Over the past year, the nonprofit business association Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) has published several excellent reports about a variety of today’s hot-button sustainability topics, ranging from climate change and corporate environmental strategy to CSR and fractal dynamics.
I must say I was pretty inspired to see so many enthusiastic, energetic people at the Business for Social Responsibility conference a few weeks ago here in San Francisco. Getting 1000+ senior executives to carve out three days from their busy schedules to get together and share ideas on building more sustainable businesses is no small feat…and the success of the conference says a lot about where sustainability now ranks in the pantheon of public awareness, corporate priorities, and citizen consciousness.
It also speaks to a fascinating convergence we are seeing among the worlds of business, government and nonprofit advocacy. For evidence look no further than the event’s keynote speakers: Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Venture Capitalist Vinod Khosla, Mattel CEO Bob Eckert, Greenpeace Executive Director Gerd Leipold and KPMG Chairman Sir Michael Rake, most notably. What’s more, the attendees were a veritable who’s who of nonprofit sector leaders, top government officials, and heads of sustainability for Fortune 500s.
