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Columnists
Sustainability
and Sustainable Development
Nicholas
R. Hild, PhD Professor ASU
Polytechnic
Nicholas
R. Hild, PhD., Professor, Environmental Technology Management, Arizona
State University College of Technology and Innovation, has extensive
experience in Environmental Management in the southwestern U.S. Dr. Hild
can be reached at 480-727-1309 and by email at DrNick@asu.edu.
"...What's
good for GM is good for the nation ..." Charles
E. Wilson, former GM President
June/July
2008
In a
previous article for the Journal, I mentioned how important it is that we
get "sustainability" branded—that we somehow make
"sustainability" something that we not only want to let other
companies know about but that we can "sell"—well, guess what?
That seems to be happening now, at least with all the big companies who
have products they manufacture/sell—it seems that a majority of the
Fortune 500 and a lot of the smaller companies, too, are establishing an
"Office of Sustainability" to try and green their bottom lines
while showing their customers what they are doing to soften their
environmental footprint.
What
got me thinking about this was a recent article about Wal Mart’s
sustainability efforts, across all their retail and distribution
facilities worldwide. So, here’s hoping that the old GM adage— ‘…as
GM goes, so goes the nation’— has been replaced by…
"…
as Wal Mart goes, so goes the nation…toward sustainability planning
that benefits the environment …"
The
reason this is really important is that there is a niche here that
environmental professionals need to be aware of for future jobs that have
heretofore never been in existence in corporate America. The ‘position’
of Corporate (Guru) of Sustainability is a whole new career opportunity.
Whereas, in the last decades of the 20th century, EH&S professionals
found themselves only being invited to the table to provide advice to CEO’s
and Boards of Directors about environmental compliance and health issues,
today’s EH&S professionals can look forward to a time when they are
going to be invited to actually sit on the board—as a VP in charge of
making sure the CEO and Directors make the right choices—choices that
not only enhance the company’s community image but truly engages
employees and communities in making sustainable choices for the company’s
future growth.
What
that means is, environmental professionals have opportunities that were
never anticipated in the days when EH&S functions were looked at as a
necessary "drain" on the bottom line. EH&S professionals
have expertise that the current slate of Directors don’t—we just need
to take advantage of the current popularity of ‘sustainability’
as a must-have ingredient in every company’s five year plan.
Babson
College Professor and business management author, Thomas Davenport, noted
recently that all the management experts to whom CEOs and Presidents of
major companies get their advice from, seem to be saying the same thing—
"…managers are time-strapped and hungry for easily digestible
advice wherever they can find it…" Babson says today’s most
pressing themes include globalization "… and sustainability
would appear to be at the heart of the globalization strategies that
international companies have to embrace."
So,
EH&S professionals unite! Take a page from Governor Napolitano’s
eloquent prose she recently used when endorsing two new Board Directors
for the Arizona Economic Resource Organization (i.e. the Guv is
Chairperson of the private non-profit group)—she called (them) "agile
innovators with a track record of increasing competitiveness and making
strong economic decisions that have benefited the state" —such
eloquence in verbiage can easily be modified to fit your resume’ when
you submit it to the CEO as you point out how your technical
expertise in sustainability strategies will be invaluable to the company
if you can be allowed to actually provide your input at the highest level.
And,
you no longer have to be looked at as a necessary drain on the bottom
line; you can be a resource and a critical (technical) thinker who will be
a key contributor to the company’s future.
Even
the Wall Street Journal recently pointed out that the top influential
business consultants who provide management advice are slowly changing
their focus from ‘profits’ to "sustainable profit
strategies…" as companies find themselves looking for advice on
benefits planning for health care and how manager’s decision-making at
all levels can impact the greening of corporations. Therein lies
opportunity: when it knocks, don’t complain about the noise.
Sustainability
may have already become a part of the corporate lexicon but EH&S
professionals need to ensure that your expertise is provided
at the highest levels in corporations if it truly becomes ‘company
policy’ rather than lip service for the stockholders. Otherwise, what we’ve
done (or left undone), will clearly be visible to our children’s,
children’s, children.
2008/1234
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