A BEGUILING APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

ENDLESSLY BEAUTIFUL

CREATE INSPIRED FUTURES

Sustainability Goes Electric

When we talk about sustainability, we are forced to talk about limits.

This has hemmed us in, put bars around our thinking, and stifled our imagination.

The premise of sustainability is a necessary one, a noble one – a beautiful one even. But we need to imbue it with new meaning. We need to make it utterly irresistible.

Let’s make it electric.

We mustn’t be afraid of change. To constantly change is to be copacetic*.

Every organisation has a different outlook, but we want to share our thoughts on how you can unleash your imagination. We like to call this Endlessly Beautiful and, although it doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, it might just spark a flash of inspiration.

“ To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”

Winston Churchill* in excellent order

Endlessly Beautiful is about abundance not scarcity.

‘Endlessly’ evokes the idea of time stretching out before us ad infinitum. Empires rise and fall, dynasties thrive and fade, fads and fashions come and go. But beauty – true beauty – lasts forever.

Corporations that see themselves as part of an endless future have tremendous opportunities to see beyond short-term goals and rewards. They have vision.

We will be looking at some of these in the following pages.

Ultimately, it’s all about having a sense of perspective.

Beautiful corporations are responding to two key factors:

1. The threats to business from climate change, resource scarcity, and other environmental and social issues

2. The changes in customer perception that are emerging as a result of the above issues

So what’s our answer? Allow us to show you how you can become endlessly beautiful.

Sustainably responsible investments are projected to grow from $3 trillion to $10 trillion annually by 2050

Forbes

A parable about sustainability – the story of Bibulous and Bilious

In Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, Bibulous, the god of wine, drinks wherever he goes knowing that he won’t wake up with a hangover. The resulting hangover is passed-on to Bilious, the ‘Oh, god of hangovers’. Poor Bilious never touches a drop of wine and yet wakes up with a hangover every morning.

In the past two centuries, humankind has been partying like Bibulous, without worrying about the hangover. Meanwhile, the hangover will be shouldered by future generations.

The 7 Beautiful Imperatives

7 is a beautiful number, isn’t it?

Our research has identified 7 behaviours that, when embraced by an organisation, can help them to attain endless beauty.

They do not necessarily need to be adopted collectively. Neither are they mutually exclusive. Think of them more as a smorgasbord of possibility, representing an endless range of choices.

1 BE PROVOCATIVE

2 AWAKEN YOUR INNER POET

3 EMPOWER THE PEOPLE

4 CAUSE A PUSSY RIOT

5 PROFIT LIKE A PROPHET

6 THINK IN PERPETUITY

7 DON’T PANIC

1 BE PROVOCATIVE

Credit: businessweek.com

This is not the time to sit idly by doing nothing. Climate change, resource scarcity, and social injustice is happening now. If you or your organisation has something to offer, say so, and say it loud.

Don’t be afraid to provoke. And, most of all, don’t be shy.

Making a stand will differentiate you in the marketplace from your competitors. This is the age when you have the power to challenge the status quo and forge new ways of thinking. As Nike recently asserted: “It’s time the do-gooders took heed from the good-doers…reclaim your rightful positions as catalysts of progress.”

When Mozilla’s CEO donated $1,000 to an anti-gay

marriage group, OkCupid blocked anyone accessing

its website via Mozilla Firefox, stating “equality for gay

relationships is personally important to many of us here

at OkCupid, but it’s professionally important to the entire

company. OkCupid is for creating love.”

In 2007, the Italian fashion house launched its Global

Warming Ready campaign, which depicted models in

Diesel clothing in a world affected by raised water levels

and temperatures. The campaign received praise and

criticism in equal measure, but one thing is for sure: it fired

debate in the fashion community about how the industry

addresses climate change.

At the close of 2013, L’Oréal stuck its head above the

parapet and announced the launch of its sustainability

commitment for 2020: Sharing Beauty With All. Through

this programme, L’Oréal aims to reach a whopping

1 billion more customers via products that have less

environmental and social impact.

