1. Lecture Avans College
Contents:
By way of introduction:
“Allow me to introduce myself. I have been active as consultant and teacherin
business schools over the past 25 years, both in The Netherlands and
internationally. My educationis in Historyand Philosophy, while I obtained
my ph.d. in Culture Studies from Maastricht University.
I have been teaching about sustainabilityeversince I met John Elkington1 in
the 1990s. More recently, I have developed a webinar for Execsense (a
company basedin New York, part of the Financial Times group) on “Managing
the SustainabilityAgenda”. In that webinar I explain what these days for
decisionmakers inthe business world the bottom line of sustainabilityis.
I intend to discuss with you what “sustainability” means.Maybe it will
suprise you that I will not discuss the environment. I am styrengthened in this
by the UNSustainabilityDevelopment Goals2, which are also about many
other issues,suchas education,gender equality and the protectionthrough
reliable institutions.
What if I were to play the devils’ advocate3? What if I were to say to
companies:just stopwith all that sustainability-stuff?What would that mean?
Would it mean that we no longer try to prevent pollution? That we treat
clients and staff members without a shred of respect? (we might, for instance,
appreciate child-labor) That we squander energy? Probably not.
Governmental institutions would come after us and we would have a hard
time explaining that line of behaviorto clients and other stakeholders.
But the devils’ advocate might say: “is sustainabilityreally what it is all
about?”. And he might have a point there. After all, sustainabilityis,aside
1 John Elkington is the champion of thinking in terms of people, planet, profit. His
startingpoint is that traditionally the business world has had a focus on profit, at the expense of
people and planet, with negative consequences in the long run.
2 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
3 Since the days of pope Leo X in the 15e century, it was the custom in the Catholic church to
declare sainthood on the basis of a trial, in which someone would defend the holyness of the
person discussed and someone else, the “devils advocate”, would argue against such holyness..
This custom ended with the revision of the sainthood procedure under pope John Paul II, in 1979.

2. from a few exceptions,not a business goal4. Business goals are about making
products and offering services.
In other words, sustainabilityis important,but does it connect with
your purpose?
Sustainabilityis about answering the question “ifwe want to continue doing
our business – and organisations usuallydo want to perpetuate themselves -,
then how can we form a meaningful image of reaching our companygoals in
the long run and how do we prevent that we do something in the short run,
even when that is unintended, which will hurt us in the long run?”. Also: “how
do we avoidgoing after the long run in such a way that we do not suvive the
immediate challenges?”.
Sustainabilityis an umbrella-consept. It combines various considerations and
activities. The first challenge it poses to a companyis this: “what does
sustainabilitylook like for my industry and specifically for my company?”.
There are no universal answers to this question.But on the whole one might
say that at least it involves that more actors are consideredin making
strategic and tacticaldecisions (stakeholdermanagement) and that new
developments,such as new quality standards, internationalagreements and
industry standards, can help to provide clarity.
Sometimes the oftenused definitions of “sustainability”5 are criticised
because they can come across as rather negative.We already saw that with
Elkington’s approach, as he accusedentrepreneurs and managers in the
1990’s of being in fact “cannibals with forks”. Such a negative attitude,even
when it is perfectly understandable, may make it harder to connect with the
drive of an entrepreneur. After all, entrepreneurs are typicaly optimistic in
nature and aspire to achieve something of value.
But there is also a more constructive and inspiring approach to
sustainability possible:“ be entrepreneurial in such a way that it adds value
today and keeps adding value for future generations”.This requires a
reflection on one’s purpose and one one’s competences to achieve results in
4 Also at a university, such as Avans, this is not the case. For such a university, research and
education are the proper goals, while sustainability might play a role in that.
5 The most well-known definition of sustainability is the UN/Brundtland definition (Our
Common Future, 1987): “satisfying the needs of the present generation without damaging the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

3. line with that purpose6.
This requires both to avoidentrepreneurial risk7 and to seize new
opportunities.
Consider for a moment the constructionof a medieval cathedral8. Such a
constructionprocess took three times more than was the lifespan of those
who were building it. Now, can you consideryour own business activities as if
they are in fact part of the constructionofsuch a cathedral ?
6 One could say that this comes down to Business Process Redesign. In that way you then
take another look at your purpose and analyze the existing ways of achieving results from that
purpose, taking new demands and considerations into account., In other words, you look for a
better way to achieve your goals, while being true to your purpose.
7 For instance, if IBM had not reflected on its purpose, it would still be making typewriters,
while reflecting on the purpose meant changing it from supporting administration to supporting
business information processes, after which it stopped making mechanical devices altogether.
8 To be precise, a cathedral is the church that has the cathedra (pulpit) of a bishop, but in
everyday language it has come to mean a mediaeval gothic church (portrayed is the Grote Kerk in
Breda/ The Netherlands).

4. We may also consider that SMEs are often different in this than are publicly
traded companies.Not many publicly traded companies enjoy a lifespan
comparable to how long it took to build a cathedral. But many SMEs are
family-owned businesses andenjoy a focus on future generations. This is one
of the reasons why SMEs often have a different approach to sustainability
than publicly owned companies (anotherreasonbeing that most SMEs are
more strongly rooted in local societythan are publicly traded companies).
Finally, let us considerthe following: we human beings have tended since the
dawn of time to strive to surpass our own mortalityand achieve what has
meaning for far longer than our personal lives (one of the driving forces
behind great art). Would it then not be more natural to have our business
activities connect withthat? More human, perhaps?