TEDxWarwick - Giselle Weybrecht - How to Make Anything More Sustainable
Summary
TLDRThe speaker critiques the traditional MBA approach, highlighting a disconnect between business education and real-world sustainability issues. They recount a parable of a fisherman to illustrate the pursuit of wealth versus contentment, and argue for a reimagined MBA curriculum that equips graduates with the skills to integrate sustainability into business practices. Emphasizing the potential impact of business graduates on global challenges, the speaker calls for a shift in business education to better prepare future leaders for creating sustainable solutions.
Takeaways
- 📚 The story of a businessman and a fisherman illustrates the potential disconnect between business success and personal fulfillment, questioning the MBA-driven pursuit of wealth and expansion.
- 🎓 Having an MBA can elicit mixed reactions, with some associating it with a detachment from real-world values and a narrow focus on shareholder value.
- 🌱 The speaker argues that business schools have a crucial role in shaping future leaders who can integrate sustainability into their business practices, rather than viewing it as an afterthought.
- 🔑 Businesses globally are increasingly recognizing the importance of sustainability, understanding it's not just a trend but a fundamental aspect of good business.
- 🚀 The potential of MBA graduates to drive sustainability within organizations is significant, but many lack a deep understanding of these issues due to inadequate education in this area.
- 💼 The traditional MBA focus on post-graduation salary and job placement may not align with the emerging importance of sustainability and social impact in business.
- 🌐 The speaker's personal journey from the UN to pursuing an MBA highlights the need for business education to bridge the gap between business practices and global sustainability challenges.
- 💡 The idea of 'Mottainai', a Japanese concept of regret when resources are wasted, is introduced as a powerful metaphor for the need to value and utilize resources sustainably.
- 🌟 The potential for business schools to become hubs of innovation for sustainability, helping communities and organizations solve real-world problems, is emphasized.
- 💼 The speaker suggests that business schools should be judged on the impact their graduates have on the world, not just on their post-MBA salaries, to encourage a new generation of leaders focused on sustainability.
Q & A
What is the main theme of the story told by the businessman about the fisherman?
-The main theme of the story is the contrast between the pursuit of material wealth and success versus the appreciation of a simple, balanced life that the fisherman already enjoys.
What does the acronym 'MBA' stand for and what is its relevance to the script?
-MBA stands for Master of Business Administration, a degree program that is relevant to the script as it discusses the role of business education, particularly MBA programs, in fostering sustainability and responsible business practices.
Why does the speaker believe that business schools have a key role in sustainability?
-The speaker believes that business schools have a key role in sustainability because they educate the next generation of managers and leaders who will shape the way businesses operate, and thus have the potential to embed sustainability into the core of business practices globally.
What is the issue the speaker identifies with how MBA programs currently approach sustainability education?
-The speaker identifies that MBA programs often present sustainability as an add-on or a separate topic, rather than integrating it into the core curriculum. This approach fails to provide graduates with a deep understanding of sustainability and the ability to embed it into their future jobs and careers.
How does the speaker suggest business schools can better prepare students for sustainability in their careers?
-The speaker suggests that business schools can better prepare students by integrating sustainability into all aspects of the curriculum, ensuring it is taught as a core part of business practices rather than as a specialized or elective topic.
What example does the speaker give of a business that benefited from engaging with sustainability?
-The speaker gives the example of a mid-sized business in Mexico that, after engaging with sustainability, saw increased employee motivation, cost savings through efficiency and waste reduction, and the creation of new products and services, leading to interest from other multinational companies and more job applications from graduates.
Why did the owner of the mid-sized business in Mexico decide to hire MBA graduates?
-The owner decided to hire MBA graduates because he believed they would have the knowledge and skills to help his company move forward in sustainability and strengthen the business, given that they were expected to have a better understanding of sustainability issues.
What was the owner's disappointment regarding the MBA graduates he interviewed?
-The owner was disappointed because the majority of the MBA graduates he interviewed had only a vague understanding of sustainability, with some considering it irrelevant to real business and others being completely unaware of its significance.
How does the speaker propose business students could contribute to solving sustainability challenges?
-The speaker proposes that business students could contribute by working on real-world sustainability challenges as part of their education, creating and implementing innovative solutions, and providing resources and skills to businesses and organizations that lack them.
What does the speaker mean when she refers to 'Muda' and its significance in the context of the script?
-The speaker refers to 'Muda' as a Japanese term that means a sense of regret when the intrinsic value of an object or resource is not being properly utilized. In the context of the script, it signifies the wasted potential when business graduates do not apply their knowledge and skills towards sustainability.
What is the speaker's vision for the impact of business graduates on the world?
-The speaker envisions a future where business graduates not only understand sustainability but also know how to implement it in their organizations, leading to a global impact where businesses, communities, and the environment all benefit from their actions.
