Interesting findings regarding global CEOs’ attitudes toward corporate sustainability-focused policies and best practices come courtesy of McKinsey & Company’s recently published “Sustainability’s strategic worth” survey results.
The online survey, which was conducted in February, received 3,344 responses from executives from across the globe who represent the full range of industries, company sizes, functional specialties, and tenures.
Key findings from the survey reveal that “Company leaders are rallying behind sustainability, and executives overall believe the issue is increasingly important to their companies’ strategy. But as it continues to grow into a core business issue, challenges to capturing its full value lie ahead.”
Of particular interest to me are the factors that motivate corporate leaders to integrate high-level sustainability mandates.
From the piece: “According to executives, sustainability is becoming a more strategic and integral part of their businesses. In past surveys, when asked about their companies’ reasons for pursuing sustainability, respondents most often cited cost cutting or reputation management. Now 43 percent (and the largest share) say their companies seek to align sustainability with their overall business goals, mission, or values—up from 30 percent who said so in 2012.”
I believe strongly, and am proud to say, that Xerox was an early adopter of corporate sustainability best practices for the right reasons; that is, our senior leaders recognized early that, “Sustainability is our way of doing business,” as stated on the Xerox “Environment, Health, Safety, and Sustainability” section of our company website.
McKinsey & Company’s survey results reveal many other interesting shifts in CEOs’ collective mindset regarding their rationale for developing sustainability-centric business strategies. I encourage you to read the report and then return here with your comments.
As always, thanks for reading.
