Giving Compass' Take:

• All In: The Future of Business Leadership looks at how social innovators and entrepreneurs can work together to advance businesses and move toward sustainability by providing five attributes that are key to developing sustainable leadership in business. 

• How does the approach described in the book about business sustainability differ from other perspectives? 

• Read about other ways companies can build sustainability and inclusivity in their business. 

Social innovators, social entrepreneurs, and campaigners for social justice and sustainable development should see big business as potential allies and joint venture partners. Global companies have the responsibility, the resources, the reach and the “can-do” mindset to help drive positive impact at speed and at scale.

We know it instinctively, feel it intuitively, and see it empirically. The world is going through unprecedented change at extraordinary speed thanks to revolutions affecting markets, technology, demographics, development, and values. Any one such revolution would have major implications. Taken together, mutually reinforcing and interacting with other macro forces like biodiversity, the disruption they cause presents both escalating risks and amazing opportunities.

All In: The Future of Business Leadership looks at these risks and the scale and pace of change that economies, the environment, and society are experiencing through the lens of sustainability leadership, particularly the private sector’s contribution to ameliorating the challenges facing the world today. There are five key interlinking attributes for business to go all in: a framework for leadership.

  • It starts with having a purpose—a clear, defining idea of what a business stands for, which is inspiring, authentic, and which explains how a business creates value for itself and for society.
  • It involves having a comprehensive plan covering all aspects of a business and its value chain.
  • It is about having a sustainable culture which is about being innovative, engaging, transparency, and accountable.
  • To achieve scale, it requires collaboration with a whole range of other businesses.
  • The fifth and final attribute is advocacy: being prepared to speak out and to speak up for social justice and sustainable development.

Read the full article about business sustainability at Stanford Social Innovation Review.