Outlines
🎓 The Paradox of MBA and Sustainability
The speaker begins by narrating a story about a businessman who advises a content fisherman to expand his fishing business to achieve wealth, only for the fisherman to question the end goal. This leads to a discussion on the varied perceptions of MBAs and their role in sustainability. The speaker highlights the importance of businesses in addressing global challenges and criticizes the traditional MBA curriculum for not adequately preparing graduates for sustainability challenges. The narrative suggests that business schools should be at the forefront of educating future leaders on sustainability.
🌿 The Awakening of a Business Owner to Sustainability
The speaker recounts a conversation with a business owner who initially dismissed sustainability as irrelevant but later embraced it after realizing its benefits. The owner's employees became motivated, leading to cost savings and business growth through waste reduction and new product development. The narrative emphasizes the transformative power of sustainability in business operations and the role of MBA graduates in driving this change. However, the speaker expresses concern over the lack of understanding of sustainability among MBA students, suggesting that business education is not effectively integrating sustainability into its core curriculum.
🚀 Empowering Business Graduates for a Sustainable Future
This section envisions a scenario where business graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills to implement sustainability in their organizations. The speaker argues that the impact of such graduates would be significant, given their presence in various sectors. The narrative proposes innovative ideas, such as involving business students in solving real-world sustainability challenges and providing community support through workshops. The speaker also stresses the need for individuals to make a difference within their current roles, rather than waiting for a specialized sustainability role.
🌱 Integrating Sustainability into Business Education and Beyond
The final paragraph emphasizes the need to integrate sustainability into all aspects of business education and professional training. The speaker suggests that sustainability should not be seen as separate from business operations but as an integral part of them. The narrative calls for a shift in how we prepare future leaders, advocating for a curriculum that equips graduates with the tools to navigate and shape a sustainable future. The speaker concludes with a call to action for business schools and businesses to prioritize long-term impact over immediate gains, measured by the positive influence of their graduates on the world.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sustainability
💡Business Schools
💡Fishing Fleet
💡IPO (Initial Public Offering)
💡MBA (Master of Business Administration)
💡Middleman
💡Cannery
💡Waste Stream
💡SENSEI
💡UN Global Compact
💡Eco-Warriors
Highlights
A businessman suggests that a fisherman could expand his fishing business to eventually sell and become rich, but the fisherman is content with his simple life.
The story critiques the MBA mindset that equates success with wealth and expansion, rather than contentment and balance.
The speaker challenges the audience's perception of MBAs and business students, suggesting they are often misunderstood or stereotyped.
The media often blames MBAs for corporate failures, implying the degree itself is at fault rather than individual decisions.
The importance of the business sector in sustainability is acknowledged, with a call for businesses to be part of the solution.
Businesses are increasingly engaging in sustainability, recognizing it as a business reality rather than just a marketing tool.
A Mexican business owner's experience shows that sustainability can lead to employee motivation and cost savings.
The business owner's initial resistance to sustainability shifts as he sees its benefits in employee engagement and business opportunities.
The realization that sustainability is not just an add-on but an integral part of business operations and strategy.
The speaker's personal journey from the UN to pursuing an MBA to understand how to engage the business sector in sustainability.
The need for business schools to teach sustainability as a core part of business education, not just an elective.
The challenge of MBA rankings which may discourage business schools from focusing on sustainability.
The potential for business students to innovate and solve sustainability challenges as part of their education.
The idea that business students could provide resources and skills to help small businesses and communities with sustainability.
The impact of business graduates who understand sustainability on organizations and the world.
The importance of integrating sustainability into all jobs and not just relegating it to specialized departments.
The potential for business schools to serve as resources for communities, NGOs, and businesses to learn about sustainability.
The call for MBA programs to be judged on the impact their graduates have on the world, not just post-MBA salaries.
