Perspectives · Ethics

Are you breaching the Code of Ethics by not being sustainable?

At a recent presentation to a group of project managers in Australia I spoke about sustainable projects and sustainable project management. During the presentation I put forward the argument that if project management is to be considered a profession, then we collectively need to operate to a higher set of ethical standards. So what is the standard we should work to and do we need to be sustainable to meet the professional body’s Code of Ethics? The IPMA Code of Ethics The International Project Management Association (IPMA) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct sets out the fundamental principles that guides all professional conduct and practice in project, programme and portfolio management. The Code applies to IPMA volunteers, those who have achieved an IPMA certification as well as Member Associations or companies that voluntarily adopt the Code. The IPMA Code contains many references to specific sustainability elements, including, the need for project managers to:

• remain conscious of the possible consequences of their work and are to minimise any negative impact on project stakeholders.
• not participate in projects, programmes or project portfolios that subject people to unsustainable overwork or harmful working conditions.
• Explicitly ensure there is no use of child labour, forced or bonded labour, or demand illegal overtime
• Not participate in activities that undermine or harm local communities, societies and economies.
• Minimize any possible damaging effects to the environment, which may come about as a consequence of our projects, programmes and project portfolios.
• Promote and raise of awareness of environmental responsibility among our teams, within our organisations and in society.
• Think long-term with regard to the environment and strive for sustainable development
• reduce waste and emissions to air, ground and water and encouraging the recycling of materials and used products; and,
• use resources efficiently in our projects and programmes and avoid waste.

What does PMI have to say? The Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct by comparison “…describes the expectations that we have of ourselves and our fellow practitioners in the global project management community.” The PMI Code applies to PMI Members as well as non-members who hold or apply for PMI certifications or who serve PMI in a volunteer capacity. The PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct contains both aspiration standards, that all project, programme and portfolio management practitioners should aspire to, as well as the mandatory standards with which all practitioners must comply. In a sustainability context, the PMI Code requires project managers to:

• make decisions and take actions based on the best interests of society, public safety, and the environment
• show a high regard for ourselves, others, and the resources entrusted to us, including people, money, reputation, the safety of others, and natural or environmental resources

So what does this mean for project managers? Based on both the IPMA and PMI Code’s of Ethics and Professional Conduct, project, program and portfolio managers have an ethical responsibility and moral obligation to be sustainable and ensure that projects, programmes and portfolios do not impact the planet, society or prosperity. Are you truly complying with the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct or you are putting your membership and project management certification at risk? Want more information? Don't know much about sustainability or what you need to do to make your projects more sustainable? Not sure what you need to do to comply with the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct? Become a GPM member today and gain access to our leading sustainable project management methodology (PRiSM) and a range of tools, templates and sustainable project management resources. Join at: http://greenprojectmanagement.org/membership

Perspectives · P5

Sustainable Development Goal #12 of 17 and Project Management, Responsible Consumption and Production.

In this installment of our series on the SDGs, we look at #12 of 17, Ensure Responsible Consumption and Production Patterns.

This goal encompasses eight targets for sustainable development. For this post, we are going to focus on numbers 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Sustainable consumption and production in this context, means to do more and better with less. If you had to select one SDG that project management could make the most impact on, this would be it. For the past nine years, we at GPM have made it our mission to spur practices that produce more with less. By enabling responsible consumption in project practices that naturally increase the number of benefits that can be realized, we have pushed the definition of quality beyond adherence to time/cost/scope to include Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). In 2016 at his final UN Global Compact Leader’s summit as Executive Director, Georg Kell stated: “I guarantee that within four years, the marketplace will have changed from within because sustainability and its reality is becoming a transformative force. ...finally, asset managers are waking up to the basic reality that sustainability pays off.  Long-term financial success can only be assured if companies also good on governance, on social behavior, and environmental stewardship. Failure on any of these three pillars will make it impossible for businesses to sustain success over time or to become successful.” To be honest, I about fell out of my chair.  This statement was a testament that projects, the precursor to assets, are critical to achieving this goal. In our P5 Standard for Sustainability in Project Management, we have outlined practices that project management can adopt to contribute to this goal. They include:

Local Procurement

The policies and procedures to procure resources, goods, and services putting a stronger emphasis on sourcing from local suppliers. It is recommended that project managers give preference to local suppliers if allowed. Local procurement adherence achieves a number of sustainable project outcomes including:

• Supporting the growth of the local economy
• Reducing CO2 from transportation
• Supporting local businesses and suppliers including improving supplier capacity and experience

This supports Supports SDG 12, Target 7 “Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities.”

