Anita asked Mark to describe his scholarly work on sustainability.   How should we be thinking about the implications of sustaining a practice or an organization over time?   What criteria – what kinds of discernment – should we bring to the question of whether an organization should persevere through time?

Mark’s 2014 paper with Tima Bansal describes the conceptual differences between sustainability, corporate purpose, ESG, and corporate social responsibility.   Sustainability in this work mainly addresses intergenerational responsibility.   The responsibilities that leaders today carry for stewarding the environment for future generations are the primary focus.   The analysis that Mark did with Tima emphasizes fairness as the driver of this responsibility.

Do you think that many large corporations sustain themselves by engaging in some sort of resource exploitation that is – by its nature – tough on a community or the environment?   In other words, by sustaining Exxon, are we sustaining practices that might not meet our criteria for what we might want to sustain?  

Mark describes how some companies take the energy transition more seriously that others.   There’s a long-term, intergenerational responsibility not to borrow from the future.   Anita pressed for his thoughts on shorter-term tradeoffs.  Should companies also be held to account for their responsibilities in the short-run?  And how do we think about tradeoffs between various goals, such as maintaining employment vs. shutting down refineries?  Mark’s answer was that’s the work:  We need balance that’s informed by a sense of higher purpose.   Yes, there are tradeoffs between employment and the environment.  They’re very difficult to weigh, but that’s what we have to equip business leaders to do.

Anita asked Mark for this source of his optimism.  What keeps him going?

Mark talked about his students.   He teaches social entrepreneurship.  When he sees students tackling social problems with new solutions, he’s inspired.   For example, a company called Apopo that’s propelled by a student organization at Dartmouth has come up with a way to reduce the 5,500 civilian landmine casualties that occur annually because of abandoned devices that are tripped off accidentally.    Apopo uses rats to locate these mines.   It’s a creative solution to a very difficult problem.

Anita asked Mark about his work on activism, and its role in promoting sustainability and/or environmentalism and/or authentic, constructive business practice.

Mark described different types of activism, and then ways in which activists influence organizations to change the way that they work.  No activist creates change alone.  Their power is reflected by the force of sentiment in the people who subscribe to the cause.   Learning now is a central focus of many activist movements.

What keeps Mark up at night?

Mark worries about marginalization and polarization.   He talked about the importance of listening to each other; of finding common ground despite our differences.   He takes hope from the perspective that can be gained by looking backward as well as forward.   Over the course of history, we have emerged from crises by working together to bridge differences and unify purpose.    Mark worries that we aren’t enough focused on what we have in common as polarization across the political spectrum makes dialogue dangerous.   Let’s find a way to stay in conversation even if we disagree.