The need for sustainability ……

Ok so this is the last in a four part series on what we can learn from Napoleon Bonaparte’s quote ‘Glory is fleeting, obscurity is forever’.

Three lessons so far:

‘Glory, or fame, is not forever’ (Lesson 1);

‘The opposite of glory is obscurity’ (Lesson 2); and

Glory and obscurity are too extreme for most of us—we would prefer a middle ground between the two (Lesson 3).

Looking at this third lesson: the question I posed last week was this: If glory (fame) is fleeting, and obscurity is forever, then what about a middle ground where we don’t have to be incredibly famous, nor obscure for the rest of our lives? It wouldn’t have worked for Napoleon because he wanted glory—it was what drove him to conquer most of the civilized world.

For most of us however what we are looking for is a middle ground where we feel we matter; where we count and make a difference.

And then I concluded by suggesting that the middle ground we seek may be found in something called: sustainability.

Now sustainability is a hot topic right now.

It is commonly used when discussing environmental issues—the idea behind it is that whatever we do we are responsible for the impact we have on the planet we live on and the people who inhabit it.

So things like global warming, best farming practices, environmentally friendly industry all require that one considers the implications for the sustainability of life as we know it. And that means what we use today can be no more than what is needed for future generations tomorrow.

Let’s look for a moment at how sustainability applies to business—the idea this time is that there isn’t just a bottom line in business called profit.

In reality there is a triple bottom line, or 3BL, that covers people, planet and profit.

How you approach each will determine how sustainable your business is.

You may make a quick buck by producing a cheap product, but sooner or later the market will realize what you are doing and shun you in the future. That isn’t sustainable.

If your employees are encouraged to do unethical things like make promises you have no intention of keeping you are hurting them as well as your customers. That isn’t sustainable either.

And if you don’t protect the environment from air and water pollution, by only using things like eco-friendly production and packaging, you will damage the planet to such an extent that the misery caused by extreme weather patterns will mean people won’t be able, or prepared, to buy your product anyway. That too isn’t sustainable.

In Napoleon’s quote there seems to me a need to justify his actions. Glory, even just fleeting, was preferable to the horror of obscurity. For him.

Ironically had he been an obscure individual we wouldn’t even be discussing him today.

But equally so had it not been for his need for glory he would never have been banished to St Helena to live out the last of his days lonely, ill and depressed.

Many businesses round the world, particularly in the financial sector, feel the same way today—perhaps had they been more focused on sustainability we would all have experienced much less pain in the great ‘crash of 2009’.

I think the future will belong to those who understand the need for sustainability across the 3BL.

I wonder what Napoleon would have thought of that?