essay: It is really up to us

 Featured on https://www.weekly-echo.com/have-hope-4/ May 21, 2021 11:22 pm

Our eldest daughter was born in 1989 and we wanted the best of everything for her. Best of education, best of health, to grow up in an environment that would be conducive for her to live a rich fulfilling life. It dawned on me then that while we could offer most of these to her with much certainty, the environment she would grow up in was something we have little control over and was far from looking good and increasingly worsening. With that, my sustainability journey began.

The decades since then witnessed a trajectory of increasing environmental negligence and worsening social equity, ironically, on the back of the best of technologies and facilities with the capacity to provide us with comfortable lives. Which brings to mind what Charles Dickens said in 1859: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. 

The social and environmental degradation did not worsen because there had been no efforts to educate or to reform. In fact, we all have heard the innumerable conversations of policy reforms across the world as well as marvelled at the development of various technologies to tackle these issues. It is clear we know how, and have the means to, halt this runaway global crisis. So why are we here in such a crisis state? Why is reversing the trend not gaining the traction that it so desperately needs?

Anthropogenic climate change is not inevitable; humanity chooses its relationships with the natural world. We often approach the natural world as a reservoir of material resources to be exploited, the grave consequences of wExploring new patterns of interaction as one interconnected ecosystem will be central to the task of building more sustainable relationships with the natural world and among various segments of the global family. 

The adoption of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including its social, economic, and environmental dimensions, grounded in the sentiment we all live on the same planet and therefore have shared concerns, has definitely bolstered momentum for meaningful change. A universal, legally binding agreement on carbon emissions seems within reach for the first time. But in order to progress beyond a world community driven by a largely economic and utilitarian calculus, to one of shared responsibility for the prosperity of all nations, such a principle must take root in the conscience of the individual. 

Because it is us, the individuals, whatever our role or place in society, who implement the policies or ignore them, who participate in well-conceived programmes or continue patterns of life as before. As individuals, we take the initiative to embrace new attitudes and adopt new patterns of action or continue with business as usual. We all have agency and none of our decisions are without consequence. 

Human behaviour and personal decision-making are therefore critical to the success of sustainability efforts, particularly through values, ethics, and morals. Changes in lifestyle will not be sustained if normative drivers of behaviours such as attitudes and beliefs do not shift as well. For example, consumption habits will not change if acquisition and accumulation of luxury goods is seen as symbols of success. 

As the challenge before us is not only a technical one but also one of moral, it calls for the transformation of thoughts and behaviours to allow our economic and social structures to extend the benefits of development to all. Setting humanity on a more sustainable path will require transformation in attitudes embodied in social norms and patterns of action. Establishing sustainable patterns of individual and collective life will require not only new technologies, but also a new consciousness in us, including a new conception of ourselves and our place in the world.

essay: Doing Well by Doing Good

 

Featured on https://www.weekly-echo.com/have-hope-3/ May 5, 2021 12:47 am

The idea that companies should be guided by social purpose and serve a broader range of interests beyond maximising shareholder returns is gaining traction across the corporate world. 

With greater understanding of the ecosystem businesses operate in and their inherent linkages of interconnectedness and interdependencies with other stakeholders, there is increasing expectation that businesses also have a corporate duty of beneficence to non-shareholders and should be held to account for the moral – and not just legal – consequences of their activities.

There is an increasing realisation that economics grounded in a presumption of individuals or groups gaining advantage over others lead to anything but grossly unequal conditions multiplying on every side. Even if businesses win by disadvantaging others, the apparent benefits are usually temporary.  Collaboration is being understood to be an underutilised powerful driver of business. 

However, many businesses in Malaysia have yet to reset their intuition formed when the world was much less demanding of them.  Businesses have long upheld the orthodox shareholder theory which holds that a firm’s main responsibility is to its shareholders and is the only group to which the firm is socially responsible. As a result, their goal is traditionally to maximize returns to their shareholders, and the shareholders could decide for themselves what social initiatives to take part in, rather than have businesses decide such matters for them.

The reality today is this – businesses face unprecedented pressures from social and environmental challenges, technical innovations, and business model innovations.  To remain relevant, businesses not only have to care beyond shareholders, they also need to learn new methods and create new products to win with clients and engage with people whose values alter and expectations rise rapidly. 

And in this era of ubiquitous communication technology, if companies are not altruistic on their own, other stakeholders will demand altruistic behaviours by the businesses.  Missteps and misalignment by businesses are quickly and publicly hold to account. 

The commercial case for business responsibility to stakeholders beyond just shareholders is increasingly clear. Mental models of business owners – formed by values and underlying assumptions which influence habits of thoughts and the way they act – need to change. 

The mental model of leadership that is needed in today’s context is one which emphasises on aligning commercial success with thinking, values and practices concerned with broader societal concerns.  It should also not be one that defaults intuitively to false dichotomies, thinking in terms of, and choosing from, often two alternative options, while in fact a number of additional options are available. 

One example is the choice between commercial success and positive outcomes for society and the environment.  Another is balancing short term returns and long-term value.  Working on both levers are not only necessary and important but possible as while one focuses on meeting immediate needs of stakeholders, working with a long-term perspective ensures sustainable commercial success of the business as it addresses societal concerns. With the right attitudes and skillsets, there are opportunities to be seized.

Delivering the future we want will require businesses to cultivate leadership at all levels and to embrace diverse and complementary strengths and approaches. 

Leadership development and HR teams play an important role in recruiting, training, and rewarding individuals to succeed in this context.

Employees at all levels need to be equipped with the skills to not only nurture innovation and manage risk, but to transform the economic systems within which they operate, and to deliver on broader societal goals.