The BSR Conference 2015: Resilient Business, Resilient World

The adage “adversity breeds success” rings especially true for those of us in the sustainable business field. Through innovative solutions to complex global challenges such as climate change, human rights, and supply chain transparency, corporate sustainability leaders have successfully turned adversity on its head, helping accelerate progress for us all.

At our BSR Conference in New York last fall, we welcomed inspiring leaders who spoke passionately about helping people lead better lives, changing the world, developing a new chapter of capitalism, and finding solutions to entrenched problems. (Watch our new highlight video here.)

Using these success stories as a frame, we are excited to announce the theme for the BSR Conference 2015: Resilient Business, Resilient World.

The word “resilience” is a powerful one, with multiple meanings. While discussing the concept recently with a BSR colleague, he mentioned the Japanese art of kintsugi, or golden repair, in which broken pottery is pieced together using bits of gold or other precious metals. Through this process of repair, the art piece becomes even more beautiful and valuable, ensuring its usefulness and effectiveness for the future—a concept of true resilience. 

Resilience can refer to the ability to withstand disruptive shocks, manage complexity, and recover from tough times—but it also implies evolution, nimbleness, and long-term thinking. As President Obama’s resilience czar, Harriet Tregoning, described in a Grist interview last week: “Resilience favors diversity. It favors more choices. It favors innovation. It favors social connectedness and cohesion.”

At our BSR Conference 2015, this November 3-5 in San Francisco, we’ll be exploring all of these facets of resilience—including resilient leadership, corporations, communities, systems, and more. We hope you’ll join us to explore how business can thrive in the midst of global challenges and emerge even stronger as a result.

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