Crossroads Bulletin on Business, Law, and the Environment

May 2005
The Next Sustainability Wave
By WILLIAM D'ALESSANDRO

Bob Willard's first book contained a practical accounting method to quantify the financial case for corporate sustainability. In the final chapter, the career veteran of IBM Canada wondered, "If the business case is so good, why are smart executives not taking advantage of it?". This sequel tries to answer the question by examining the motives of companies that get the message, and by making arguments to overcome the objections of those that don't.

The author takes the view that convincing executives to embrace sustainable management is no different than marketing any product to them. In a delightful sketch, Willard writes about his first attempt to get Lou Gerstner, the chairman and CEO of IBM, interested in sustainable development. It took six months and reviews by 18 people to write a letter of one and a half pages.
 
Willard used phrases such as "business will play a vital role in the health of our planet."  The intention was to link what was good for the world with what was good for IBM.  Gerstner and senior management interpreted the appeal as a call for IBM to support more worthy philanthropic causes, not as a strategic business suggestion.

Willard writes, "Maybe a better letter would have been: ‘Dear Lou: I have some thoughts on how IBM could increase its profit by 38%.  Interested?  Yours truly… .'"

Willard says sustainability champions should not push sustainability, per se.  They should solve business problems.  And saving the world does not make the list. 
Those who have watched a relative handful of corporations inch forward on the social responsibility agenda may react somewhat negatively to Willard's approach.  On the edge of the corporate sustainability and environmental management, a few brave souls are already preaching that more is necessary than the advancement of win-win solutions.

Willard is not blind to criticisms about the bottom-line approach to sustainability.  He seems sympathetic to alternative values-based and moral arguments.  He holds his ground, though, saying, "in today's business community CSR needs a strong business rationale or it will fail."

"The Next Sustainability Wave" is the first book about strategic environmental and social business management that is actually fun to read.  It is a tribute to Willard's crisp, friendly style, intimate familiarity with the subject, and honesty.  But the book's success also stems from its unusual format.

Each right-hand page contains a concise discussion of one topic — for example: The Squeeze on Boards; How SMEs Are Different; Inhibiter #4: Mindset.  All left-hand pages hold sidebars — quotes from experts or from other literature, cartoons, tables, or charts that supplement the point being made on the facing page.

The sidebars are essential to the book. Willard lists the 43 sustainability experts he interviewed for the work between January 2002 and March 2004. Forty percent of them are consultants.

Willard and his publisher considered titling the book "Show Me the Money!"  They decided against it because the phrase was overused at the time, made famous by the movie Jerry Maguire. In retrospect, Willard says a better title might have been "Innovation, Productivity, and Competitive Advantage: The Sustainability Trinity."

The author's final thought is that "sustainability provides a vitamin supplement for corporate health."