We've experienced a particularly challenging year for sustainability. The volatility of international relations, regulatory challenges, and social polarization have posed many challenges to building long-term prosperity. To face these challenges, we need more than ever to clarify our thinking and review our existing knowledge to make the best decisions for our future. As we approach summer, it's time to pause and reflect, as we're halfway through the year.
Summer is often synonymous with time for rest, and it's well-deserved, because the first half of the year is (almost) always intense. Besides rest, we also have more free time. I love spending some of this time reflecting on and reading. This time, which is often scarce in the fast-paced routine of these days, is so necessary for the transformation toward a more just and balanced world. There are great partners for reflection. One of my favorites during this period are books. Besides helping us gain depth of thought, they are important for understanding multiple points of view, which necessarily lead to more interesting and broad reflections. By traveling through the world of ideas and knowledge through books, we can become better people, professionals, and citizens, while exploring a variety of topics. Whether novels or more technical books, we can always draw insights into the various spheres of our lives. In my case, during vacation, I always take advantage of the opportunity to catch up on my reading. I consider myself an avid reader, but I always take the opportunity to explore sustainability during my vacations.
It always seems like there's not enough time to read, so I confess it was an interesting exercise to think of three books to recommend. Naturally, they're not in order of preference or importance; here are three books that had a significant impact on me during my learning about corporate sustainability:
1. Let My People Go Surfing, by Yvon Chouinard – Written by the former CEO of Patagonia, who shares the persistence and courage needed to lead one of the most responsible companies on the planet.
2. Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take – Paul Polman and Andrew Winston – This book presents a model to help leaders build companies that contribute more to the world than they take or receive—in other words, companies that make a positive difference.
3. Tickling Sharks: How We Sold Business on Sustainability, John Elkington – In this incredible book, John Elkington explains how a series of social pressures helped transform business, markets, and, ultimately, capitalism.
There are certainly many books that show us how and why we should make a difference; my challenge is to read at least one of these three. After all, we should read because we must change, and if we want to change, we must lead the change. And while there are many leaders, readers are certainly leaders.
Have a good vacation, enjoy your rest, and hope you have a good reading!
Tiago Carrilho
Head of Knowledge and Training no BCSD Portugal