Praise for
The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook
“When you step back and look at our take–make–waste industrial system in the harsh realities of the larger (and ever more constraining) natural world, you start to understand the profound depth and scope of the problem, which can paralyze rather than energize the changes needed. Managers everywhere desperately need books like The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook in order to get started on the journey.”
Peter Senge, founder of SoL (Society for Organizational Learning); Senior Lecturer, Behavioral and Policy Sciences, MIT Sloan School of Management; author of The Fifth Discipline and co-author of The Necessary Revolution
This brilliant collection of essays lays the foundation for building a sustainable society. All boards of directors and their leadership should make this book required reading.
Warren Bennis, Professor, University of Southern California; co-author of two recent books, Judgment: How Great Leaders Make Winning Calls (with Noel Tichy) and Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor (with Dan Goleman and Jim O’Toole)
In recent years, we have been inundated with books focused on the content aspects of sustainable business. Few, however, provide any useful guidance on how to effectively implement sustainability in a real organization. The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook fills this virtual void by focusing on the human side of sustainable enterprise — the organizational, behavioral, and even cognitive challenges. It is a must-read for anyone trying to make sustainability happen in the real world.
Stuart L. Hart, S.C. Johnson Professor of Sustainable Global Enterprise, Cornell University; author of Capitalism at the Crossroads
The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook is a compendium of activities, cases, tools, and principles on which to establish the organization of the future. The dedicated authors adapt principles of leadership, strategy, measurement, employee engagement, change, and globalization to the challenges of building sustainable enterprises. Their work synthesizes and extends theory, research, and practice in this important domain. This Fieldbook is both a good introduction and a thorough exploration of how to create a better social, economic, and environmental world that affects us all.
Dave Ulrich, Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; Partner, The RBL Group
The most comprehensive sourcebook for leaders, managers, practitioners and all those committed to working within their communities and organizations to nudge the human family toward sustainable societies, living in peace with each other and nature.
Hazel Henderson, author of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy; President, Ethical Markets Media, LLC, USA and Brazil
In the current groundswell of Earth community ideals and initiatives, The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook must surely count among the most realistic and practical. Its value will become apparent in the months and years ahead.
Thomas Berry, Historian, Theologian, and author of The Dream of the Earth and The Great Work
It is a magical moment, indeed, when a competency meets a true need. The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook has managed such a moment. The wide-gauge competency of Dr. Jeana Wirtenberg, William Russell and Dr. David Lipsky weave a pragmatic “how to” for every manager now focused on creating and nurturing their own “sustainable enterprise”. The “fieldbook” aspect assures the “how to do it” insights — easily accessed and understood — which will permit every caring manager to get it done in the name of “sustainable”.
Bob Danzig, Former CEO, Hearst Newspapers; Author/Speaker/Professor
This Fieldbook opens the door for business leaders and managers to the most appropriate and practical pathway for themselves and their enterprises to forge a more sustainable future. It takes us on a thoughtful journey through the eyes of 29 passionate, experienced practitioners inspiring us all to step up to the plate, create a plan, and move forward with velocity, intention, and commitment. It provides the tools, cases, best practices, learnings, and understandings — at once profound and practical — to equip and enable every manager and leader to play a role in the reinvention of the world.
Georg Kell, Executive Head, UN Global Compact
I love this book! This book, or rather this enterprise, is the fruit of a collaboration among dozens of practitioners, businesspeople, and scholars — no wonder it's so useful. Their holistic vision has produced a cornucopia of actionable tools and information for audiences in multiple contexts. And timely too! Generations of children to come, who will surely be educated beyond the old dichotomies of the industrial era, will thank these writers.
Hilary Bradbury-Huang, Editor in Chief, Action Research; and University of Southern California, Director, Sustainable Business Research ProgramsCenter for Sustainable Cities
The bottom line and promoting a sustainable environment are no longer mutually exclusive. Sustainability is good business, but many do not know where to begin. The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook fills that gap and provides a clear and concise roadmap that will benefit any organization in meeting the challenges of getting to a more sustainable future.
Robert J. Garagiola, Maryland State Senator; recipient of awards from national organizations, including the Interstate Renewable Energy Council and the American Solar Energy Society, for his work on renewable energy and conservation efforts
“Sustainability” is not a familiar word or concept for Japanese companies yet, but I’m sure this book will raise the awareness of the importance of sustainability in Japanese society. As an HR manager in charge of leadership programs, I realized that I have missed some important points in planning and organizing the programs. I do hope the Japanese translation will be available soon so that many of my co-workers can study this important topic.
Ayako Hotta, Training and Development Manager, Sony Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook offers a well-balanced blend of academic research, practical perspectives, and real-life examples proving that sustainability and business objectives can be aligned. With a well-organized structure the Fieldbook guides the reader through the process of rebuilding an organization into a sustainable enterprise. The essays presented in this book are accompanied by a number of easy-to-use tools for the future-looking leader.
Jakub Sovina, Sr HR Manager, Oncology Europe, Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland
An extraordinary group of 29 thought leaders came together to brainstorm what sustainable enterprise is and how to make it happen in the real world. Humbled, fascinated and inspired by each other, they took the field to new levels. The result is this book, filled with not only analysis, cases, and tools, but also activities and pointers to online spaces for continuing dialog. Wow! Read it.
Gifford Pinchot III, President, Bainbridge Graduate Institute, Bainbridge Island, Washington, DC
