SEE Change: Making the Transition to a Sustainable Enterprise Economy

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The return to business-as-usual after the economic earthquake that rocked financial markets, wrecked banks and brought to light the grotesque distortions of casino capitalism on people and planet must be resisted. A new form of capitalism is both necessary and possible as some forward-thinking political, business and civil society leaders have now recognised. This book is about the myriad problems that we face and the systemic changes that are necessary for all enterprises in whatever sector and however constituted to operate within sustainable limits, to lower their ecological footprint, to enhance social equity, and to develop a sense of futurity. Waddock and McIntosh argue that enterprise, innovation and creativity, like conversation, caring and sharing, are part of what it means to be human. They argue that we need to redefine our relationship with commerce to reconcile our relationship with the Earth. The authors see the seeds of economic change in new and fundamentally different forms - in entrepreneurship, networks, governance, transparency and accountability - already being planted and beginning to grow. To nurture these developments, they believe that we need to learn to 'see' in new ways to begin to recognise their worth and to create a sufficiently broad, coherent and integrated social movement for change that can overcome the momentum of the current system. Incremental change - CSR, for example - will not be enough. Deep change is needed in the purposing, goals and practice of business enterprise. Deep change is needed in the ways that we, as humans, relate to nature and natural systems under severestress from resource overuse and depletion, a quadrupled population during the 20th century, and human impact on climate. And deep change is needed in the ways in which we relate to each other, use our time and build our communities. This book documents some of the changes that are already in progress and provides optimism that a sustainable enterprise economy geared to innovation, creativity, problem-solving, entrepreneurialism and enthusiasm for life can produce wealth, preserve the natural environment and nurture social capital.

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Sandra Waddock is Galligan Chair of Strategy and Professor of Management at Boston College s Carroll School of Management. Recent books include The Difference Makers: How Social and Institutional Entrepreneurs Created the Corporate Responsibility Movement (Greenleaf Publishing, 2008), Leading Corporate Citizens: Vision, Values, Value Added (Irwin Professional, 2005) and Total Responsibility Management: The Manual (with Charles Bodwell; Greenleaf Publishing, 2007). Author of over 100 papers on corporate responsibility, system change, collaboration, among other topics, Waddock was a co-founder of the Boston College Leadership for Change Program, the Institute for Responsible Investing, and the Business Ethics 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking, and edited the Journal of Corporate Citizenship from 2003 2004. She received the 2004 Sumner Marcus Award for Distinguished Service from the Social Issues in Management Division of the Academy of Management, and the 2005 Faculty Pioneer Award for External Impact by Aspen Institute s Business in Society Program and the World Resources Institute. She was a visiting scholar at Harvard s Kennedy School of Government (2006 2007) and University of Virginia s Darden Graduate School of Business (2000). Dr Malcolm McIntosh FRSA is Professor and Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia, and is Visiting Professor of Human Security and Sustainable Enterprise in the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Coventry University, England; Visiting Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, England; and Professor Extraordinaire, Sustainability Institute, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He has previously worked at the Universities of Warwick, Bath and Coventry. Malcolm is Deputy Chair of the UN Global Compact Network Australia and has served as a Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General s Global Compact in New York. He is a member of the PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) steering group and the Milan-based EABIS-funded GOLDEN for Sustainability council. He has served on the boards of AccountAbility, GRLI (Global Responsible Leaders Initiative), and the Bath-based Envolve partnerships for sustainability. His latest books are: SEE Change: Making The Transition to the Sustainable Enterprise Economy (with Sandra Waddock; Greenleaf Publishing, 2011) and New Perspectives on Human Security (ed. with Alan Hunter; Greenleaf Publishing, 2010). He has worked on sustainability, corporate responsibility and ethics issues for nearly 30 years building cross-sector partnerships for learning and co-creating a future founded on the principles of social justice, sustainability and organisational responsibility. Often overlapping he has had careers in business, peace research and the media, including working for BBC TV for ten years, part of the time in the Natural History Unit. He currently works in partnership with the UN University in Tokyo, the Eden Project in Cornwall, and various multinational companies and international NGOS around the world.