Stacey Frost Interviews Christine Arena, Author of High-Purpose Company
1. What are your thoughts about sustainability today? How would you define it?
My thoughts are that the movement needs to advance in multiple ways. To start with, we need better definitions and goals.
Most corporations regard sustainability as a means of achieving a “zero footprint,†taking from the earth only what gets put back, or what it can provide indefinitely. The problem with this concept is that it does not deal with the reality that that, largely owing to human activity and industry, every natural system in the world is in rapid decline. So we need to move from environmentally neutral strategies to restorative ones that create positive value, and fast.
2. What will it take to create a shift in values and behaviors in our society in regards to sustainability?
In my view it’s going to take the convergence of three variables: enlightened consumers, superior technologies and progressive financial models.
As truthful information reaches concerned consumers, they respond by embracing sustainable goods and rejecting harmful ones. In turn, companies invest in more environmentally effective technologies and equitable trade models. This is a modern day example of market pull, and the current results are substantial. Over the past 10 years we’ve seen an unprecedented surge in corporate innovation as corporations like GE, DuPont, Toyota, Whole Foods and IKEA make billions in annual profits by selling sustainable goods and services. And while in most categories the prices of sustainable goods have decreased (making them more accessible to mainstream consumers), market penetration has sharply increased. This indicates that a societal shift in values and behaviors is already well underway.
But imagine if the third variable, progressive financial models, were introduced into the current equation. For instance, what if rather than gaining tax incentives for developing cleaner technologies, companies paid penalties on their more outmoded and polluting ones? What if a company’s worth on Wall Street were based on the actual social, environmental and financial value it produces? Shifts like these would really up the ante and might potentially cause not just a faster race to the top, but a fundamental shift in our power structure. That’s why I believe that the future of corporate competitiveness, the global economy and our society will hinge on the ability to connect these three dots.
3. What are you most passionate about (as it relates to moving forward ideas)?
I’m passionate about stirring the pot and instigating change. I get a lot of personal and professional satisfaction from proving old myths and business rules wrong. In my books and speeches, I reveal facts, figures and insights that encourage consumers and business leaders to think differently and spend their money more effectively.
4. What are your inspirations? Who do you admire most?
Independent thinking, even heresy, inspires me. People from Isaac Newton, Galileo and Mark Twain to the modern day Richard Dawkins, Bill Maher, Michael Moore, Al Gore, Bill McDonough, Dean Kamen, Naomi Klein, Arianna Huffington and Paul Hawken are my heroes. They reject the status quo, challenge the system, reveal deception and foster superior concepts and solutions. I love them all.
5. How has Re:Vision inspired you?
Re:Vision reminds me that although I can’t change the world alone, I can harness the energies and talents of others to help me move the needle. In addition to enabling me to actively connect with other thought leaders from around the world, Re:Vision inspires me to create sustainable business models from the ground up, rather than just analyzing them from the outside in.
6. How would you characterize or sum up the current state of business today?
The business world is at a major crossroads. We are at the intersection between two conflicting management paradigms. One paradigm is reflected by business decision-makers who still embrace a mechanistic or linear thought process ruled by numerical analysis and fear. Individuals who subscribe to this mechanistic mindset perceive trade-offs between optimal financial, environmental and social performance and are typically unwilling to consider that their companies’ performance is inextricably linked to broader social and environmental contexts. As a result they make business decisions that often backfire.
Take the choice made by some of America’s largest manufacturing companies to continue including phthalates and toxic flame retardants (or PBDEs) in baby products and toys, despite years of public safety concerns. The industry’s resistance to change might have saved certain companies money in the short run, but in the medium to long run the decision turns out to have caused a series of very costly problems ranging from a lack of compliance with new state mandates (California) to consumer backlash, negative publicity, diminished market share and lawsuits.
On the other hand the emerging new business mindset is far more systemic. It is a response to the true interconnectivity of business, society and the environment. Corporate leaders versed in the new mindset think systemically and operate with the understanding that business, society and the environment are not three independent concepts but rather, one unified, organic construct. Pioneering firms like Patagonia, Interface, Honest Tea, Wainwright Bank & Trust, Eileen Fisher and dozens of others are lead by advanced systemic thinkers and their results have been absolutely tremendous.
7. What are some of the more exciting trends in business today?
Systems thinking, the social enterprise, conscientious consumerism, Fair Trade, CleanTech and Cradle to Cradle design.
8. As you look to the future, what are your personal dreams for how business/commerce uses will affect the way we live in our urban communities?
I imagine that it will be the opposite way around. Rather than business affecting the way we live in urban communities, urban communities will more directly affect the nature of commerce. I envision a worldwide shift to more socially responsive business models that help to solve the serious problems that people face. So rather than continually pitching products that cater to superficial human desires through aggressive marketing, companies will start reverse engineering solutions that meet fundamental unmet needs. They will better integrate urban communities into the research, development, design and marketing processes. And as a result, we will see more solutions-oriented and customized products emerge, along with new forms of commerce and perhaps even new corporate cultures that enable versus stifle human happiness and creativity.
9. What are the challenges that lay ahead as it relates to business/commerce in an urban community? And are there any interesting opportunities?
One of the bigger challenges and opportunities facing legitimately responsive companies is to better engage with concerned stakeholders and better communicate the value of what they are trying to do. Although few companies effectively engage in it, open and honest two-way dialog is essential. It can empower urban communities to make their voices heard and vote at the checkout. It can also help companies to make more intelligent business decisions. The kind of unfiltered, technology-enabled interactivity I’m thinking about would help drive the pivotal trends that keep the sustainability movement alive. I am hoping that Re:Vision TV will be a medium for this kind of activity.
10. If you had one question to ask everyone reading this interview, what would it be?
What are you doing differently today?