Transcripts
good afternoon I'm gonna start by
telling you a little bit of a story some
of you may have heard this one before
but I hope not all of you a businessman
was visiting a fishing village in the
South Pacific when he came across a
small boat with one fisherman inside the
boat was filled with beautiful fish and
he asked the fisherman how long it took
him to catch those fish the fisherman
answered just a little while so the
businessman asked him well what is it
that you do it the rest of your time
George the fisherman replied well I
sleep in I fish a little I play with my
children take an afternoon nap with my
wife and then I go into town and I meet
up with my friends where we drink ramen
we stand we play the guitar I have a
full and busy life the businessmen
scoffed and went huh I have an MBA I can
help you what you need to do is you need
to stay out longer and fish more fish
with the profits you make from that you
can buy yourself a bigger boat with the
profits from the bigger boat you can buy
yourself sever boats until you have a
whole fishing fleet then you can
eliminate the middleman and sell
directly to the processor eventually
opening up your own cannery you then
have to move your operations from the
small island to Australia then LA then
to New York where you can manage your
expanding business the fisherman then
asked well how long is this going to
take
twitch the businessman replied 15 to 20
years and then what happens ah that's
the best part said the businessman with
a big smile on his face when the time is
right you could announce an IPO and you
could sell your company stock to the
public
you'd become rich you'd make millions
millions said the fisherman and then
what would happen then you could retire
move to a small village where you could
wake up late fish a little play with
your children take an afternoon nap with
your wife and go into town and meet your
friends in the evening for drinks people
love to poke fun at MBA and business
students who here has an MBA hands who
here is a business degree or working on
a business degree ok ok
who here wants to do a business degree
so then you'll understand when I say
that when you talk about MBAs it elicits
a whole variety of different responses
you know some people you get a lot of
respect when you say you have an MBA
especially if you graduated from a top
program but other people assume a lot of
things about you who you are what's
important to you some of which is true
and some of which isn't I've heard
people tell me that having an MBA makes
you detached from the real world that
you have a distorted view based on
maximizing shareholder value the media
loves to poke fun of people with MBAs
they love to mention whether the latest
CEO or manager to mess up a company had
an MBA almost to say that it's the fault
of the degree rather than the individual
and when it comes to sustainability we
never think of business graduates as
being part of the solution often they're
seen as a big part of the problem one
has only to open a newspaper or turn on
the TV to realize that we face a range
of problems on the planet today
environmental social and economic all
the actors have a really important role
to play
NGOs community groups government but is
perhaps the business sector that plays
the most important role not just in
terms of philanthropy and giving but
more importantly in terms of the way
that they do business
luckily businesses around the world are
getting more and more engaged in
sustainability in all its shapes and
forms the realizing that this goes way
beyond just being a passing phase or a
marketing tool this is an exciting
business reality one that the individual
employees want to get involved in and
that businesses are increasingly
benefiting from as they continue to move
forward and sustainability they're
realizing that there are new challenges
and problems and arise
challenges and problems that the next
generation of managers and leaders are
going to need to deal with so you would
assume that business schools would be
teaching this next generation to be able
to deal with those problems the
challenges that they're not and this is
what I'm here to talk to you about today
ice truly believe that the education
sector and in particular business
schools play a key role in moving us
forward in terms of sustainability if we
change the way that the next generation
of managers and leaders think and act in
terms of sustainability this will lead
to broader changes in the way that we do
business around the world and start to
solve more problems than we create I
give a lot of workshops a lot of
workshops with students faculties
business schools and businesses and last
year I had the chance to go to Mexico to
do some workshops in the North there and
after one of the workshops I did with
some senior executives one
the owners of the mid-sized business
came up to me after and he said at first
I had no interest in all the
sustainability stuff this is something
that rich countries and rich companies
are on about but I had nothing to do
with me but he said that he supplies to
a large multinational and this
multinational has start again really
engaged in sustainability so he said
that because of that this multinational
is really pushing its suppliers to get
involved as well at first he said he was
really frustrated that he had to he had
to waste his time looking at these
issues but he said the more and more he
looked into these issues the more
interested he got he put a group of
employees to look at these issues and he
said it may sound silly but they started
showing up for work they started showing
up for work on time and they were truly
motivated and excited about this new
project
he said that they very quickly found
some ways to save him some good money
first by increasing efficiencies by
minimizing waste they found some
opportunities to sell one of their waste
streams waste streams to a nearby
company which was something that they
had never considered before they then
started looking at ways that they could
bring sustainability into their existing
products and actually got some
inspiration about how to create some new
products and services around
sustainability because of all this work
that they were doing he said they
started getting calls from other
multinationals and other companies
around the world and in Mexico who
wanted to work with them he also said he
was starting to get a lot more CDs from
graduates who wanted to work for a
company that truly believed in these
issues so he decided who's gonna hire
some MBAs and it wasn't something he had
done before but he thought that these
MBAs would know more than her about
sustainability and that they'd be able
to move the company forward not just in
sustainability but in a way that would
strengthen and grow the business I
remember him telling me after that he
was really surprised and disappointed
when the interview started he said that
the majority of the students that he
interviewed only had a vague
understanding of what sustainability was
some of them told him that this wasn't
about real business and others had no
