Over the past quarter of a century, businesses have shifted from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to Shared Value and more recently to Flourishing strategies. Commitments of “getting to zero” or becoming a regenerative company are raising investor, customer, and employee expectations at a time when businesses are struggling just to reduce negative impacts. Executives are increasingly caught between wanting to build a better world and the reality of managing value-add activities that continue to harm people and the planet.

What is next for corporate sustainability? The speaker will reflect on changes since the publication of his 2003 book, The Sustainable Company, and two major challenges facing businesses over the next 10 to 15 years. The first challenge is to better distinguish between doing less harm, incremental positive impact, and systemwide transformation. The second is to catalyze transformation through direct-intuitive practices that give a person an experience of wholeness and connectedness. Only by reconnecting business leaders to their authentic selves, others, nature, and the transcendent can businesses meet rising societal expectations for solutions to wicked problems such as climate change and social equity.