So which companies are being provocative?

Brands with a meaningful difference command a price premium 13% higher than others.

Millward Brown, The Meaningfully Different Framework

Credit: Noma Bar

2 AWAKEN YOUR INNER POET

Narrative poetry and the oral tradition

Poetry has its origin in oral tradition: the tales of Robin Hood, of Beowulf, and various Baltic heroic poems were originally intended for recitation, rather than reading.

The features that distinguish poetry from prose – such as metre, alliteration, and kennings – at one time served as memory aids, enabling bards to reconstruct traditional tales from memory. Today, these same techniques can be used to help you communicate your sustainability narrative and let all generations carry your messages far and wide.

This is the age that the oral tradition will go digital.

Telling your sustainability story is one of the most effective forms of engagement at your disposal, especially if it is narrated compellingly.

Let’s not forget that ‘brevity is the soul of wit’. Keep your narrative short; make it punchy; be poetic. Don’t be nerdy. Frankly, issues such as climate change are complicated enough.

Try to tell the story that needs to be told; not necessarily the one that people want to hear.

If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, use their language.

David Ogilvy

Christiana Figueres – Head of the UN Convention on Climate Change – has been outspoken about how climate change should be communicated:

“ Communication is a challenge that we all face. I could sit here and rattle off 76 acronyms that would be completely un-understandable to you and maybe half of them to me...Everybody has reached the decision that we are not communicating properly. I see more and more scientists making a huge effort to

translate – to not use weirdo words, to use simple words and above all to humanise. We need to put a human face on climate.”

Why does language matter?

3 EMPOWER THE PEOPLE

A growing pool of consumers are demanding that mainstream brands be sustainable. Once one brand incorporates sustainability in a way that benefits the consumer at a fair price, it is tough for competitors not to respond in kind.

Nigel Hollis, Millward Brown

The buying public is a global network that is slowly gaining consciousness as a collective force. They are alert, interactive, and participatory.

In this climate – forgive the pun – corporations are rapidly outstripping governments as the dominant force in democratic society.

Nowadays, when people shop, they vote. Instead of completing an electoral ballot paper, people vote with their wallets.

So which companies are empowering people?

75% of British consumers are interested in green issues.

Harvard Business Review

Brands and corporations can empower people to vote. So make them vote for you. Give them a sustainable choice.

Together we can be an unstoppable force for good.

One of the many beautiful objectives that lie at the

centre of Zipcar’s mission is this: to make sharing a car

as desirable as owning one. Zipcar is giving people the

freedom to live life more sustainably.

Ikea recently launched its sustainability flagship

campaign: The Wonderful Everyday. This aims to show

customers how they can make a difference, not only by

offering useful information on energy saving, but also by

announcing that from 2016 it will only sell LED lightbulbs.

Such ‘choice editing’ enables its customers to choose

between good and good.

Airbnb is a prime example of how the sharing economy

can change everything. People all over the world are

now abandoning expensive hotels in favour of smaller,

homelier, more intimate accommodation.

4 CAUSE A PUSSY RIOT “Government needs reminding that they work for us.”

Barton Gellman, Guardian journalist

“If more politicians…were thinking about the next generation instead of the next election, it might be better for…the world.”

Claude PepperCredit: Spring Breakers (2012) Muse Productions

So who’s been causing a pussy riot?Governments are crippled by inherent short-termism. It’s up to us to lead the way towards our beautiful future.

In 2013, Edward Snowden blew the whistle on US surveillance operations and, in that moment, reasserted the rights of the individual over autocratic government.

Everywhere you look corporations and individuals are questioning traditional forms of authority. You too can lead by example and challenge governments to think beyond their survival at the next election.

In the UK, 56% of people trust businesses, compared to only 42% who trust the Government.

The 2014 Edelman Trust Baraometer

“ The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

The Olympic Charter

On 7th February 2014 – on the eve of the Winter

Olympics – Google published a rainbow-coloured

Doodle, which implicitly criticised Russia’s gay rights

policy. In so doing, Google directly challenged the

authority of one of the most powerful nations on earth.

