thought leader, and keynote speaker. A CSR International survey ranked him fourth among the Top 100 CSR leaders, alongside figures like Al Gore, Barack Obama and Muhammad Yunus.
John co-authored 20 books, including “Cannibals with Forks” which introduced the “Triple Bottom Line” concept (People, Planet, Profit) and “Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism.” His latest book, “Tickling Sharks”, shares the story of his first 75 years, the first 50 years of the sustainability movement and all the reasons why we will see more change in the next 15 years than in the last 50.
There has never been a more dynamic moment for transformation. For the first time in Romania, on stage at SUSTENLANDIA CEO Forum 2024 and in this exclusive interview for Community Index Magazine, he shares a key message vital for business leaders who want to help their companies survive the coming shift in global priorities and expand their horizons from responsibility to regeneration. Savour evergreen inspiration from John’s pioneering work to make business sense of sustainability!
1. In your new book, Tickling Sharks, you share an insider’s view on the challenges, triumphs, and transformations that have shaped the journey towards regenerative capitalism. Your key message is that “the next 15 years will see more change than the past 50 years, but that it will drive towards systemic breakdowns as well as breakthroughs.” What role is the quality of leadership going to play in this transition? In three words, what’s your call to action for sustainability leaders?
Our understanding of what leadership involves, and how it evolves over decades and through generations, is the core story in the book. After 50 years of working professionally in the field, it provided an opportunity to take stock – before deciding where to invest my energies in future.
Then your question. One section of the book explains why I have long resisted being forced into elevator pitches, where I have to distil complex messages down into 45 seconds – or, in this case, three words. But if I had to do three words, under duress, they would be: ACT. STRATEGICALLY. NOW.
2.Looking back at your career story, what are some key moments that have rocked your perspective on sustainability? What continues to drive your passion, excitement and commitment after all these years?
One was a visit in 2003 to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, on America’s Cape Cod peninsula, where the Director took my wife and I over a full day, meeting many of their leading climate and ocean scientists. That set of briefings persuaded me that the major current patterns have been shifting in the Atlantic since at least 1970 and their parting shot was that in 50 years my country, Britain, would have the climatic conditions of Siberia.
I don’t think most of us have any sense of what’s coming at us, and that’s an even bigger problem in corporate boardrooms, where people are increasingly incentivized to focus on short term risks and returns.
3.You’ve called for a “recall” of your Triple Bottom Line concept. What motivated this, and how should it be redefined for the modern world? How do you envision leaders applying the new concept in practical terms?
The original “product recall,” back in 2018, was published by the Harvard Business Review, and was well received – in the spirit of a provocation. But I was also very struck by the fact that so many people in the business world didn’t understand what a product recall actually means and involves. It is absolutely not the end of the story.
When a product – often a car – is found to have a defect, those models affected are recalled and fixed. They then go back on the road. In a similar spirit, I was not saying that the triple bottom line was a stupid idea and deserved to die. Instead, I had concluded that too many people were using it to guide tradeoffs between different forms of value or capital, rather than pursuing integrated solutions. I laid out my proposed resolution in my 2020 book, Green Swans.
In essence, this argued that the triple bottom line was mainly being applied within a “Responsibility” framing, so that incremental solutions were seen as acceptable. If, instead, you see our challenges as systemic, solutions need not only to be responsible but also to help rebuild the “Resilience” of our economies, societies and biosphere. And that implies “Regeneration” right across the triple bottom line spectrum, and beyond.
4.Romania has significant potential to leverage its natural resources and biodiversity to advance its sustainability efforts. How would you evaluate Romania’s current performance in sustainability, and what unique challenges does the country face? What advice would you offer to Romanian policymakers and business leaders to strengthen these efforts?
I have worked in over 50 countries over the years, so it is tough to keep track of everything that is going on in each of them. I have never worked in Romania, so answering this question is harder still. But with its historical and political background, I would be surprised if sustainability was a top priority. That said, I am encouraged to hear from some of the leaders in the field what they are doing.
The most radical innovations often come from the edges of incumbent systems!
The interview was initially published in the bilingual yearbook Community Index Magazine no. 6. You can flip through it here: https://communityindex.ro/community-index-magazine-2024/