Recycling

Policies and practices regarding the sourcing and use of recycled products and materials and the project’s adherence to recycling practices. It is recommended that project managers make use of recycled and or responsibly sourced materials whenever possible. Responsible recycling achieves a number of sustainable project outcomes including:

• Protects natural resources by reducing the need to source raw materials
• Provides marketing opportunities where the project or organization can demonstrate their use of responsibly sourced materials
• Reduces costs of disposal by avoiding waste and through reuse or recycling

This supports Supports SDG 12, Target 5 “By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.”  It also supports target 6 “Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.”

Contamination and Pollution

Contamination or pollution of the air, water, or soil through the introduction of foreign or unwanted materials, chemicals, or fumes that results in the temporary or permanent degradation of an environment or ecosystem. It is recommended that project managers:

• Identify specific legislative and regulatory requirements and standards and put in place measures to ensure the project complies and does not contaminate or pollute
• Give consideration of material and products that do not create by-products or waste that has the potential to contaminate or pollute.

Reduction of contamination and pollution achieves a number of sustainable project outcomes including:

• Protects ecosystems from contamination
• Safeguards against the spread of disease and sickness

This Supports SDG 12, Target 4 “By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their lifecycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.” Going back to the graphic that headlines this post, each year humans consume 1.6 planet’s worth of resources and each year, (We Americans consume a lot more…) Globally, the time to reach this milestone grow shorter and shorter. For example: In 1987, Earth Overshoot day was December 19^th.  In 2016 it was August 8^th. We are losing daylight... Organizations must place greater emphasis on reducing the environmental impact of projects and rethink the approach to manage to protect our natural environment. After all, there is no plan-et B.

Here is a short video on Earth Overshoot day.

https://youtu.be/zMvpAz38qSo

Perspectives · Climate Change

GPM China Advances in Line With National Environmental Goals

Train the Trainer Sessions at Beijing (Peking) University Take Off!

GPM China successfully delivered the second of the three agreed train the trainer sessions in January. With this series, GPM China expects the promotion of GPM® and PRISM® across China to experience a growth period due to the strength of the institutions who have made commitments. The most renowned university in China, Beijing University (Peking University) committed to sending professors to learn the GPM framework and then initiate their own courses. On the first session the Dean of the department of Peking University HSBC Business School Center for Green Economy attended and certified as a GPM-b® together with fellow faculty from the department. Besides Peking University, China University of Mining and Technology and Beijing University of Technology professors have taken part and committed to send additional faculty. Several additional stakeholders from the government participated at different points of to evaluate the program and see what other Government functions could be fit to implement GPM standards into their units.

On the growth of GPM China, Executive Director Jesus Hernandez states that "the Chinese Government is taking the environmental challenges our world is facing and as these Universities are government affiliated, they have been given the mandate to implement GPM to mitigate the effects of climate change. "

In Support of the Chinese Government's Environmental Goals

In 2016, a national guideline on environmental improvements was approved with the Chinese government focused on improving environmental protection and restoration to ensure a greener, more sustainable development, according to the new guideline for environmental protection during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).

The Chinese government has put environmental protection and restoration at the top of the agenda. As President Xi Jinping once said, “We should stay committed to the basic state policy of conserving resources, protecting the environment like we protect our eyes, treating the environment like it is our lives.”

GPM's mission is to make the world a better place one project at a time, and the efforts of GPM China are essential to our ability to do this.  Our contribution to the Paris Agreement and commitment to Sustainable Development Goal #13, Climate action, have been strengthened with Beijing University taking the baton and running with it.

Perspectives · Perspectives

Why GPM® Green Project Manager Certification Goes Hand in Hand with US Green Building Council’s LEED® and The Green Building Initiative Green Globes®

Guest Post by Jan Russell, President of the GreenSpring Institute, USA.

