Radical Responsibility
The past two years proved we can change faster than we ever imagined.
The climate crisis requires immense change and like COVID-19 it is a global problem that will affect us all. The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, pointed to a clear lesson from the pandemic, ‘national solutions to global problems do not work’.
As businesses, we need to work together to tackle the biggest challenge of our lifetime. We need radical responsibility in 2022 – and a recognition that everyone has a part to play in finding solutions for us all.
Your business’ social and environmental impact will dictate your future licence to operate. Taking responsibility for your impact requires reflection and action – for many that means radical change.
Change is an important part of our future. Your team – and ours - will need to adapt and pivot to future-proof our businesses. The most critical questions challenge business models. And answers require creative solutions to open doors to untold opportunities.
Responsibility leads to:
Action ahead of regulation
Strengthened relationships with stakeholders to speed up change
Learning from others and building partnerships
Respect amongst peers, setting the bar for others and opportunities with other leaders
Increased employee engagement and retention as values align within companies
Change is a journey. To embrace radical responsibility, we need transparency with all stakeholders. This is a marked shift from the leadership of yesterday. It’s an important but hard transition. A future-ready business doesn’t have all the answers. Instead, its fuelled by candour. We live in a world where social media prevents cover-ups and secrets from being contained. Build trust with honesty. Mistakes are inevitable but your team, customers and suppliers will understand and respond to a business that owns and learns from errors.
The next decade will be the litmus test for business. Let’s take responsibility and act with humility to meet the challenge set by our planet and our children.