In addition to Weinreb Group\’s work placing sustainability professionals with employers, we continue to publish unique reports on the sustainability profession and its leaders. Today marks the introduction of a new series.
Pioneers of Sustainability Report in September 2013
Today, Weinreb Group is pleased to announce our newest research Report: Pioneers of Sustainability – Lessons from the Trailblazers. The selected thought-leader pioneers include Paul Hawken, Michael Porter, and Peter Senge. The CEO pioneers include Ray Anderson from Interface, Paul Polman from Unilever, and Lee Scott from Walmart.
We had the honor of personally interviewing all but one of them; Jim Hartzfeld, Ray’s sustainability journeyman took the interview for Ray Anderson in absentia. They all shared personal insights on how they moved the sustainability needle forward in their organizations, lessons we hope you can use to meet your own objectives.
Executive Summary
Sustainability has arrived. Not too long ago – perhaps two decades or so – the fledgling field was considered niche. While still far from becoming universally and uniformly adopted, socially responsible business practices today are much more a part of commerce than ever before.
While no one person, company, or non-governmental organization (NGO) can take credit for the current state of sustainability, there are individuals who played an integral role in building this momentum. Some inspired business while others defied their sector and crossed bridges to form partnerships between industries. Others chose the academic route to make connections between the tangibles and the intangibles, giving the C-suite, the regulators and the implementers the power of data to back up what began for many as a gut feeling, a passion, a realization that things needed to change but lack of data to back that up.
As perhaps the greatest sign of sustainability’s progress, those of us in the field now have a history to look back on and celebrate. And it is because of these Pioneers. It was in this spirit that the Weinreb Group decided to identify what became the six Pioneers of Sustainability featured in this report.
To identify these Pioneers, we asked individuals who hold the title “Chief Sustainability Officer” in their company and were featured in The Weinreb Group’s 2011 report CSO Back Story: How Chief Sustainability Officers
Reached the C-Suite and its 2013 update to name people who inspired them. The criterion was for individuals who made such important contributions to sustainability that the field would not be the same without them. We then conducted a survey of sustainability professionals to select one person from each of two categories, Chief Executive Officers and Thought Leaders, for a final nomination.
These six Pioneers share much in common. In addition to being inspiring voices of support for sustainability, their advocacy has had ripple effects beyond the four walls of the organizations they represent or the covers of the books they have written. To a degree more than most in the field, they are able to translate what the idealists dream of and pencil pushers demand into a common vision and a way forward. They are blazing trails for how business can create value for stakeholders and shareholders toward a much more sustainable planet. And they do so with boldness, visionary thinking, passion, and courage.
This Report is divided into two sections. The first section provides background and a brief biography on the Pioneers. In the second section, we asked each Pioneer to provide their insights on four questions related to sustainability. In the case of the late Ray Anderson, his former colleague Jim Hartzfeld shared his thoughts on what Anderson’s perspective might be.
As a final note, for the purposes of clarity and brevity we treat the terms “corporate social responsibility,” “sustainability,” and “creating shared value” as synonymous, unless otherwise noted. To us, this terminology means achieving positive business results while also having a positive effect on society and the environment.
Sincerely, Ellen Weinreb and James Epstein-Reeves
Report Publisher and Editors:
Ellen Weinreb is the Founder of the Weinreb Group ( www.weinrebgroup.com ), an executive search firm specializing in sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
James Epstein-Reeves is the President of Do Well Do Good, LLC ( www.dowelldogood.net ), a sustainability business strategy and communications consulting company based in Chicago.
