What happens when purpose doesn’t drive business

Sustainability is a crucial challenge for all organizations but the elusive “win-win” of planetary responsibility and brand growth rarely surfaces. We want our brands to say more about social or ecological issues but may not always have the right to do so and thus we live in fear of being accused of greenwashing and other brand epic fails. We see exceptional initiatives from other brands but don’t understand how to apply that excellence to other categories. We want to grow our brands but every purpose effort isn’t instantly profitable.

So then why is it so hard to reconcile our passion for planetary and social change with financial growth? Why don’t people vote with their wallets? How are our ideas falling short?

In America, we have a unique cultural problem, both corporate and social: We have an industry and mainstream media that doesn’t represent humans who live in the moment and whose intimacy with their favorite routines and brands needs to be treated with emotional intelligence. We have corporate giants who famously are slow to adapt and have no other masters than The Street. And we have a country that isn’t as impassioned about sustainability in the way that we think.

This talk is an honest and data-driven strategy conversation about how to make real commitments to real change and why we need big business to help drive sustainability.