Google, quite literally, nailed its colours to the mast.

The social networking service is a major player in protests

against the National Security Agency (NSA). A public

statement on its website states, “Surveillance programs

are damaging for online businesses like Reddit. These

programs undermine the basic freedom, innovation, and

economic opportunity that the internet enables.”

In 2014, Ben & Jerry’s lent support to WWF’s campaign to

save the Great Barrier Reef by withdrawing the popular

Phish Food flavour as a way of drawing attention to the

issue. This was in response to the Government’s decision

to approve the dumping of 3 million cubic metres of

dredge soil in the marine park, which threatens the future

of the reef.

5 PROFIT LIKE A PROPHET

“Making the bottom line your top priority may not be the best way to improve profitability.”

Harvard Business Review

Credit: Russell Brand Messiah Complex

71% of global millennials want brands to be environmentally friendly and ethical.

WEF, Engaging Tomorrow’s Consumer

In religious lore, prophets are regarded as the great arbiters of change in human history. Their actions created entirely new societies (or so the stories go).

Today, we still need our prophets. We need pioneering individuals who will campaign for an endless beautiful future.Research shows that when a CEO makes it their priority to balance the concerns of customers, employees, and the community while also taking environmental impact into account, people perceive them as visionary. In particular, employees report being more willing to exert extra effort, and corporate results improve accordingly.

Great leaders are like alchemists: they have the ability to renew or reinvent themselves and their organisations in historically significant ways. They never lose sight of long-term goals.

So which companies are led by prophets who profit?

Found from website recreated PMSPaul Polman, the CEO of Unilever has staked his

professional career on a strategy that says business can

achieve ambitious financial results by also achieving

ambitious CSR results. “Businesses that address both

the direct concerns of the citizens and the needs of the

environment will prosper over the long term.”

In 2007, then CEO Stuart Rose launched its pioneering

green strategy Plan A, so named because there was no

Plan B. The current CEO, Mark Bolland continues this

vision, asserting that Plan A will be integral to Marks &

Spencer’s ongoing success because it has endowed the

business with “additional strength and trust.”

Since Rose Marcario joined Patagonia six years ago, the

badass-by-nature company has tripled its profits. Now

CEO, she is the first woman to lead the company in 20

years and she has been forthright that company profits

must also help the environment: “We want to make a

profit, we want to be in business, but we have a lot of other

reasons to be in business.”

6 THINK IN PERPETUITY

Credit: Sagrada Família Barcelona

The story of the beetly beams

The Great Dining Hall at New College Oxford was built using enormous oak beams to form the roof. A century ago, someone went up into the roof and discovered that the beams were infested with beetles. This news was met with dismay since finding replacements of the same size would be impossible. In response, the college forester relayed the information – passed down through generations – that when the College was built, a grove of oak trees had been planted to mature when needed. After all, he said, “oak beams always become beetly in the end.”

In medieval Europe, the mega-structures of the era – the cathedrals – often took hundreds of years to complete.

The architects and benefactors involved were, for the most part, fully aware that the buildings would never be completed in their own lifetimes. They were thinking in perpetuity.

We like to call this tradition cathedral leadership.

When you are building your corporation, remember you are building a cathedral. Make it beautiful and it will last forever.

Just by lengthening the time horizon, you can invest in endeavours that you could never otherwise pursue.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon

So which companies have demonstrated cathedral leadership?

Senior Project Manager, Allan Rasmussen, announced

that Lego was looking for a new, sustainable material

for its bricks: “I need to find a material that will be just

as good in 50 years, because these [bricks] are passed

down from generation to generation.”

Way back in 1534, when Cambridge University Press

was granted letters patent by Henry VIII, the company’s

objective was to “operate sustainably for the public

benefit.” Nearly half a millennium later, the company has

been able to maintain that promise by embracing digital

technology. By 2020, digital sales will account for two

thirds of sales.

