Inbox: Culture club

Zero impact growth continues to confuse and confound many business leaders, according to new Deloitte report.
The authors of “Towards Zero Impact Growth: Strategies of Leading Companies in 10 Industries” say the proliferation of, and confusion around, long-term paradigms and growth definitions is leading to unclear strategies.
Their findings suggest that many of the companies assessed in the report are doing “too much, but only for bit”.
This prolongs the life of organisational cultures that aim to ‘be less bad’ instead of actually ‘being good’. It also keeps the focus on strategies that are efficient rather than effective, they say. “The latter would require more collaboration between industries.”
The report calls for collective understanding of what all industries need to achieve together in order to jointly arrive at sustainable economy.
“Clear measurement and monetisation of resource use and external effects are crucial, as well as the measured contribution to human well-being,” says the report. “This would support better understanding of the sustainability context and would increase the quality of stakeholder dialogues.
“We need to innovate and take action in the areas of measurement, leadership, new business models and education. consolidated approach and an adaptation plan towards zero impact growth can be valuable contribution.” M