Why We Need Collaborative Transformation

We are living in a time when corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) objectives are prevalent in corporations and when individuals are more aware than ever of the potential environmental and societal implications of their actions. However, the changes we seek to make in our world are not happening as fast as we would like. We are seeing incremental improvements in some areas and a collective failure to progress in others.

We recycle more, yet our landfills grow. We individually conserve on all things big and small, even      turning off our taps while we brush our teeth, yet our water supplies are at risk. We walk more, drive less, and when we must fly, we avoid flying in first class, yet our carbon emissions continue to rise. We hire more women and people of color yet acts of sexism and racism seem as prevalent as ever.

Our separate efforts, as individuals and as individual corporations, are not bringing about change fast enough. What we are really seeking, and what we need, to have world-changing impact, is transformation. And we have to work together to achieve it. Individuals, corporations, nonprofits, governmental agencies, policy makers, philanthropic organizations, educational and research institutions, civic organizations must all come together to collectively drive change.

Businesses of all kinds have recognized the need for digital transformation and are embracing the significant effort that it requires to deliver true business benefits in the process. It is time for us to engage more frequently with the same level of effort, attention, and resources, in collaborative transformations, those efforts that bring together all the stakeholders necessary to achieve the societal, cultural, economic, and community benefits we need in today.

In a world where we regularly engage in collaborative transformation, we will move from complaining about the problems in our lives, companies, countries, and the world around us, to engaging in effective problem-solving in order to transform things to a more desirable state.

In our efforts to positively transform the things we care about, we will not limit our solutions to only what we individually are capable of, but we will think holistically and work in collaboration with other people, companies, organizations, governments, and countries to collectively and successfully achieve change.

We can move from a mentality that technology causes negative things to happen to us, such as a loss of jobs or damage to the environment, to a posture where we choose how we will use technology to advance our goals.

In a world of collaborative transformation, we will move from creating solutions that benefit only a targeted set of stakeholders, to considering the accessibility and applicability of any proposed solutions to stakeholders from diverse demographic, geographic, and sociographic groups. We will also consider their potential collateral, downstream, and ancillary implications for both current and future generations.

The business community has the potential to drive substantive change that benefits us all. It is time for us to work together. It is time for collaborative transformation.