In 2000, before the Sydney Olympics, Greenpeace

challenged Coco-Cola to go hydrofluorocarbon-free

(HFC-free). Rather than decline on the basis that this

would represent an overnight U-turn in the way Coca-

Cola managed its operations, the company developed a

long-term solution. By the Beijing Games, Coca-Cola was

using HFC-free technology at all Olympic venues; by

2015, 100% of new vending machines and coolers will

be HCF-free.

7 DON’T PANIC

Don’t Panic are the words inscribed on the front cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Their purpose is simple: to stop inter-galactic travelers panicking at the sheer complexity of the universe.

Space is BIG. Really BIG. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly BIG it is.The same could be said of climate change and other global issues. They’re simply too big for us to comprehend. There is a real risk that we will panic or, worse still, become anaesthetised to the impending dangers.If you want to engage people on these issues, it’s important that your brand steers clear of adopting a solely apocalyptic outlook.

Retain a sense of humour! Engage through positivity. After all, if your company is committed to endless beauty, you’re already one of the good guys.

Using doom and gloom so people take climate change seriously doesn’t work.

Martin Wright, Forum for the Future

So which companies have a sense of humour?

In support of WWF’s Earth Hour, Durex launched its

campaign #TurnOffToTurnOn, a global wake-up call for

couples whose relationships are being undermined by

technological dependence. Earth Hour asks participants

to turn off lights and electronics for one hour to show

support for the planet.

The electric car company, Tesla Motors, does not usually

invest any money in advertising, relying largely on word

of mouth. However, when a couple of college graduates

decided to produce their own humorous advert for the

company entitled Modern Spaceship, Tesla’s CEO – Elon

Musk – publicly endorsed the video and said he would

hire the pair in future.

Directed by Max Joseph, the Follow the Frog viral video

showed people how they could prevent deforestation by

choosing Rainforest Alliance certified products. The clip

is gloriously funny and promotes a clear call to action:

when you can’t shop local, follow the frog!

The Beginning of Endless

You’ve probably already guessed that we didn’t write Endlessly Beautiful all by ourselves. You see, the best things in life – the beautiful things – are built on collaboration. In putting this together we spoke to a plethora of organisations that are working to integrate sustainability effectively and meaningfully in their everyday operations.

In the end, communicating sustainability should be like a good relationship – built on trust.

We would like to thank the following organisations for attending our series of roundtables that have helped us formulate the 7 Beautiful Imperatives:

Amida, Barchester Green Investment, BCG, CDP, Callund Consulting, Climate Change Capital, CosyHome, CTN Communications, EY, Energy Quote, Friends of the Earth, Green & Black’s, Hess, The Hub, LSE, Makerble, The National Trust, Nestle, Nice & Serious, Nielsen, New Economics Foundation, Par Hill Research, Positive Impact, Product Health, Queen Bees, Shell, UKELA, WEF Global Shapers, Zipcar.

If you want to discuss what the first steps are to becoming a beautiful corporation, please contact:

Matthew Phillips T: 07834 699 991 E: matthew@beautifulcorporations.com W: beautifulcorporations.com rufusleonard.com

About Beautiful Corporations and Rufus Leonard

Founded in 1989, Rufus Leonard is an award-winning agency that blends creativity, strategy and technology to help create inspired futures for people and brands.

In 2000, the Financial Times published Beautiful Corporations, which explored how communications displaying genuine moral leadership deliver business success. The book was co-authored by long-time friends, Paul Dickinson (now Chairman of Beautiful Corporations) and, Neil Svensen, CEO of Rufus.

In the intervening years, Rufus continued to champion sustainability, but it wasn’t until January 2014 that Beautiful Corporations was finally launched as a consultancy. Now housed together in the Rufus studio, the two organisations are continuing to forge a dream partnership.

Our collective mission today is to put the principles of Endlessly Beautiful into practice.

We believe all corporations can be beautiful.

CREATE INSPIRED FUTURES