"If you're in a bad situation, don't worry, it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry, it'll change."
-- John A. Simone Jr.
Really Strategic CSR Part III: Eco-centric thinking
The mindset behind Really Strategic CSR is an eco-centric one. Eco-logical and eco-nomical, the eco-centric mind seeks solutions that just don’t benefit they generate.
From a permaculture perspective this is called obtaining a yield. To get a yield from your efforts you have to understand the patterns and processes in place that provide that yield. The key, then, is to align your efforts and resources in a way that best partners with those patterns and processes for long-term sustainability. This also produces little or no waste.
As a corporation this means leaving a compliance mindset far behind. It also means moving beyond the trend of partnering with causes that thematically match your corporate endeavors.
Corporations need to make the leap of faith that at the root of CSR is the eco-centric mind. This means taking an sustainably integrated approach to governance, radically re-aligning processes and systems to the logic of the home: eco-logic. This is done in a way that maximizes short-term eco-nomic yield, preserving long-term eco-systemic support and creating eco-centric opportunities by developing new sustainable markets while revitalizing old ones.
Eco-nomy is, fundamentally the exchange of energy in the form of commodities, products, services and their derivatives. Eco-logy is the the way in which this energy moves, cycles and recycles through eco-systems. Where does long-term competitive advantage come from? From understanding and integrating the relationships between the two.
The greater the partnership, synergy and coherence between the eco-logic and the eco-nomic, the more powerful and profitable the business. However, first, you have to revise your definition of profit. It’s not short-term quarterly gains we’re looking at here. It’s the value of the business to the eco-systems in which it makes it’s home, lives and grows. The greater the value, the more profit that accrues.
To paraphrase the Pixies: where is your mind?
Tags: corporate social responsibility, csr, sustainability, sustainable leadership