In today’s business world, being green is a necessity. Shareholders, investors, consumers and company employees all want to know how your organization is approaching sustainability.
Whether companies are successful at their corporate sustainability initiatives are another story. The Huffington Post’s Mark Tercek evaluated successful corporations and found that they have similar plans for success.
- The Chief Sustainability Officer: These inspired leaders are paving the way as key players for the development of solutions that benefit nature and business.
These CSOs need to have a strong understanding of a company’s core operations, possess a commitment to the environment and foster strong relationships with allies. Tercek writes “a great CSO builds a true culture of sustainability across every aspect of the business, embedding environmental thinking into employees’ goals, measures and incentives.” - The Eco-Advantage Mindset: When a CSO works alongside a stellar CEO who shares the commitment to making sustainability a top priority, good things happen. As a team, they take a long-range view of time frames and payoffs when they evaluate their decisions. Together, their actions remain transparent to stakeholders and the general public.
- Full Integration: Strong sustainability leaders have the ability to integrate nature into core business strategies because they recognize the value of nature. Investing in long-term resources will ensure a solid position in the future.
- Resolution: In an ever-evolving field, there is going to be criticism. Strong sustainability leaders realize that perfect outcomes are not in the cards. Just because there are setbacks, doesn’t mean that these sustainability chiefs are going to step back from these long-term plans.
ChiefExecutive.net also brings to light that CSOs handle more than just being green. They also oversee sweatshops, workforce diversity, pay equity and community service. They serve as a resource to help overturn bad publicity.