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Greetings!
Natural Logic turns 13 this week. No, no parties scheduled. (Yet. That I know about.) Just a great sense of satisfaction about the value we've been able to contribute to so many companies, and to the sustainable business revolution.
This is a year of re-invention for us, as I know it is for many of you. As more companies "get it" about sustainability, as the level of innovation and practice get more substantive, as the challenges that companies are grappling with deepen, we're refining the services we offer to better serve your evolving needs. Watch for information in the coming weeks about our newest service offerings -- to help you move more forthrightly, effectively and economically on these opportunities.
We're very excited about sharing them with you. (And if you're too excited to wait, feel free to call me directly for a personal preview.)
With best regards,
Gil
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Supply Chains, Transparency & Green Chemistry
I wrote last month of the sustainable supply chain conference I attended at the White House. This month I was among the presenters at another sustainable supply chain conference at Wharton/U Penn. At Sustainatopia, in Miami Beach, I joined a panel on gamification and sustainability -- a theme that was the buzz at the Sustainable Brands conference last year.
My focus in both cases: the challenge of radical transparency, and the potential impact this holds for how companies manage supply chains, engage people and businesses, and get more agile and effective coordination with less management overhead.
And last week, UC Berkeley's 2nd Annual Conference in Green Chemistry. But let me talk with you today about CFOs.
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CFOs & Sustainability
I moderated the panel on "CFOs and sustainability" at Silicon Valley Leadership Group's Sustainable Corporation conference last week.
The buck stops right at the CFO's door. The CFO "owns" risk and value -- and in most companies, the understanding of "sustainability-related risk" is conducted with incorrectly drawn boundaries and flawed analytic models, and overlooks materially significant factors and hidden subsidies. If it is conducted at all.
As a result, most companies will sub-optimize at best, leaving money on the table - and potentially violating fiduciary responsibility in the process - in completely avoidable ways.
In addition, CFOs also hold -- or potentially hold -- a weakly understood coordination role; according to Pritzker CFO Kevin Lynch, the CFO "touches more of the organization than any other executive, and serves as a balance point between short-term and long-term interests, between the innovators and stabilizers in an organization."
We had a panel of rockstars -- Chuck Boynton, EVP & CFO of SunPower Corporation, Mark Hawkins, EVP & CFO of Autodesk, and Lauralee Martin, EVP, COO & CFO, at Jones Lang LaSalle -- to provide a perspective from CFOs who get it, from companies that get it. A few highlights:
- Hawkins defined sustainability as preserving value and eliminating waste. "If a person is not thinking that way, they're accepting false choices. There's a lot of opportunity -- top line gains, better customer experience -- to get get stuck in false choices." - Martin also sees great opportunity to create value, but observed that "you have to think the way CFOs think. We think dollars. Talk the way we talk -- and don't get confused by leading w passion and we get a lot done." Her case in point: JLL seeks to deliver its clients energy and carbon savings equivalent to 10 times JLLs own footprint. But wait, there's more, since that $125m saved for client cash flow translates into an additional $2b in capitalized real estate. People can get very excited about that."
- Boynton talked of the need for metrics like direct ROI; "sometimes we'll require positive ROI, sometimes we'll accept negative with other substantial benefits. It's not purely financial; we live and breath sustainability as a core value, and there are impacts on employees & costumers that are very material & growing."
- All agreed that it's essential to avoid the trap of short-term thinking that so many companies are driven into by them demands of Wall Street. Long term at the expense of the near term is no better of course; companies need both, just as people can see better with two eyes. JLL has handled this as well as any I've seen; they've stopped providing quarterly guidance, challenging Wall Street to judge them on performance, not prediction.
- Much to my surprise and delight, each of them spoke about an animating purpose at each company that run far deeper than mere financial goals.
If you are interested in further exploring this intersection, please consider joining the small working group of CFOs we are convening to explore these issues. We'll meet monthly - and privately - over the next six months, and in a public colloquium in early 2012. If you'd like to be considered for participation - or if you would prefer a private, no obligation consultation on how these matters might impact your firm - please contact me immediately on 510-248-4940 (or at gfriend@natlogic.com). CFOs only, please. |
Convergence and Emergence
Several of you asked about the title of last month's newsletter, "Everything that Rises Must ConVERGE."
It was of course a play on words to set up my report on the VERGE conference. The reference I had in mind was Flannery O'Connor's wonderful short story collection
But that it turn was inspired by a quote from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (whose thinking I discovered about the same time Bucky Fuller came blasting into my life). deChardin is probably most known for coining the "no-opshere...) He also had this to say:
"Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love!
At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent.
"For everything that rises must converge."
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Helping companies take sustainability seriously -- and take it deep.
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| Inside Sustainability
We're off and running with Inside Sustainability, a new service providing direct access to exclusive briefings and private teleconferences exploring the cutting edge of sustainability leadership.
Even if you've missed the charter membership offer that expired last week, you can still subscribe here -- in time to join us for the first teleconference -- coming this week!
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How Natural Logic
can help your company Is your company ready to take sustainability seriously, and take it deep -- as a fundamental driver of business value AND contribution to your community and the world? That's what we do.
How?
Full Cycle Sustainability™ engagements that help you design, implement and measure profitable sustainability strategies. Executive Coaching that helps you elevate and accelerate your personal & corporate sustainability commitments. On-demand eLearning that gets your entire organization engaged, aligned and effective.
In the words of one of our recent clients, "Natural Logic takes complex problems and makes them simple!" -- so they can actually get implemented, effectively and profitably.
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Meet Us At...
Sustainable Brands, June 4-7, San Diego (20% discount: nlogicsb12) And possibly RIO+20, June 20-22 See our events calendar for additional listings. |
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Looking for a Speaker?
Do you want a great keynote speaker, presenter or moderator for your next conference or company event?
Check out our new
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