“Being a good corporate citizen has never been so challenging.”

So began a special Economist report from 2008. Fast forward two years, and we still see challenges aplenty.

True, there have been great strides in greening the corporate world. Wal-Mart’s stump speech about equating sustainability with efficiency seems to be winning converts as companies rush to follow suit: turning over every stone for a bottom line boost. More case studies of successful company ‘greenings’ are emerging, lowering the fear of the unknown for newbies. And more corporations are adopting sustainability throughout their organization, showing positive proof that it works as more than a ‘bolt on’.

Still, there are gargantuan hurdles to overcome – some new and some nagging. Lack of government leadership (embodied by Copenhagen), and the politicization of sustainability by climate deniers, are just two challenges corporate citizens face today.

But why do some companies hop effortlessly over these hurdles to the greener, more profitable pastures beyond? And why do some remain stymied – stuck in the mud of inaction?

Could there be, lurking behind the rational arguments, a psychological barrier that is holding CEO’s back?

The Curse Of Emotion

In 1953, Robert Heinlein wrote, “Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal.”

Robert Gifford, Professor of Psychology and Environmental Studies at University of Victoria, reflected Heinlein’s statement in a study on human sustainability inaction. In it, he outlined ‘Thirteen Dragons’ that lead us to do nothing, even if we suspect our action is required. They are:

1. Environmental numbness, or ‘tuning out’
2. Doubt of scientific certainty
3. Lack of perceived personal control of the situation
4. Denial
5. Conflicting goals and aspirations
6. Equity, or waiting for other’s to do their fair share first
7. Reactance, or the hostile reaction to feeling pressured
8. Lack of identification with one’s community
9. Tokenism, or stopping at one token action
10. Habit
11. Perceived risks
12. Divine determinism, or belief this is beyond our control
13. A excessive bias to optimism

I recognize several of these very human ‘action blockers’ in myself. And I’m certain they impact the decision-making powers of executives charged with adopting corporate sustainability.



The action blockers leave us stuck at ‘know’, and don’t let us progress to ‘do’. So how do we beat them?

Corporate innovation begins with an outside the jar perspective.

At last week’s Fortune Green conference, Wal-Mart’s Lee Scott offered up that perspective on green innovation. It was a point of view that would help many an executive kickstart into action.

He said every executive should consider the amount of money they were leaving on the table by sticking with status quo production, operations and logistics.

No mention of sustainability. No mention of climate. Just money on the table.

At the same conference, Alan Salzman of VantagePoint Venture Partners offered another refreshing outside the jar perspective, noting we were basically dealing with an antiquated means of production that needed updating.

Between the two, they managed to bring sustainability back into a frame of reference CEO’s could work with.

And with that, they hopefully moved all of us away from ‘know’, and a bit closer to ‘do’.

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