Business Leaders Make Their Predictions for 2019
Originally posted on AspenInstitute.org
What will happen in 2019 at the intersection of business and society? As our team in the Business & Society Program looked ahead to the new year, we realized the best answers lie in our network of business leaders and academics. From Artificial Intelligence to worker voice to lifelong learning, these diverse predictions impart a powerful sense of possibility, even in facing some of the world’s toughest challenges in the new year.
10. The new focus for business will be on changing the system in which they operate, not just making green products or services.
We are entering the next phase of business sustainability, one directed at creating sustainability rather than reducing unsustainability. For example, it is not enough to simply reduce greenhouse gas emissions; instead, we have to go carbon neutral or negative. That will require a systems view that goes beyond triple bottom line thinking. Look at what WeWork did by disallowing meat on expense reports to reach carbon neutrality goals by 2020. Also, look at Toyota’s plans to be carbon neutral by 2050, an effort that can only be accomplished by working with old and new partners to change the system by which cars are made, used, reused and disposed. I make a similar argument in this article. – Andrew J. Hoffman, Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Business, University of Michigan