We live in a world with a growing population of over 7 billion people. As long as records have been kept, we know there haven’t been this many people using Earth’s resources at one time. As a result, we now use 1.6 Earth’s resources every year. And every year, that “Overshoot” day gets earlier and earlier. We only have 1 Earth, and we have to change the way we do things, and that change needs to happen from the inside out. Change often involves projects and other initiatives which are quite often a blindspot when it comes to assessing sustainability. Most sustainability managers have hit a brick wall in their sustainability efforts as they have largely focused on ‘operations’, whereby the sustainability effort is expended improving business processes, assessing suppliers and minimizing the waste produced by products being produced and sold. If you are familiar with US Green Building Council’s  (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) LEED® programs, The Green Building Initiative Green Globes®, and International Living Future Institute™ The Living Building Challenge Standard, then it makes perfect sense to obtain this Green Project Management® certification. The goals of LEED®, The Green Building Initiative®, and The Living Building Challenge®, is to curb or reverse climate change, create a regenerative world, the need to restore and protect water resources, restore or enhance and protect biodiversity and ecosystems that sustain life. All of these initiatives promote using regenerative material, building a more sustainable economy, change our behavior, and create a just and equal world that we can all live in. These initiatives and certifications are fantastic, however, quite often it is the project manager that makes critical decisions that can subvert the efforts of the sustainability team. As Many CEO’s are demanding improvements in sustainability however project managers are struggling with how to fit it all together. Green Project Management® is a social enterprise that offers a sustainability certification in project management that can enhance your career. The Green Project Manager® certification carries with it a global recognition of your knowledge of the ISO Standards and Guides, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, The UN Global Compact, The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), The International Project Manager Association, and the Association of Project Management. These are a few of the standards the certification exam prep training and the exam itself is based on. GPM has produced a standard for incorporating sustainability into projects. The GPM P5 Standard combines the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals,  ISO21500 Standard for Project Management, ISO26000 Standard for Social Responsibility, the ISO14000 Standard suite of Environmental Management Systems, ISO9000 Standard suite of Quality Management, ISO50001 Standard for Energy Management. Whilst not all SDG’s or ISO standards will apply to every project or situation, by understanding each fo these standards you can decide what is most relevenat to your situation and what is needed to achieve the best sustainability outcome.. The P5 Standard can be used to undertaken a assessment of a project providing a complete overview of how your project stands up against the sustainable goals set forth for your project. It will show you the areas that will need further action to achieve the outcomes of your project. With this tool, your surprises on the project will be reduced. We all know you can’t control everything, but by using P5, you will have more control. Recent research has shown that projects are the new target for sustainability and many project managers lack the knowledge and skills in sustainability. When combined with LEED® or Green Globe® certifications, undertaking a GPM training and certification you will become one of the most successful and sought after project managers in the market. With a sustainability skillset in your toolkit, you can guide the direction your project takes all the while maintaining the set standards and objectives. to build on the original Triple Bottom Line and taking it much further. Training from one of the global training partners such as GreenSpring Institute™, and obtaining the GPM® certification will fill that knowledge gap. Changing the normal way we build in this world by including sustainability in the Project Management realm, we can reduce our impact on the environment and leave behind a sustainable world for future generations. Change is scary, change is resisted, but if we do it on an incremental basis, then it becomes the norm. Changes are already happening, but we need more. It’s up to all of us. References: https://biomimicry.org/ USGBC LEED v4 User Guide http://www.usgbc.org/resources/leed-v4-user-guide Green Building Initiative, Green Globes® https://www.thegbi.org/ International Living Future Institute™ The Living Building Challenge https://living-future.org/lbc/ GPM Certifications http://www.greenprojectmanagement.org/certification

Perspectives · IPMA

Sustainable Development Goal #11 of 17 and Project Management, Sustainable Cities.

In this installment of our series on the SDGs, we look at #11 of 17, Sustainable Cities and Communities.

