We increasingly recognize that the application of technology and the constant searching for new business models are opening up business into a sharing economy, where business recognizes all the different roles and contributions of governments, businesses, and society.

It is the realization that the growing power of collective action will address the complexities and larger-scale challenges we are facing today.

The recognition is growing that the environment, social and economic elements are far more intertwined and connected. Businesses are searching for greater links in their products, services, and operations to internally seek out an impact.

Business is becoming well aware that today’s consumer is looking that much harder for their solutions to be offering sustainability, alongside quality, availability, and ‘fair’ price.

Building trust, resiliency and a more integrated business model

There is a greater trust in relationships if a business addresses its environmental footprint and works to change its social impact in ways to protect our planet.

Today, the notion of resiliency and sustainability is being looked at in fresh ways inside and along businesses’ supply chains. The ability to address circularity, to provide greater transparency and agility are all moving up the agenda with this sustainability focus.  Efficiency, Equity, Connectedness all become action points to improve.

The search is for more integrated models to simplify complexities and provide complete solutions to meet customer needs, which can be provided with less hassle and searching.

To achieve this level of integration, a higher collaborative model needs to be designed. This “collaborative evident” positioning gives confidence and benefits to the ecosystems needing to be built to achieve this in highly visible ways.

I wrote a piece Building Ecosystems and Sustainability  suggesting by taking an ecosystem approach in a highly collaborative and networked manner opens up the potential for a more sustainable future

Our leaders of business have to steer this new sustainability ship.

Leaders today need to constantly seek out stakeholder inclusion, show genuine emotion and intuition, provide the mission and purpose in inspiring ways to give the shared vision and journey.

Leaders need to rely increasingly on determining and investing in the responsible use of innovation and applications of emerging technologies for generating new organizational value. Finally, leaders need to offer intellect and insights in continuous learning and offering open knowledge exchanges.

Where are the new growth engines?

Companies have choices if they are to embrace sustainability fully. They need to have a no-holds evaluation of their existing business and a really strong sense of the future to move the “today forward” and equally ensure a “future back” perspective to guide and give direction and support to the work needing to be undertaken.

I wrote a piece on “The value of three horizon mapping for a Sustainability Journey” that can help to provide a structured pathway in any sustainability journey.

So having clarity of understanding of the Strategic choices does give that final shift in any new direction to change the core and the business model.

Then the decisions to be taken on what product reinvention needs to be applied to reduce, adapt and reflect an environmentally evolving position needs to be delivered to support that final choice.

There is a real need to seek out innovative partnerships that form this new sustainability ecosystem so a shared environment can develop jointly, deploy resources, and scale solutions in more agile and rapid ways to meet customer needs.

Then, a business needs to set about operations reinvention, where data, insights and technology, transform the understanding; to nudge and cajole behaviour change and provide transparency of the total journey of a product or solution from its creation to fulfilment.

Taking internal learning out into the external world

Each company needs to know its starting point, those conditions to undertake any change in its sustainability journey. The intent is to offer depth, breadth, and growing sophistication in the sustainability ecosystem’s business.

It also needs to be clear on the economic, environmental and social concerns. A business needs to address in clear transparent ways its impact on nature loss, or environmental footprint, its journey for resource circularity, address gender and diversity gaps in equal opportunity and working conditions.

Today, a business needs to shift the thinking from a (very) competitive lens, one that determines compliance as paramount, constantly updating current practices imposing regulations and reducing risk, into one still requiring many of these ‘traits’ but on a different ‘tone’.

A new collaborative spirit, one that harnesses aspiration, initiatives, and taking a more longer-term engaging, embracing and encouraging positioning, with governance still as central but in more forward-looking and less prescriptive ways. Exploring more and less exploiting.

The role of innovation takes a company beyond incremental and risk avoidance and places you closer to society and its evolving needs for being sustainable by constantly engaging and reacting to these changing needs.

I like net positive principles as the external measures

*Materiality by focusing on what matters most and constantly clarifying that. Develop that “north star” orientation that determines if what you are working upon takes you towards the end goals, laid out and accepted.

*Systematic in checking progress so you can see how you are influencing change across entire systems. Building processes that are open, collaborative and logical.

*Regenerative in constantly creating the long-term, in sustaining and measuring of the impact being made in your contributions. Building in circularity and improving awareness of the impact.

*Transparent in constantly checking you are sharing progress openly and honestly with all stakeholders.

These call for a constant evolving maturity chase as you embrace a different business model based on sustainability, transparency and collaboration.

Linking the internal with the external world

The absolute importance of taking your internal sustainability initiatives and applying these four principles of material, systematic, regenerative and transparent enables a greater sustainability connection. These take you beyond traditional organizational boundaries.

Sustainability as a top priority

Sustainability has become a top business priority to provide the essential credentials for environmental and social impact understanding. Yet it goes beyond ‘just’ these; the ability to put in place a more forward-looking, collaborative and open transparent approach enables new choices in business models that can and will unlock the growth.

The result is to offer Business outcomes that can show impact and value creations that harnesses all within a well designed and executed sustainability ecosystem.

Building a lasting sustainability framework provides the new shape of a business in society that is responsive, responsible, aware and adaptive.