Don’t be put off by the inclusion of “systems thinking” in the description of this book. Systems thinking isn’t some complex, intangible notion that involves a lot of science and math. It is a way of better understanding the world based on tangible, observable facts that we live amongst every single day, at work, at home, within our own bodies, and scaling back out to our communities, nations, and economic and industrial systems.
The aim of this book is to introduce people in business, at any level and in any industry, who have repeatedly heard the terms “sustainability,” “triple bottom line,” or “corporate social responsibility” in a business context but want to learn what it means, as well as whether and how to do it.
For those already familiar and conversant with the terms, but not with systems thinking, it will add an understanding of how to pursue sustainable processes and practices. This book offers a succinct and easy-to- assimilate overview of these topics and uses the most recent information in making the business case for integrating such processes and practices into any firm, and for doing it more deeply. This may be a book to offer to colleagues who don’t yet understand growing opportunities and pressures, to plan for and address issues related to incorporating the planet and people to secure and enhance the prosperity orientation of commerce.
Financial success is judged on a short-term time frame. Quarterly performance, annual gains, and exponential growth are rewarded but, as will be discussed in pages that follow, emphasis on rapid and explosive growth in the near future frequently has had a negative impact when viewed over an extended span of time. If businesses wish to remain competitive and serve their shareholders, they will be required to contribute to social wellbeing in the long term. As incentives shape behavior, structuring them to make an impact offers more leverage than continual focus on the back end.
The seven chapters that follow are designed as a logical and easy- to-follow flow of information, supported by a host of documented and up-to-date facts. Each chapter dives progressively and gradually deeper into the concepts and ideas, and each is concluded with a brief summary. There is, hopefully, a balance of enough repetition in each chapter so that each of them stands on its own yet in total brings home the most important points without being annoyingly redundant. A number of additional resources are offered in the endnotes for those who want to delve further into some of the areas covered.
The authors’ hope is that readers find the information in this book useful, illuminating, and compelling, so that it serves as a springboard for further efforts for organizations to better themselves, finding ever more effective ways of innovating into the evolving 21st century model of business.