University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Sustainability to Social Change
Book

Sustainability to Social Change

Lead Your Company from Managing Risks to Creating Social Value

Bradley Googins and Philipp Mirvis
Kogan Page, 2022
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Overview
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Psychologist Phil Mirvis and strategy professor Brad Googins exhort business leaders to step up their social and environmental activism, while making their firms better places to work. Using eye-opening statistical data, survey results, and examples from progressive firms and executives worldwide, they illustrate what’s possible and, to an extent, how to do it. Multiple assessments let you gauge your firm’s readiness for action and hundreds of tips help you increase pay equity, office inclusion, and environmental and sustainability impacts.

Summary

Today’s social, work and environmental change demands a radical response from business.

The world today suffers from persistent racial and gender inequities, rampant disinformation, toxic cancel culture, destructive wealth gaps, and disruption from the sudden shift to remote and hybrid work. In the face of these challenges – and the existential threat of climate change – wise organizations recognize they must change rapidly or face significant consequences. 

Consumers, employees and other stakeholders worldwide increasingly demand more from businesses than “do no harm.” They expect proactive advocacy and action from business leaders to right the wrongs of the past.

Fifty years ago, economist Milton Friedman told CEOs that their sole responsibility was to maximize shareholder profits. Over the past 40 years, that approach has made the rich richer at the expense of the poor and middle classes. For example, today, 69 out of 100 of the world’s richest “entities” are businesses, not countries. And in the United States, 40% of Americans surveyed would not be able to ...

About the Authors

Philip Mirvis is an organizational psychologist with the Global Network on Citizenship and Babson College. Bradley Googins is a visiting strategy professor at the Catholic University of Milan.

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