When it comes to sustainability, business leaders know there is only one solution – to do more.
It’s not a question of if they should act, it’s how.
How can their company respond to shifting societal expectations? How can they keep pace with the latest environmental trends? How can they be more open and accountable, reduce waste and cut emissions?
These are just some of the many complex questions facing businesses today as they strive to balance profit with purpose.
But for some organizations, these issues aren’t new. And according to Sir Tim Smit, the co-founder of the Eden Project, they’re easily solved.
He spoke to GDS Group presenter, Alex Wood, at the ‘Blue Earth Summit’ in Bristol, where he shared five things every CEO should be doing to make their business better – for both their bottom line and the planet.
Speakers on stage at the Blue Earth Summit in Bristol
1. Be ready for the revolution
“The first thing businesses need to do – and it starts at the Chief Executive level – is believe the revolution is here,” Sir Tim explained.
He’s just come off stage, having delivered two talks to two packed-out rooms. Everyone wants to hear what Sir Tim has to say – and there’s good reason for that.
In a career that has spanned several decades, Sir Tim has forged a fierce reputation as an unforgiving climate champion. As well as being recognized for his inspiring work at the Eden Project in Cornwall, Sir Tim, is a creative visionary and marvelous storyteller who has worked with numerous businesses, governments and communities on achieving their environmental goals – no matter how impossible they may seem.
And he doesn’t mince his words, either.
2. Invest in your mind
“If you’re really worth being a leader, do a bit of reading,” he sighed.
“Do a bit of ‘finding out the truth’. Don’t be one of those stuffed shirts who talks nonsense as if it’s been bought off the back of a rather cheap magazine.”
“There is no excuse for not investing in your mind. If you’re good enough to become a Chief Executive, you’re good enough to invest in your brain.”
– Sir Tim Smit, Founder of the Eden Project
“You have to realize the jobs of the people that work for you, and the health of the company you’ve either created or are running on behalf of other people, is dependent on your ability to scan the horizon.”
Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project, delivering a talk on stage
3. Find your purpose
Purpose is a funny, old term. Every business has a purpose. Why else would they exist?
But in the context of sustainability and the environment, the term seems to have taken on new meaning. “What I’m going to say is not going to be very popular,” Sir Tim said, half-grinning as he did so.
“But I think there are an awful lot of professional therapy organizations out there who want you to believe you haven’t got purpose, and therefore they’ll help get that out of you…Most people I know do have a purpose and it’s only the way the question is phrased which makes them feel insecure as to whether their purpose is purposeful enough,” he shared.
“If you look at yourself in the mirror and say ‘I really do care about my staff and I care because I want to be a Chief Executive where our staff are seen as our biggest asset’ then you cannot fire someone the second something goes wrong. There is enough hypocrisy in the world without you having to add to it.”
A ‘purpose-driven’ company is defined as one that stands for something bigger than its products and services. That might mean choosing to work with a particular supplier because of their environmental credentials, for example. Or planting a certain number of trees every year to offset its carbon footprint.
But according to Sir Tim, finding purpose is much simpler than that.
“If you can make your company something that enhances peoples’ lives, is not bad for the environment and creates a sense of community, you are succeeding,” he explained.
“If not, fine. It’s your prerogative to be mediocre. I can’t help you on that!”
4. Get over your insecurities
Lesson number four for CEOs – get over your own worries.
Sir Tim arrived at this point after being asked whether purpose stems from the top-down or the bottom-up.
He said he believes it requires a harmonious combination of both and can depend on what your business is. “Look at Apple,” he said. “Do not tell me that without Steve Jobs, Apple would be Apple. It wouldn’t.”
“In certain cases, you need people who are unreasonable, who demand something others can’t even imagine. We have to recognize these people for the geniuses they are.”
“The direction of a company, in one way, comes from the top or else it wouldn’t be the company it is. But ordinary people have a genius in them, too – and those who are so arrogant that they would suppose those lower down the company don’t are daft,” Sir Tim mentioned.
“I think a company or a leader which patronizes those further down by not giving them any say, it’s not just autocratic – it’s plain stupid. They’re missing a tremendous power, if only they knew how to harness it. But don’t forget that an awful lot of people who run companies, or are senior management, have their own insecurities.”
“If you’re a boss, you need to get over those.”
5.The one question EVERY CEO should be asking
When it comes to fostering a positive relationship with employees, and acting on sustainability, Sir Tim said there is one question every CEO should be asking.
“A tip I’ll give you from a friend of mine who ran Rolls Royce – something that changed his whole life,” he said. “Whenever they ran a workshop, he believed everything became policy through osmosis – i.e. they just listened to what he had to say,” Sir Tim shared.
“Well, he was talking to this lady at a dinner party and she said to him ‘you’re such an amateur’. This is to the boss of Rolls Royce, by the way. She said ‘you don’t understand, there is only one great question a leader can ask’ and it’s this – how can we improve on this?”
“Why? Because it immediately gives everyone permission to think ‘he doesn’t know something, he’s asking for our help’. And that’s a great way of moving forward. So, share it!”
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