This goal encompasses ten targets of sustainable development.  The target stems from the following fact that:

• Half of humanity – 3.5 billion people – lives in cities today
• By 2030, almost 60 per cent of the world’s population will live in urban areas
• 95 per cent of urban expansion in the next decades will take place in developing world
• 828 million people live in slums today and the number keeps rising
• The world’s cities occupy just 3 per cent of the Earth’s land, but account for 60-80 per cent of energy consumption and 75 per cent of carbon emissions
• Rapid urbanization is exerting pressure on fresh water supplies, sewage, the living environment, and public health
• But the high density of cities can bring efficiency gains and technological innovation while reducing resource and energy consumption

In short, the objective of this SDG is to, by 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing, essential services, upgrade slums, build sustainable transport systems, safe roads, while protecting and safeguarding the world’s cultural and natural heritage. Also by 2030 to reduce disaster-related deaths, reduce negative environmental impact, increase green spaces, strengthen urban planning and climate change mitigation strategies and programs, supporting local procurement and building resilient infrastructure, and lend support least developed nations.

There is a lot packed into this goal so how does it impact projects and project management?

Each of these targets are subjective as they use general terms "safe roads", reduce environmental impact" etc. What is important for project managers to understand that projects that align to this SDG are simply going the extra mile to ensure that social and environmental factors are included as key performance indicators.  In order to deliver on these, project managers must understand the relevant KCIs or Key Competence Indicators. Our Friends at the International Project Management Association (IPMA) do a great job of explaining the competence elements for sustainability.   Their Compliance, Standards and Regulations KCI is laid out as follows:

Identify, and ensure that the project complies with relevant sustainability principles and objectives.

Description

The individual is able to assess the impact of the project on the environment and society. Realizing his or her responsibility, the individual researches, recommends and applies measures to limit or compensate negative consequences. The individual follows (or even exceeds) guidelines and rules on sustainable development coming from within the organization and from the wider society, and is able to realize a workable balance between the demands of society, impacts to the eco-environment and the economy.

The individual understands that sustainability aspects, measures and attitudes often vary in different countries and cultures.

Measures

• Identifies the social and environmental consequences of the project
• Defines and communicates the sustainability targets for the project and its outcomes
• Aligns objectives with organizational strategy for sustainability
• Balances the demands of society, the environment and the economy (people, planet, profit) with project processes and products <editor note, this is the same as the GPM P5 Standard>
• Encourages the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies

To download the ICB 4.0 for free (as it should be) go to http://products.ipma.world

Perspectives · Perspectives

Learn about Sustainability in a few hours...

"The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance." Nathaniel Branden

Key Sustainability References

Trying to figure out what sustainability is about can be a challenge.  I have benefited significantly from reading the following references... and for the afternoon and a few hundred dollars, they have more than payed for themselves.

If you can think of any other references that have significantly impacted your awareness understanding and insight into sustainability, please let me know!

ISO 26000:2010 - Guidance on social responsibility

Overall this is a brilliant introduction and overview of social responsibility, incorporating discussions on organizational governance, human rights, labour practices, the environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues and community involvement and development... in essence the people, planet and profit components of sustainability.  Due to the fact that this is an ISO standard, the cultural, moral and ethical constraints of various cultures has been largely removed and left with guidance that the world can collectively accept and adopt. Taken from the Introduction on Page 6:

"This International Standard provides guidance on the underlying principles of social responsibility, recognizing social responsibility and engaging stakeholders, the core subjects and issues pertaining to social responsibility (see Table 2)"...

 

..."and on ways to integrate socially responsible behaviour into the organization (see Figure 1)."

"This International Standard emphasizes the importance of results and improvements in performance on social responsibility. This International Standard is intended to be useful to all types of organizations in the private, public and nonprofit sectors, whether large or small, and whether operating in developed or developing countries. While not all parts of this International Standard will be of equal use to all types of organizations, all core subjects are relevant to every organization. All core subjects comprise a number of issues, and it is an individual organization's responsibility to identify which issues are relevant and significant for the organization to address, through its own considerations and through dialogue with stakeholders."

http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=42546 118 Pages 198 CHF or $202.16 USD (presuming 1 CHF = 1.02103 USD)  

ISO Guide 82:2014 - Guidelines for addressing sustainability in standards

ISO Guide 82 is a fairly new release and is effectively a Coles Notes® (if you are Canadian) or Cliffs / Monarch Notes® (if you are American) or York Notes® (if you are British) version of ISO 26000.  It is also a brilliant guideline for helping ISO standards developers incorporate social responsibility into ISO standards. Taken from the Introduction on page 5:

