the business ladder

29 January 2010

Giselle Weybrecht is the author of "The Sustainable MBA: The Manager's Guide To Green Business".

TBL: First of all, congratulations on your new book! How did you first get the idea for this project and taking on the topic of sustainable business?

GW: Thank you! My background is with the United Nations working in sustainability issues internationally. I decided to leave the UN to pursue an MBA in 2005, to learn more about what the business sector was doing in this area. When I started the MBA quite a few students would come up to me asking about sustainability, what it was all about, what kind of careers they could pursue in this area after graduation. I also found that MBA programmes weren’t teaching sustainability issues – at least not in a way that was relevant and useful to students, not in a way that they would be able to take and apply to their future careers. Actually, this went beyond just students: I found that lots of professionals and entrepreneurs were also curious about what sustainability was all about and how to apply it to their businesses.

So I started a project looking at how to get sustainability information to students and young managers, and that’s how “The Sustainable MBA: The Manager’s Guide To Green Business” was born.

TBL: Give us a bit of background about the interesting way “The Sustainable MBA” is structured and what kind of audience it’s aimed at.

GW: The book is organized like a typical MBA or business course, with chapters covering business and sustainability in relation to Accounting, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Finance, Marketing, Operations, HR and Strategy. The book also includes:

• The basics on what sustainability is, why you should be interested, how to get started, and what a sustainable organization looks like
• A wide range of tools, guidelines, techniques and concepts that you can use to implement sustainability practices
• Tools and tips on how to ‘green’ your job, including how to sell these ideas to your team, how to make green choices as a consumer and how to organize green meetings
• A survey of the exciting trends in sustainable business happening around the world
• A wealth of links to interesting resources for more information

The material is based on over 100 interviews with experts from business, NGOs, international organizations and universities, as well as students and young managers. The goal was to provide a guide that’s easy to use with real insights and tools from practising professionals on how to apply sustainability to your job and business.

The book is really aimed at anyone who wants to learn more about what they can do in the field of sustainability. It was originally written with students, young managers and participants of business programmes in mind. But since publication there has been quite a bit of interest not just from those groups but also from professors and universities looking to incorporate these ideas into their curriculum, from businesses looking to embed sustainability into their internal training programmes and into their activities, and even from clubs and community groups looking to learn more about business and sustainability.

TBL: Talk us through the core values of sustainability. What does sustainable business consist of in practical terms?

GW: The International Institute for Sustainable Development put together this definition of sustainable development: “For the business enterprise, sustainable development means adopting business strategies and activities that meet the needs of the enterprise and its stakeholders today while protecting, sustaining and enhancing the human and natural resources that will be needed in the future”.

Sustainability therefore involves seeing the world as a system, recognizing that everyone and everything is connected. Sustainability isn’t about quick fixes; it’s about understanding that everything we do, both positive and negative, has an effect somewhere else.

For business, sustainability can mean looking at ways to reduce costs, to preserve resources, to stay ahead of legislation, to enhance reputation, to differentiate, to attract and retain quality employees, to meet stakeholder expectations, to attract capital investment. Generally sustainability is already a part of how you do business. Ultimately the goal is to find solutions that benefit both the business and society at the same time.

Sustainability is a rapidly growing area and there are a lot of tools and concepts that fall under it. The book provides a good overview of all of these tools to allow a business and those who work there to understand where they currently stand and where they could go.

TBL: You mentioned benefiting both businesses and society as a whole. Can businesses find a convincing overlap between doing good for the benefit of society and being more profitable?

GW: I think so. In order for sustainability initiatives within your company to truly make sense, they need to benefit your bottom line as well as doing good in themselves. The book is full of concrete examples of companies of all sizes exploring projects in this area, and all of them are doing it because it makes sense to their bottom line.

TBL: With the global economy (and those all-important GDP figures) being based on constantly increasing activity and consumption, some green campaigners have said that a huge shift is necessary, maybe even a severe restructuring of resource use and production. What’s your view of the size of the task?

GW: There’s a lot that needs to be done but it’s important not to get turned off by the size of the task. There are several areas, also called ‘easy wins’, where businesses can start exploring sustainability issues and usually make some significant savings in the process. There are countless examples of companies that started by focusing on eliminating inefficiencies and waste in their systems – everything from installing more energy efficient lighting and water systems, to finding ways to use their materials better. These improvements result in instant savings, which not only has an initial benefit on the environment and society but gives a company the experience and numbers to be able to explore other ways to embed sustainability concepts in the work they do.

TBL: An opinion we occasionally come across is that, to paraphrase, “sustainability / environmental issues are just a luxury for companies with money to burn to indulge in”. How would you respond to this rather pessimistic view?

GW: In the current economic environment, companies are starting to realize that sustainability can’t just be a PR or marketing exercise. This costs too much money. They’re shifting their thinking to really focus on what’s important and the tangible business reasons for moving forward with sustainability. Once they do this many are realizing that sustainability isn’t at all about ‘burning’ money, but rather it’s about saving money or even making more money. In the short term, companies of all sizes find that sustainability allows them to become more efficient and explore new business opportunities.

TBL: What kinds of benefits can greater ‘green’ awareness and knowledge bring to small and medium-sized businesses in particular?

GW: Small and medium-sized businesses make up 90% of all businesses in the world. They provide 50-60% of total employment and are often responsible for providing the products and services that larger companies rely on. Increasingly business partners and customers are asking their suppliers to adhere to sustainability principles and provide more sustainable products. So to name just a few benefits, it allows small businesses to be innovative, to differentiate from their competitors and to attract top-quality employees.

TBL: You mentioned earlier that “The Sustainable MBA” is aimed also at young managers, meaning people with authority within their companies. Does the new sustainable vision need to be imposed from above in order to benefit the workings of the business?

GW: No, not necessarily. One of the points I always try to make is that every job has the potential to be a green job. Employees can have the greatest impact in sustainability by working to make changes from the inside of their organizations. This doesn’t mean just managers, because there are ways for any employee to get engaged in sustainability regardless of what position they have in the company. The book provides lots of ideas and tools for anyone to explore ways to do so.

TBL: Do you think that ‘being green’ and understanding sustainability could become a new category of business skill that employees in companies of all sizes, and the self-employed too, can develop in the interests of their own business awareness and effectiveness?

GW: In a way, yes. Sustainability is increasingly becoming part of normal business for companies in a variety of sectors. Therefore it’s important that employees have a base knowledge about what sustainability is and how to apply sustainability to their job and to their business in a way that makes sense to the bottom line. The book provides a good overview of tools and resources for small and medium-sized businesses to use and lots of examples of companies who are already exploring these issues successfully.

TBL: Thank you for your time, Giselle. We wish you and your book all the best success.

To find out more about “The Sustainable MBA: The Manager’s Guide To Green Business” and to order a copy for yourself or your business, please visit www.thesustainablemba.com or leading online retailer Amazon.

You can also keep up-to-date on topical sustainability issues by following Giselle's blog at www.thesustainablemba.com/blog.

To contact Giselle, email her at gweybrecht@thesustainablemba.com.

© Copyright 2010 The Business Ladder (UK) Limited

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