Peter Senge on the Necessary Revolution in Business

Running Time: 16 minutes 21 seconds  

Canadian Management Centre is pleased to present the American Management Associations strategic planning podcast The Necessary Revolution in Business with special guest Peter Senge.

As Senge and his co-authors reveal in The Necessary Revolution, companies around the world are boldly leading the change from dead-end business as usual tactics to transformative strategies that are essential for creating a flourishing, sustainable world.

Imagine a world in which the excess energy from one business would be used to power another. A world in which environmentally sound products and processes would be more cost-effective than the wasteful ones; A world in which corporations forming partnerships with environmental and social justice organizations to ensure better stewardship of the earth and development of societies all over the world. Now, stop imagining that world is already emerging.

The business rationale for sustainability depends on what the business is experiencing. Its most common for businesses to get into this territory for one of two reasons. (A.) Either something really bad happened, and theyre trying to react or (B.) They start to realize that theres a lot of waste in their operations, and reducing energy saves money along with reducing waste.

Demonstrating a commitment to sustainability should be shown in the day-to-day operations, not just in a companys business report. People need to see the day-to-day effects of a sustainable effort.

A shared commitment to sustainable goals comes from an important need; the problem has to be an important one that needs addressing in order for successful relationships to be built. Companies often dont look outside their own processes (i.e. Are they wasteful in their own operations?), but when problems are big enough, they can come to the attention of these businesses, and then collaborative relationships start to be built. The issues at that point have become strategic ones which can have a direct, adverse effect on the future of a business if not managed properly now.

In the redesigned future, brand image will be about a more sustainable commerce. Issues like, food, water, waste, and toxicity will be very important for strategic planning. Companies that start to adjust their brand now and find solutions to environmental problems will be ahead of the curve. There are two ways to think about strategy: ideas that come from the top, or ideas that come through the entire company. Often sources of waste can be identified by front-line people, and thus can be useful for creating a sustainable strategy.

Peter Senge is senior lecturer at MIT and the founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning. He was named as one of the 24 people who had the greatest influence on business strategy over the last 100 years by the Journal of Business Strategy. Senge is an author or co-author of several bestselling books, including The Fifth Discipline, Schools That Learn, and Presence. BRYAN SMITH, coauthor with Senge of The Dance of Change and two other Fifth Discipline fieldbooks, is a member of the faculty at York Universitys Sustainable Enterprise Academy, and president of Broad Reach Innovations, Inc..