Sustainable Game Changers with balls

Turning the tide

Between 1995 and 2010 I climbed the corporate ladder into the multi-national board room. I was a trained Dutch economist and former navy seal that rigorously drove growth for the brands that employed me, with creativity, innovation power and can-do mentality as my strong weapons. I was a product of the post war profitable growth leadership generation and far from seen as a green leader. Until 2010 that is, when I switched my career from corporate leadership into fintech entrepreneurship. A game changing move! Not only my career switched, but above all, my internal motivation switched! As I had become a father of 4 children, I realized that I had a mission in life. One different than one dimensional profit generation! Therefore, the tech-companies I founded and grew over the past decade operated all from my mission to radically improve financial inclusion and equality. Up till now we helped 2.5 million underserved households with € 4.5 billion granted loans to access finance and build their lives. Financial inclusion of Gen Z that lacked credit scores or financial knowledge to buy a house. Financial inclusion of self-employed and financial inclusion of farmers and woman in developing countries. Loft visions and ambitions, but also lots of challenges to balance this purpose driven DNA with profitable growth in the early days.

Let my people go surfing!

On this matter I got highly inspired when I read the book 'Let my people go surfing’ of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard seven years ago. Chouinard managed to successfully find a balance between profit and purpose. Patagonia, the iconic outdoor gear maker has holistically integrated sustainability into its DNA. This billion-dollar brand demonstrates that businesses can be both radically responsible and very profitable. Chouinard taught me that, next to profit or purpose, there is a third ‘integrated’ profit and purpose road if you follow that authentically. What inspires me most from Chouinard is that he also got a mission and practices what he preaches in all aspects of his life. Chouinard wanted to build the best product while protecting nature. He therefore used to go out in the mountains with his team to test his products under all circumstances. Nowadays Patagonia for example collects and refurbishes its old gear as part of its waste combatting principles: reduce, reuse, repair, recycle and re-imagine. A program called ‘worn wear’ allows consumers to buy used, as well as trade-in and fix their gear.

The sustainable living plan

Another inspiring example of sustainability is what Paul Polman did with Unilever. That Unilever emerged as a globally recognized leader in sustainability may seem surprising given Polman’s pedigree — as a seasoned executive at Nestlé and Procter & Gamble he also wasn’t known for going green. But early in his tenure at Unilever, he made bold and unconventional moves that seemed heretical to some investors accustomed to a focus on short-term profits. Polman stopped issuing quarterly guidance, warned that climate change was costing Unilever hundreds of millions of dollars annually, began requiring suppliers develop plans to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains, and acquired companies known for their eco-friendly approach, including Seventh Generation, Schmidt’s Naturals, and Tazo tea. One of his biggest moves was to establish the Sustainable Living Plan, a blueprint to move Unilever toward more planet-friendly growth, including shifting to 100% renewable energy supply, substantially reducing plastic waste and water use, achieving a deforestation-free supply chain by 2023, and pressing world leaders to adopt the Paris climate accord. Also, Polman was on a mission. A mission to profit from solving world problems. And he still is! Recently Polman published the book 'Net positive: how courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take'. Aiming for sustainability is not enough, Polman says. “Companies are starting to understand that you need to be restorative, reparative, regenerative.” Polman also practiced what he preached in all aspects of his life. Famous is the story that he came to his office by bike every day and refused to have a company car. What’s not new is that successfully driving big transformations is all about great leadership. What is new is that great leadership nowadays requires an authentic mission to make this world a better place, a vision how to do that in a sustainable profitable way, the guts to do it and the stamina to overcome all stakeholder resistance and hurdles on this road. 

The world needs more role models in turning the tide

The world is in urgent need for this kind of leaders everywhere! Scientists say that to avoid a ‘climate catastrophe’ we should try to keep temperature rises within 1.5°C.  Current pledges, if met, will however only limit global warming to about 2.4°C. Despite this there was no concrete agreement on cutting CO2 emissions at the recent COP26 conference in Glasgow . Political leaders only agreed to meet next year to pledge further cuts to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). World leaders did agree to phase-out subsidies that artificially lower the price of coal, oil, or natural gas. However, no firm dates have been set for executing this. But it’s not all bad news. At COP 26 an agreement with poor countries was closed. The agreement pledged to significantly increase money to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate change and make the switch to clean energy. There's also the prospect of a trillion dollar a year fund from 2025 - after a previous pledge for richer countries to provide $100bn a year by 2020 was missed. Also, the ECB concluded this week that climate change will be a major source of systemic risk to banks if no action is taken, particularly for those highly exposed to economic sectors and/or geographical areas most at risk. The ECB also concluded that banks are not taking enough action currently in this direction. The European Central Bank therefore announced to start a sustainability stress test early 2022. Larger European banks will be tested on their impact and risk management when it comes to climate and social catastrophes.

Sustainable innovation is an unstoppable movement

With transforming the world economy from a linear profitability focused one into a circular one we are facing the biggest transformation in our lifetime. A transformation that is being driven on four innovation principles, which are (1) eliminating waste and pollution, (2) keeping products and solutions in use for long, (3) regenerate natural systems and have (4) positive social impact. A movement that is inspiring and being embraced by more and more role model industry leaders. Adidas nowadays re-uses 65% of plastics used in its products. BMW group only uses renewal energy sources and reduced the used energy per produced vehicle with 55% since 2006 and sees design as their game changer. The design of a product largely determines its ecological footprint. And at IKEA now over 98% of the wood used comes from sustainable sources, they reduced their climate footprint with 7% per Euro of retail sales and they tested over 9500 products on circularity. Kasper Rorsted of Adidas, Oliver Zipse of BMW and Jesper Brodin of IKEA have the vision to lead their companies on their mission to make this world a better place to live. Literally IKEA’s mission is to have positive climate and social impact  ! It may seem that their leadership has started to inspire others to follow boldly as S&P Global recently announced to break with the tradition to announce sustainable industry leaders as the gaps between companies are getting smaller and smaller. What an insane opportunity to find sustainable and profitable ways to make this world better!  But, as I know from experience, a difficult one too! So, if you are a leader, now is the moment to change the game! Build a climate and social positive vision, be bold in it! Dare to be brave in turning the tide when it comes to setting targets and defining activities and have the stamina to persevere! The world will be highly grateful!