"Sustainability is the goal of sustainable development. It refers to any state of the global system in which the needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The concept of sustainability is continually evolving. Understanding and achieving a balance between environmental, social and economic systems, ideally in mutually supporting ways, is considered essential for making progress towards achieving sustainability. The achievement of sustainability is now recognized as one of the most important considerations in all human activities. The term “sustainable development” is often used to describe development that leads to sustainability, and the term “social responsibility” is often used to describe how an individual organization (e.g. a company) can contribute to sustainable development. This Guide is intended for use by anyone involved in the development of ISO standards and similar deliverables, and aims to: a) raise awareness of sustainability issues arising from the application of ISO standards; b) provide standards writers with a systematic approach to addressing sustainability issues in a coherent and consistent manner, with regard to both new and revised standards, and in a manner related to the objective and scope of the standard being developed; c) promote consistency, where appropriate, among standards that address sustainability. This Guide makes reference to related ISO deliverables, as appropriate, e.g. ISO Guide 64 (which addresses environmental issues in product standards) and ISO 26000 (which provides guidance on social responsibility). Standards writers are encouraged to consider sustainability issues in their work at all stages in the standards development process. If sustainability issues have not been considered, this can be a valid reason to start the revision of a standard. In addition, the significance or relevance of specific issues might have changed since the previous edition of a standard was drafted or reviewed. Whenever a new standard is drafted or an existing standard is revised, all standards writers (including project leaders, convenors, committee chairs and secretaries) are encouraged to actively promote the application of this Guide, and thereby involve experts knowledgeable in the subject."

Though obviously designed for standards development, ISO Guide 82 included recommendations that could be used for incorporating sustainability and social responsibility into standards, policies and strategies. http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=57775 26 Pages 118 CHF or $120.48 USD (presuming 1 CHF = 1.02103 USD)  

ISO/DIS 20400.2 - Sustainable procurement -- Guidance

This was a reasonably short and very practical and hands on guidance for sustainable procurement which I strongly recommend acquiring. Taken from the Introduction on Page 6:

Every organization has environmental, social and economic impacts on a variety of stakeholders. Procurement is a powerful instrument for all organizations wanting to behave in a responsible way and contribute to sustainable development. By integrating sustainability in procurement policies and practices, including supply chains, organizations can manage risks (including opportunities) for sustainable environmental, social and economic development. Sustainable procurement is an opportunity to provide more value to the organization by improving productivity, assessment of value and performance, better communication between purchasers, suppliers and all stakeholders, and by encouraging innovation. This international standard assists organizations in meeting their sustainability responsibilities by providing an understanding of:

• what sustainable procurement is;
• what the sustainability impacts and considerations are across the different aspects of procurement activity: policy, strategy, organization, process;
• how to implement sustainable procurement.

Figure 1 presents the structure of this international standard.

This international standard is applicable to any organization, either public or private, regardless of its size and location, and aims to be understood by any stakeholder involved in or impacted by procurement decisions and processes. The implementation of this international standard should take into account the context and characteristics of a particular organization, scaling the application of the concepts to suit the size of their organization. The adoption of the standard by large organizations may promote opportunities to small and medium size organizations in its supply chains."

http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=63026 58 Pages 58 CHF or $59.22 USD (presuming 1 CHF = 1.02103 USD)  

The GPM P5™ 2014 Version 1.1 Standard for Sustainability In Project Management

From the Introduction on Page 6 "P5 stands for People, Planet, Profit, Process and Product.

The GPM P5 Standard is a tool that supports the alignment of Portfolios, Programs and Projects with organizational strategy for Sustainability and focuses on the Impacts of Project Processes and Deliverables on the Environment, Society, the corporate bottom line and the local economy. The simplest way to explain P5 is that it is made of bonds between the triple bottom line approach, project processes and the resulting products or services. P5 expands on the triple bottom line theory to allow for project management integration and is an adaptation of a sustainability checklist that was developed at the 2010 IPMA® Expert Seminar, “Survival and Sustainability as challenges to projects.” This publication provides guidance on what to measure and how to integrate P5 into project activities and can also be used by CSR professionals to support their sustainability reporting to include projects. P5 serves as the sustainability framework our PRiSM methodology is built and leverages ISO standards, the GRI G4 indicators and the UN Global Compact Ten Principles."

