Our first Net Impact speaker event at the SFU Segal Chapter at the Beedie School of Business was an incredible success thanks to our speaker panel and their willingness to share their expertise with us. We would also like to thank our associate dean, Colleen Colins for her opening remarks at our first speaker series event. Below is a  brief summary of themes covered on Monday. We are grateful for their involvement in helping us educate students and young professionals in sustainability in the world of business. Our speakers were Shawn Burns, CEO and President, Carbon Credit Corp Canada; Brenda Reid-Kuecks, President, Ecotrust Canada; Saul Brown, President and CSO (Chief Story Officer), Saul Good Gift Co; Bonnie Wong, Investment Manager, VanCity Community Capital; and Jacqueline Go, Sustainability Programs Coordinator, Teck Resources.

Shawn gave us insights into the average lifespan of species and how our culture of consumerism is increasing. Brenda spoke about tourism, fisheries, and forestry sectors, and how place and environment should matter to all of us because we have an impact on each other either directly or indirectly. Saul gave his background story of how he started his own business of corporate gift baskets that are both sustainable and interesting. Bonnie spoke about travel and discovery and Jackie spoke about the transformative forces of big business like mining.

We hope to host speaker events on an annual basis, visit our Facebook page for event photos and invitations to our future events. For more information on making a positive environmental, social and economic impact in the Vancouver community, visit our Net Impact Blog.

One of these organizations is Net Impact, a global non-profit association of business professionals and students working towards greater social and environmental sustainability. The SFU Segal Chapter is planning its 2010/11 year and I’m excited to be a member of the board to share information and work on upcoming events and initiatives.

Net Impact is currently highlighting the Socially Responsible Business Plan Competition that awards $100,000 in cash and prizes to outstanding business plans that are still in the start-up phase and have a defined social or environmental goal. Summaries are due by December 3rd, 2010 and a list of past winners can be found on the William James Foundation website.

This is a great opportunity for business students and budding entrepreneurs. It also provides a wealth of inspiration and a way to showcase sustainable business models that we might see develop in the near future.

MBA students with a desire to focus on sustainable business strategies should take notice. As a student of business in the 21st century ethical and sustainable business practices should be absolutely top of mind. As a result, SFU has indoctrinated a full credit ethics course and an equally weighed sustainability course as part of the mandatory curriculum for the SFU Full-Time MBA Program. These courses have been part of the MBA program for three years, and will continue to be a major focus in the one-year MBA degree. Further, sustainability and ethics teachings are making their way into the curriculum of the other core MBA courses. As this article will go on to explain, this idea of integrating sustainability into every-day business is something that the EPIC expo is starting to focus on. One key exhibitor, the David Suzuki Foundation, has a very interesting take on it all.

As an MBA student in Vancouver, with a distinct interest and focus on climate change, long-term, sustainable business practices, and a connection with nature and the environment, the David Suzuki Foundation is a standing pillar of support. Their mission is to educate and advocate social change into governments, businesses, and consumer households. Their primary focus is on climate change, health, oceans, and wildlife. A large part of their service in Vancouver is to work with small and medium sized business to help create a more sustainable workplace. An emphasis should be places on business students, especially MBA’s who will immediately be placed into management positions. These students have the ability to influence business from the top-down, thus creating a more natural adoption of sustainable business practices. Here are some basic tips on how you can improve your workplace’s carbon footprint today.

• Set ‘double sided’ (duplex) as the default setting on your printer(s)




• Go electronic instead of using paper copies: power point, e-subscriptions, and web resources




• Decorate with living plants to liven your workspace




• Take the stairs instead of using the elevator




• Enable energy saving settings on all equipment




• Open blinds and turn of lights whenever possible

Along with the Suzuki Foundation having a large presence and advocating sustainable business, EPIC also featured hundreds of other sustainable living and business ideas. Participants were able to get a first-hand view of the new Ford Tesla, the first battery powered vehicle capable of highway driving. The car is sporty, sexy, and has a range of 300 kilometers on one charge.

ZipCar was on site as well, as they are with most Vancouver trade shows. This organization provides an inexpensive alternative to vehicle ownership in Vancouver. Hundreds of cars are parked in strategic locations around the city which members, after booking online, can access and drive for short or long periods of time. The car-sharing concept is allowing individuals who only occasionally need a vehicle to use the service instead of purchasing a car. A member can drive anything from a Prius Hybrid, to a Ford Explorer or Pick-up. The prices are surprisingly reasonable, and gas is included.

One very popular exhibition was that of a living wall. This is a wall that has been constructed using living plants. The wall comes in both indoor and outdoor versions, can be customized for size, and even have their own irrigation systems. This concept is starting to catch on with some of the trendier European companies committed to sustainability. It will be exciting to see more living walls here in Vancouver.

EPIC also features an Eco-Wedding section that specializes in weddings centered around sustainability and environmental protection. One company touted the high long-term success rate of couples married under the context of an eco-wedding. In theory, this makes perfect sense, as a couple who share values of ethics and environmental sustainability might also believe in sustainable wedding vows.

Finally, because it is a favorite A Few Good Minds company, BC Hydro should be mentioned for their continued support of sustainable energy. The organization’s “Power Smart” advocacy group has penetrated homes and BC energy consumers, advocating energy conservation. The company has also committed to sustaining their own organization by reducing the use of large thermal stations and utilizing more run of river, wind, and solar power production. The organization is a great place to look if you are thinking about a career in energy, especially sustainable energy. BC Hydro’s Managers and Professionals in Development (MPID) program hires recent MBA graduates and other business students to complete a 2-year management rotation before being placed into one of the company’s departments. It’s a fantastic way to learn how the second largest company in BC can operate in a sustainable way.

