Green is as Green Thinks

Society and its citizens have long held to the belief that what you do defines you.  Many companies looking to green up their operations believe that if they can change the behavior of employees, stakeholders, consumers or communities then the mindset will follow.

But the emerging sustainability age commands its own unique rules of engagement. More citizens and organizations out in front of the sustainability movement realize that:

• Action or inaction as the case may be, is fueled by our underlying thoughts and beliefs, and
• Individual unspoken beliefs and untested assumptions become part of the collective culture that influences or hinders the actions, interactions and relationships of the whole.

And so the stark truth reveals itself. The green enterprise and the actions of employees, suppliers and customers are shaped not by what it does, but rather by how it thinks and what it believes.

If your mandate is to create a sustainable household, enterprise, community or nation, then job 1 is to examine any antiquated thoughts and beliefs you’re holding onto—unsustainable stories that don’t support your deeply held values or collective vision and actually fuel actions, decisions and experiences in a direction that leads away from your sustainable mandate.