http://www.greenprojectmanagement.org/prism/the-p5-concept 29 Pages $0.00 USD  

Several Other Fun References

Six Capitals, or Can Accountants Save the Planet?: Rethinking Capitalism for the Twenty-First Century

This book is not a quick read, but it is very interesting and timely.  The following is a slight modification of an excellent summary by Nick Shepherd (Shepherd, 2015). It provides an interesting background around the evolution of the sustainability concept from the original Triple Bottom Line (People, Planet, profits) from the 1980's to today. Six Capitals is a model where the major accounting bodies around the world, with capitalists, investors, governments, regulators and other key stakeholders have been meeting and have developed a new reporting system called the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) which addresses not only capital (financial) but the following:

• financial
• manufactured
• intellectual
• human
• social and relationship
• natural capital

These capitals represent the sources of inputs that organizations access in their business model. There was a fun story about the real cost of a McDonald's Big Mac:

The problem of externalities is best expressed by former World Bank economist Raj Patel in his hypothetical “$ 200 hamburger.” In this thought experiment Patel estimated the real cost of a McDonald’s Big Mac to be $ 200. The reason Big Macs sell for almost one-hundredth of this figure is that their price does not account for their real costs. These include their carbon footprint, their impact on the environment in terms of water use and soil degradation, and the enormous health-care costs of diet-related illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. Traditional accounting models do not take these costs into account, but they still have to be paid; it is just that the McDonald’s Corporation does not pay them. We do. Society as a whole pays, in the form of environmental disasters, climate change, the depletion of natural resources and higher health costs. For Patel, the fact that corporations do not pay the environmental and social costs they rack up amounts to corporate subsidy on a massive scale. As he remarks, “You’d be forgiven for thinking that this ongoing bailout from nature and society to private enterprise is what puts the ‘free’ into free markets— despite its protests, corporate capitalism has yet to prove that it can operate without these kinds of subsidies.”

The goal of adopting a move to a broader based "integrated report" is to provide key stakeholders, particularly investors with a broader understanding of an organizations sustainability in all areas of input that it depends upon (a more realistic basis for a going concern in the longer term). The view is that in a world where balance sheets represent on average only 20% of an organizations value investors need to understand more in order to make judgements on investment decisions. In addition the public is demanding greater accountability from the organizations and the Six Capitals can be a way of opening up transparency into areas such as environmental impact. https://janegleesonwhite.com/six-capitals/ Hardcover 304 Pages Hardcover $22.64 USD

The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations, and the Public

This is a very interesting book, and a quick read.  It is very important for corporations in the West, specifically the Americas, to understand the nonsensical and legally incorrect shareholder value myth is harming not just investors but the global economy as well.  As demonstrated in this book, this short term and immediate share value perspective is not only non-sustainable but damaging in the long run.

Executives, investors, and the business press routinely chant the mantra that corporations are required to “maximize shareholder value.” In this pathbreaking book, renowned corporate expert, and professor at Cornell University Law School,Lynn Stout debunks the myth that corporate law mandates shareholder primacy. Stout shows how shareholder value thinking endangers not only investors but the rest of us as well, leading managers to focus myopically on short-term earnings; discouraging investment and innovation; harming employees, customers, and communities; and causing companies to indulge in reckless, sociopathic, and irresponsible behaviors. And she looks at new models of corporate purpose that better serve the needs of investors, corporations, and society.

  http://sa.am/lynn-stout-the-shareholder-value-myth-how-putting-shareholders-first-harms-investors-corporations-and-the-public/ Softcover 120 Pages Softcover $17.29 USD  

Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth

This is an exciting book that Grzegorz (Greg) Szalajko recommended to me several years ago during an IPMA Project Excellence Assessment in Guatemala.  I believe it is relevant from a sustainability perspective in terms of culture and values organizationally.  I copied the following from the Amazon site:

"Jugaad Innovation is the most comprehensive book yet to appear on the subject ." —The Economist A frugal and flexible approach to innovation for the 21st century. Innovation is a key directive at companies worldwide. But in these tough times, we can't rely on the old formula that has sustained innovation efforts for decades—expensive R&D projects and highly-structured innovation processes. Jugaad Innovation argues the West must look to places like India, Brazil, and China for a new approach to frugal and flexible innovation. The authors show how in these emerging markets, jugaad (a Hindi word meaning an improvised solution born from ingenuity and cleverness) is leading to dramatic growth and how Western companies can adopt jugaad innovation to succeed in our hypercompetitive world.