If your company is interested in being more sustainable, you must first choose what aspect of sustainability – social, environmental, or economic – is most important to the business. Then, choose a pathway that is realistic and achievable. Sustainability activities, like any business activity, should be carefully planned, appropriately implemented, and regularly assessed, or it won’t be successful. So, set goals, create deadlines, and stick to them to gain credibility in the eyes of both internal and external stakeholders.

Step 1: Assess your Business’s current state

Start with what you know. What is the business currently doing with regards to sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility? Some businesses choose to do a full-scale sustainability audit or carbon footprint analysis, but this isn’t always necessary. At the very least you need to analyze current activities and their current impact on the environment and on the business’s stakeholders. Write it down, communicate it, then use it as a benchmark.

Step 2: Write Some Goals

Whatever your company is doing to be greener, it isn’t enough. Set realistic, achievable sustainability goals for the organization, with the caveat that your company and stakeholders are aware that this is only the beginning and that once those goals are reached, new ones will need to be set. Think of sustainability as a process, not an end goal. This will make your achievements more authentic.

Step 3: Plan

Once you’ve set the goals, plan out how to achieve them. How can you ensure that your employees will all buy in? What’s a reasonable time frame to achieve and then reassess the goals? Does the company need to spend money? What will be the return on that investment (there is one, I promise)? How can you communicate these activities authentically without being accused of “greenwashing”?

Step 4: Implement the Process

If the previous three steps are done well, implementation is the easy part. Make sure everyone knows their role in the process and understands the benefits of what the organization is doing. Record the activities so you can see what’s been done, and take note of reactions from internal and external stakeholders – these will give you insight on whether you are doing well at “greening”. Most importantly, measure the results. These will become your company’s new benchmarks.

Step 5: Evaluate and start all over

Sustainability is a process and a cycle; once some projects have been implemented, those results become ground zero, the place from which the next cycle begins. To have a sustainable business, the people in the company have to be committed to doing it forever. There are always ways to be greener, to communicate better, to make a more positive impact on society. This thinking is the only way to remain sustainable, despite existing on a planet that is not.

“If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.” – James Cameron

I’ll do my best not to spoil the movie, however if you haven’t seen it, do so… today. How I view Avatar is a great example of how the MBA has changed the way I perceive and think about the world around me. Beyond the classes specifically devoted to topics of social responsibility and ethics, most every class in the SFU MBA program, from Finance to Graduate Marketing, addresses these important issues. Read on for a brief look at how the Ethics and Sustainability sections of SFU’s Full-time MBA effected my analysis of the movie.

With a quick search of the web you’ll find discussions, blog posts, and rant forums talking about the themes of the movie Avatar as they relate to the way we treat our own planet. This was, of course a very deliberate purpose of Writer / Director James Cameron during the 4 year epic process of creating Avatar. As spellbinding and incredibly overtaking the visual effects, cinematography, and romantic story was, I too couldn’t help leaving the theatre with the compelling urge to analyze the movie from an ethical and environmental perspective.

Having recently completed two of the SFU MBA’s key courses, Ethics and Sustainability, upon my release from the captivating graphics I began to consider a number of MBA cases I had studied. The message was so artistically powerful that even the coldest, blackest, oil mongering CEO would have no chance of avoiding it. During the movie I remember feeling gripped by how outrageously selfish and vicious our human species could be in the quest for profit and corporate conquest. Unfortunately, the “no mercy” treatment that the protagonist species in the movie “Avatar” experienced is frighteningly identical to the treatment of indigenous human populations on our own planet.

The two most specific and noteworthy cases I recall were studied in the Sustainability class, taught by Professor Carolyn Egri. Professor Egri has been publishing on the topic of environmental, corporate, and social sustainability / responsibility for more than 15 years and is a key lecturer in the full-time MBA. During her course we studied about eight cases that exposed positive or negative ethical and environmental practices of some of the largest global companies. The two cases that most closely relate to Avatar addressed Tech Camenco in Kyrgyzstan and Exxon’s Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline project.

In both of these cases we learned about and discussion the issues and problems around a large global company and the desire of the leadership to look beyond fair treatment of the local population in search for share holder value. Similar to the mining company that invaded the fictional planet of Pandora, both of these companies used “greenwashing” techniques to hide the heinousness of their real intentions. In Avatar James Cameron makes it obvious how single minded and selfish a company that has the resources to overpower the indigenous population can be in the quest of profit. The movie truly exposes how broken the system of global resource mining and transportation is on our own planet. This issue was most pointedly exposed by the contrast between the natives of Pandora and human interaction with nature and the living beings that surround us. It is true, as humans we are ignorantly unaware of how important the environment and the species with which we share this earth are to our own sustained survival.

The indigenous species of "Pandora" share a symbiotic relationship with their planet, why don't humans possess this ability?

The question remains, instead of simply talking about and discussing the issue, how can we work to remedy it and help ourselves and the leaders of global organizations become more aware of the necessity for highly sustainable business practices? As hopeful future leaders of these very organizations it is absolutely critical that we become educated and equipped with the intellectual tools that will allow us to find the balance between our environment and shareholder value. I believe that after the MBA here at SFU I am much more aware of these issues and have developed a framework for how I might be a more sustainable leader. Most importantly, we learned that being ethical and sustainable does not necessarily come at the cost of profits. Indeed it is possible to create more value for your company by “doing the right thing”.

I look forward to your comments and feedback and will promptly reply to any questions. Feel free to discuss your own impressions of the movie Avatar and how you think it relates to business in any context.