The Gallon Environment Letter

Vol. 10, No. 7, April 18, 2005
BOB WILLARD'S BOOK: THE NEXT SUSTAINABILITY WAVE
By COLIN ISAACS

Bob Willard's new book "The Next Sustainability Wave: Building Boardroom Buy-In" explores five drivers which encourage the highest levels of decision-makers in companies to adopt sustainability initiatives and strategies. GL discussed his last book "The Sustainability Advantage" published in 2002. (see GL Vol. 8, No. 5, October 7, 2003) This new book is written for the modern age: one side is charts, quotations, Dilbert cartoons, and the other side more conventional text, creating a snappy bubbling-along kind of read.

One of the drivers causing corporate change is business risk based on the concept of "the burning platform." The idea comes from the explosion and fire on the Piper Alfa offshore platform in the North Sea in 1988. There were only about 60 survivors from among 200 people on the platform. People jumped, plunging down fifteen stories from the platform to the icy North Sea. When one survivor was asked why he jumped, he replied that he faced certain death on the burning platform, uncertain death below. He jumped because he had to.

Willard suggests that for business, the burning platform is the clustering together of a number of sustainability-related market forces. He discusses five: 1. climate change 2. pollution and its effect on health 3. globalization backlash 4. energy crunch and 5. erosion of trust in institutions.

These market forces bring risks in the form of regulatory bans on products or emissions, reduced market demand, remediation liabilities, insurance costs, rise in prices for inputs and energy, difficulties in accessing capital and competitive disadvantage as other companies adopt a more sustainable approach.
It is a useful book for those with knowledge of business sustainability initiatives. It is particularly of value for those leaders of business just becoming aware of the sparks which might set afire their company's platform.