• Outlines the six principles of jugaad innovation:

1. Seek opportunity in adversity,
2. do more with less,
3. think and act flexibly,
4. keep it simple,
5. include the margin, and
6. follow your heart

• Features twenty case studies on large corporations from around the world—Google, Facebook, 3M, Apple, Best Buy, GE, IBM, Nokia, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Tata Group, and more—that are actively practicing jugaad innovation
• The authors blog regularly at Harvard Business Review; their work has been profiled in BusinessWeek, MIT Sloan Management Review, The Financial Times, The Economist, and more
• Filled with previously untold and engaging stories of resourceful jugaad innovators and entrepreneurs in emerging markets and the United States

This groundbreaking book shows leaders everywhere why the time is right for jugaad to emerge as a powerful business tool in the West—and how to bring jugaad mindset and practices to their organizations.

There was an insightful case study that I particularly enjoyed about the difference in corporate cultures between the East and West:

For instance, in China, any call placed to Haier's national customer service center is answered within three rings and a technician is dispatched to your house within three hours— even on Sundays. A few years back, one such call came from a farmer in a remote village in Sichuan province who complained about the constantly clogged drainpipe in his washing machine. The Haier technician who went to investigate found that the farmer was using the machine to wash the mud off his freshly harvested potatoes; it was this mud that was causing the clogging. “Most companies would react by saying ‘This machine is not designed for this purpose,’ ” explains Philip Carmichael, Haier's president, Asia-Pacific, “but Haier's approach was to say, ‘This guy (farmer) isn't the only one who's tried to wash potatoes. Is there a way to adapt this product to this requirement? Maybe we can make a machine that actually washes potatoes and clothes.’ ” Haier's flexible thinking was spot on: it turns out that millions of farmers across China routinely use their washing machines to clean their vegetables. Sensing a big market opportunity, Haier's cross-functional teams quickly acted on their intuition by developing a washing machine with larger pipes that could also handle vegetables. The product was a big hit among farmers. But Haier's creative teams didn't stop there. They also invented a washing machine that can peel potatoes and even designed a model for herders in Inner Mongolia and the Tibetan Plateau to help churn yak milk into butter! These inventions eventually inspired Haier to introduce, in 2009, a washing machine able to wash clothes without detergent. That groundbreaking innovation helped propel Haier to the number one position in the laundry equipment market not only in China but also around the world. Jugaad innovators— such as Haier's employees— are highly adaptable. They are capable of thinking on their feet and acting with great agility. Being nimble-minded and nimble-footed serves them well in the context of emerging markets, which are characterized by extreme unpredictability. Western leaders confronted with increasing volatility and uncertainty in their own business environment must also learn to think and act flexibly— but, as we discuss next, that's easier said than done.

I also liked their analysis of what is actually making our Western Firms so inflexible and why we are losing the innovation opportunities in so many arenas:

We believe that Western firms' inability to think and act flexibly in response to change has five chief causes: complacency; binary logic; an aversion to risk; disengaged employees; and rigid, time-consuming product development processes.

http://jugaadinnovation.com/ Hardcover 288 Pages Hardcover $22.02 USD  

REFERENCES

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Radjou, Navi; Prabhu, Jaideep; Ahuja, Simone. Jugaad Innovation: Think Frugal, Be Flexible, Generate Breakthrough Growth. Wiley. Retrieved from http://jugaadinnovation.com/ Shepherd, N. (2015). Changing Thinking about Sustainability. Retrieved February 9, 2016, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/changing-thinking-sustainability-nick-shepherd-cpa-cga?trk=mp-reader-card Stout, Lynn A.. The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations, and the Public. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.  Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Shareholder-Value-Myth-Shareholders-Corporations/dp/1605098132/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473045325&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Shareholder+Value+Myth The business of business. (2015). The Economist. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/news/business/21646742-old-debate-about-what-companies-are-has-been-revived-business-business UNOPS. (2016). UNOPS Sustainable Procurement - Our Approach. Retrieved from https://www.unops.org/english/Services/Procurement/Pages/Approach.aspx