Published on September 22, 2010

Back to Blog Home | This is posted in Corporate Social Responsibility, LEED, Sustainability

LEED the Way

Thinking back on the process of building our new “LEED Gold” home, I am reminded of the importance of a good operating manual.

We couldn’t have built our healthy, water- and energy-efficient home without LEED guidelines or support from Vancouver’s Light House Sustainable Building Centre. As participants in the Centre’s 2010 Green Building Challenge, we received many hours of technical and research assistance.

But building green is just one step that leads the way to a more sustainable world. We need to build green and social considerations into everything we do. So, to run households, organizations and governments more sustainably, we need new operating manuals.

Our habits and business processes were designed in an age when resources, energy, water and landfills seemed limitless. We didn’t understand the long-term negative impacts of exciting new conveniences such as plastics and chemical fertilizers. We didn’t know that our collective actions could negatively impact communities locally and around the world; or that they could threaten our planetary home and its ability to support life.

Now we have to rethink how we do things. This is difficult. We need advisors, tools and roadmaps to help us get there. That’s why Light House and the LEED guidelines were so helpful as we broke new ground with our house.

As I think about it, that’s the kind of business I’m in. I innovate for sustainability with vanguard organizations and then translate our progress into how-to guides. We travel through unchartered territory, figure out a direction, and then create a roadmap for those who come next. Like the LEED certification system, these operating manuals help take the guesswork out of the road forward.

Recently I was hired to write a sustainability strategy guide and road map. To do so, I distilled about 20 years of innovation, practice and thought into 100 pages. While producing the guide I uncovered the basic steps I follow when I help companies develop sustainability strategies. Of course there where ten! These ten steps form the basis for the Sustainability Strategy Roadmap, an operating manual that leverages sustainability to build social and business value for a firm.

Just as LEED spotlights the green aspects of building construction, this roadmap shows how to tailor a traditional corporate strategy process to deliver a business strategy for sustainability. It’s a kick-start for organizations as they design, implement and renew their sustainability strategies. With an emphasis on continuous improvement, it’s a visual aid to help lead the way. Feel free to use and share it to support your journey to sustainability. And let me know how it works for you, so we can get the operating manual just right!