Knowledge Resource Centre

Leading Change Toward Sustainability: A Change-Management Guide for Business, Government and Civil Society

Bob Doppelt

The Industrial Revolution has led to a host of modern advances; affordable energy, rapid transportation, fast, low-cost automated production and advanced information systems. However, with these we have also inherited a legacy of environmental and social problems. Most business leaders would not disagree that achieving a complete sustainable business is a colossal task. However, leaders with the vision to see the issues as opportunities rather than problems stand to gain the most in the pursuit of sustainability.

Providing the first in-depth explanation of how to involve people in sustainability, Bob Doppelt has brought order to a difficult and often messy area of business strategy.  He reflects on the relationship between vision, leadership and change and demonstrates the secrets of successful corporations.

Using case studies from Nike to the Netherlands he highlights the reasons why many sustainability strategies are doomed to fail simply by their lack of vision. Vision statements which just aim to minimise environmental waste or act in compliance with the law are backward and negative, Doppelt claims. Real sustainability can only be achieved when processes themselves are socially and ecologically beneficial in the first place. Furthermore, Doppelt dares to peek beyond sustainability at a new, enhanced business landscape where we manage totally safe and positive places in which to work. The book firstly demystifies many issues by providing a theoretical discussion of which new technologies and policy instruments to apply. It then gives a practical methodology to transform business with topics on:
 

• Changing the dominant mind-set
• Rearranging the system by organising transition teams
• Creating an ideal vision and guiding principles of sustainability
• Restructuring the rules of engagement and adopting source-based strategies
• Communicating the need, vision and strategy for achieving sustainability
• Correcting feedback loops: encouraging and rewarding innovation
• Aligning systems and structures with sustainability

This book is appropriate for all who are considering sustainability initiatives or currently struggling with their policies. For guidance or just for a reminder, the book can be used both to diagnose a situation and to identify workable solutions.