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Sustainable Frontiers throws down the gauntlet to business to step up and be the catalyst for a sustainable future. It presents eight keys to unlocking transformational change - through leadership, enterprise, innovation, transparency, engagement, responsibility, integration and future-fitness. Far from being another tame review of corporate social responsibility and sustainable business initiatives, the book dispels the myths of sustainability and challenges us to let go of old systems that are failing to deliver economic, social and environmental transformation. Sustainable Frontiers gets to the heart of why the sustainability and CSR movements have failed in the past and offers a new view of how sustainable business practices can shape-shift to make a genuine difference inside and outside organisations. The book gathers together experiences from across the globe and shows to the reader what can be achieved with the right vision and leadership. Expect to be challenged, engaged and inspired to join the revolution on the sustainable frontier.Making a successful transition to a more sustainable future depends on letting go. Sustainable Frontiers shows how we must find ways to let go of an industrial system that has served us well, but is no longer fit for purpose. How we will need to let go of old styles of leadership and out-dated models of business, high-impact lifestyles and selfish values. How we must learn to let go of cherished ideologies that are causing destruction and beliefs about ways to tackle problems that are failing to resolve crises.If we are to reach sustainable frontiers, it must begin with changing our collective minds - and only then will we change our collective behaviour. How we accomplish such a global mind-shift is the subject of Sustainable Frontiers. And it starts by admitting that those of us at the vanguard of the sustainability revolution also have to change. We will also have to let go of cherished beliefs and strategies that are not working - starting with the way we communicate our vital, life-saving mission.
List of contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: the art of letting go
1. Unlocking change through transformational leadership
2. Unlocking change through enterprise reform
3. Unlocking change through technology innovation
4. Unlocking change through corporate transparency
5. Unlocking change through stakeholder engagement
6. Unlocking change through social responsibility
7. Unlocking change through integrated value
8. Unlocking change through future-fitness
Epilogue: connecting Earth and sky
About the author
Dr Wayne Visser is Director of the think tank Kaleidoscope Futures and Founder of CSR International. In addition, Wayne is Senior Associate at the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, Visiting Professor of Corporate Responsibility at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in South Africa and Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Development at Deakin Business School in Australia.
Wayne is the author of nineteen books, including CSR 2.0 (2013), The Quest for Sustainable Business (2012), The Age of Responsibility (2011), The World Guide to CSR (2010) and The A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility (2010). He is a guest columnist for The Guardian newspaper and has also published over 150 other works (chapters, articles, etc.). He has delivered more than 200 professional speeches all around the world, with his work taking him to 68 countries in the last 20 years.
Wayne has been listed as one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior (2013), Top 100 Global Sustain Ability Leaders (2012 & 2011), the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Europe & the Middle East (2011), the Top 100 CSR Leaders and the Top 20 Sustainability Leaders (2012 & 2009). He is also the recipient of the Global CSR Excellence & Leadership Award (2013), the Emerald Literati Outstanding Author Contribution Award (2011) and the Outstanding Teacher Award of the Warwick MBA (2010/11 & 2011/12).
Before getting his PhD in Corporate Social Responsibility (Nottingham University, UK), Wayne was Director of Sustainability Services for KPMG and Strategy Analyst for Cap Gemini in South Africa. His other qualifications include an MSc in Human Ecology (Edinburgh University, UK) and a Bachelor of Business Science with Honours in Marketing (Cape Town University, South Africa).
Wayne lives in London, UK, and enjoys art, nature, writing poetry and learning about new countries and cultures. A full biography and much of his writing and art is on www.waynevisser.com.
Summary
A collection of short, readable chapters that maps the developments of CSR and sustainable business, uncovers the realities, challenges preconceived thinking and envisions a different future.
