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“We’re just not moving quickly enough”

“We’re just not moving quickly enough”

Turning leaders into sustainable champions

By Simon Hodges

Business leaders are the ones who need to make changes – and fast. That’s according to Gail Whiteman, Professor of Sustainability and Climate Change at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). Prof. Whiteman’s remedy is to take leaders to the Alps. In a five-day ‘Innovation in Corporate Sustainability’ (ICS) open programme organised by RSM this autumn, she shows leaders the impact of climate change and uses the unspoiled outdoors to inspire them in the great need for change.

In Prof. Whiteman’s opinion, changes in business towards sustainability need to be made quickly, and the process of teaching undergraduates and waiting for them to be in positions of power will take too long.

“There’s a disconnection between what business is doing and what is really happening on the planet,” says Prof. Whiteman. “Sustainability is no longer a fringe topic and there some excellent frontrunners, but despite what all the frontrunners are doing, we are still not getting there quickly enough.”

She adds: “I could show a PowerPoint presentation of the changes nature is going through right now, but it is not the same as if I took you outside and showed you the effects of climate change on an e ridge. I can say ‘Look at this glacier. This is where it used to be, and this is where it is now,’ and you would think ‘Wow, what a difference over 30 years!’ It’s completely different.

“It is uniquely humbling to understand that what is now a mountain was once the ocean floor, and you can see how insignificant we are on this planet. The change is going to happen with or without us: the movement of climate, glaciers, mountains and tectonic plates. Our choice is whether we wish to ignore it or dance with it.”

By using the outdoors as a classroom for the ICS programme, Prof. Whiteman hopes to disrupt leaders’ routines and break the usual thinking patterns. Business leaders will be schooled in natural sciences: how chemical and biological systems work, and how they are affected by firms’ activities. This relates to the ‘Planetary Boundaries’ framework which describes the limits of natural systems – such as the nitrogen cycle and freshwater depletion – and how they will become imbalanced when exceeded. Such systemic imbalance has an impact on climate change, rates of biodiversity loss, and perhaps humans’ ability to live on this planet.

Prof. Whiteman hopes that understanding how these systems work will help leaders see their firms’ activities in context. “It takes people from being ‘light green’ to being ‘really green’. It’s the difference between knowing there are sustainable activities within the company, and realising ‘we really have to make a change because we are all on one planet – and we have only one.’”

According to Prof. Whiteman, a Canadian who is also Professor in Residence at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and has a background in corporate marketing, changing leaders’ attitudes in such an environment will not be difficult. What matters is that business leaders continue to drive changes when they return.

“We’re finding that the real resistance lies in middle management,” she explains “Middle managers are cruising a lot of the time, knowing that if they deliver on their objectives they’ll get ahead, and being worried that they might not meet their objectives by doing things that are risky or uncertain.”

It is the persistence of these routines that is bringing business behaviour increasingly out of balance, says Prof. Whiteman.

The ICS programme therefore teaches leaders how they can motivate people and create coalitions of willingness within their companies­­.  “The change needs to happen on so many levels, and leaders cannot do it alone. We teach leaders how they can build champions for sustainability, not just by gathering people that are supportive of sustainability but by getting them to live it and breathe it.”

To learn more about RSM’s Innovation in Corporate Sustainability open programme visit www.rsm.nl/ICS, where you can also request an information brochure.

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University is consistently ranked amongst the top 10 business schools in Europe. It is located in the international port city of Rotterdam where core Dutch values of openness, flexibility and acceptance of diversity have attracted businesses on a global scale. Our emphasis is on ground-breaking research and practices relevant to business; our primary focus is on developing business leaders who carry their innovative ideas into a sustainable future. RSM ranks second globally for faculty research on sustainability according to the Aspen Institute's Beyond Grey Pinstripes Report in 2011. Our portfolio includes a broad array of bachelor, master, doctoral, MBA and executive education programmes.

For more information on RSM or on this release, please contact Marianne Schouten, Media & Public Relations Manager for RSM, on +31 10 408 2877 or by email at mschouten@remove-this.rsm.nl.