A change of paradigm after COVID-19
What if COVID-19 lets us evolve into a better society? The pandemic has upended the world in which we conduct our professional and personal lives: we have had to stop working in the traditional way, we cannot embrace the people we love.
Where sustainability is concerned, we are seeing a step backwards in practices that had already moved forward — the return of single-use packaging, a wariness of buying second-hand, of using public transport or of car-sharing. All of which might prompt the question: are we about to go into reverse on sustainability?
But what if we have the opportunity to evolve into a better society?
This crisis has forced us to stop, to reflect and to question how we do things. It has broken the inertia that pushed us to carry on as we always had.
We are discovering concepts such as the interdependence of stakeholders — professions not previously held in high regard have suddenly revealed themselves as essential to our survival. The resilience of systems: their capacity to absorb shocks and reorganise themselves while change is under way, without losing their function. The importance of caring for the environment, not least because it is closely bound up with our own health. All of this is helping us identify technologies already available to us that could be useful in doing things differently.
We can see, at this moment, how organisations are putting social responsibility into practice, and how it is beginning to take shape in concrete actions that help during the crisis. Examples are emerging: electricity companies offering their customers easier payment terms; drinks manufacturers supporting bars to make reopening easier; car factories retooling to produce ventilators; textile companies turning to making masks and gowns for healthcare workers, and putting their expertise in purchasing from countries such as China at the service of public administrations.
Responsible companies
This is the moment when responsible businesses will step forward and demonstrate what they are genuinely committed to. And at the same time, those who applied social responsibility only cosmetically will have to show their hand.
Strategic social responsibility is the kind in which sustainability is woven into the core of the business and is capable of generating shared value — where organisations can build successful businesses while also producing development within society. In my view, one of the models for achieving it is Conscious Capitalism.
Conscious Capitalism is a different way of seeing business. The movement’s motto is “Elevating Humanity through Business“, and in it entrepreneurs are people who take risks in order to solve problems or meet needs that affect society. Their organisations do not pursue financial return as their sole end but set out to meet a need — and end up generating profit as a consequence. Conscious Capitalism rests on four fundamental pillars:
- Higher purpose: money is not the organisation’s ultimate purpose but a means of achieving one.
- Conscious culture: oriented towards people and towards collaborative rather than competitive values.
- Conscious leadership: the leader is a kind of “missionary”, convinced of the organisation’s purpose, who places themselves at the service of the team and draws out the best in the people who work there.
- Stakeholder integration: a systemic view of everyone involved, seeking the common good and going beyond balance to reach a genuine win-win.
Conscious initiatives
During lockdown a great many online initiatives were launched to think through how to return to normality properly. I would single out the Thank God It’s Monday movement, connected to Conscious Capitalism: a series of interviews with people making valuable contributions aligned with this philosophy, reflecting on the crisis, on how to face it and on how to arrive at a new normality that is more sustainable.
Among them we can hear Raj Sisodia, founder of the movement, on how crises can help us evolve; Bob Chapman on a management style centred on people; and Nilima Bhat on leadership models that incorporate feminine values such as compassion, empathy and trust. All of them set out good practice that can inspire us to improve our organisations and to reach a new model of development that is more sustainable, socially and environmentally.
In conclusion, the experts tell us that radical change is needed, because incremental change will not be enough to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. This pandemic might just help us accelerate the shift to a new model of development that is fairer, more inclusive and more sustainable.
It is up to us to make this virus serve a better future.
Lecturer at CMI