idea what it was whatsoever how is it
that we're going to move the business
sector forward and sustainability if the
next generation of graduates don't
understand what these issues are about
the problem is at the MBA and indeed
most business training programs they
failed to provide a deep understanding
on what sustainability is and they don't
provide graduates with with the ability
to be able to embed sustainability into
their jobs and careers
instead is often presented as an add-on
as a save-the-world approach is
something that's not connected to the
key messages and frameworks in the
curriculum a lot of students have told
me that when sustainability is brought
up is brought up right before a midterm
or it's brought up in the first day of
school and then never again and the
implicit message of this is that
sustainability is only relevant to those
people who choose a career in this topic
despite the fact that increasingly this
is going to be part of all of our jobs a
lot of schools will tell me that
sustainability that you know they're
doing their part they approach it like a
checklist and what they do is that they
have their elective on climate change
they have a core course on ethics and
they have a faculty member looking at
sustainability so they're doing their
part others will say that you know the
challenge as well as that faculty
themselves are often not equipped to be
able to teach these issues the other
thing with the MBA is that it's all
about training the next generation of
leaders but this next generation of
leaders is so busy trying to find the
jobs of today and the jobs of today
require of them something slightly
different than we need of them tomorrow
in addition the MBAs themselves are
judged based on the salaries of those
the jobs that they get today I had a
really powerful conversation with a Dean
a few years back who told me that
despite all of the work that they were
doing to embed sustainability in the
curriculum they could never do really
well in the MBA rankings and he said
that there were two reasons for this
first he said that a lot of the students
were choosing alternative kinds of
careers where they were getting lower
salaries but he said the second reason
was that they had a lot a much higher
percentage of women in the program than
most other programs and amazingly in
this day and age women were still making
less money for some of the same jobs as
their male counterparts so MBAs are
stuck in this game of rankings so what
does a girl like me do in a world like
this
I left the UN where I had been working
in sustainability issues since I was
very young to pursue an MBA my
colleagues at the time I remember very
clearly they went into shock a lot of
them thought that the business sector
was the cause of a lot of the problems
that we were trying to solve and that
the MBA would make me evil and that it
would make me see the world in an over
simplistic and dangerous way in offense
that's why I chose to do the MBA I felt
that if we really wanted to before we
needed to get the business sector
engaged and I wanted to understand how
that business sector thought and acted
when I started I was surprised that the
students were interested in these issues
but they weren't quite sure how to
balance that interest with the career
post graduation many thought that it was
a choice you either go into a
traditional business career or you go
into something more meaningful like an
NGO or a community group often when
sustainability itself was being brought
up in our classes it wasn't being
brought up in a way that was useful
irrelevant to the majority of students
and that's when I started asking myself
if we want to move forward in
sustainability and we need the business
sector to do that we then need to make
sure that our graduates actually have
this knowledge to be able to do that
shortly after I graduated I had a chance
to go to Australia which is beautiful
valuable country and there I was
introduced in the city of Melbourne to a
small company that sells two used bikes
and this company is called Montana and
they have a sign outside the premises
that explains what the word means some
of you may have heard this word before
it's a Japanese word that means a sense
of regret when the intrinsic value of an
object or resource is not being properly
utilized to me the MBA is known tonight
when we talk about sustainability we
fail to talk about the key role that
business graduates could play in making
that vision a reality
last year alone half a million people
graduated with business degrees from
over 12,000 institutions around the
world half a million and this number is
growing imagine the impact of all those
graduates not only understood what
sustainability was but knew how to put
into practice in their organizations in
a way that made sense for the
environment society and for those
businesses considering that business
graduates find their way into virtually
every type of organization on the planet
from NGOs to government to community
groups imagine if these organizations
slowly started filling themselves up
with people who understood that the
balance was part of the way that they
did business imagine the impact that
that would have on our business isn't on
the world and it wouldn't take long to
see a difference a generation perhaps a
few years half a million highly
motivated people and key organizations
around the world is a lot of people and
we wouldn't even have to wait until they
graduated I remember when I was a
student I was really jealous that design
students were constantly being
approached by businesses to come up with
visions of the world of the future and
Lucian's to different world and
sustainability problems why aren't we
asking business graduates and business
students to do this business students
are highly motivated group of people who
have backgrounds and all sorts of
different disciplines
why couldn't we throw some of these
seemingly impossible sustainability
challenges at this group of students you
could have a finance class which is all
about figuring out the value of an
endangered rhinoceros when I was at the
UN we had a Seine which was if every
consultant that went to go see a water
problem brought a bucket of water that
community wouldn't have a water problem
anymore
what if MBA students themselves weren't
just hearing and learning about these
issues but actually creating testing and
preened into place innovative solutions
to the world's problems
imagine what the world would look like
then but it wouldn't just be big
international programs it would be
problems at a community level as well
the UN Global Compact did a survey that
said that one in four ceos believe that
the lack of skills and knowledge of
their middle and senior managers was the
key reason why they weren't able to move
forward in sustainability if you combine
this with the fact that the majority of
small and medium-sized businesses would
like to move forward in this area but
often lack the resources and that and
the skills to be able to do so why
couldn't Business School students
provide those resources I was reading
lately about a series of banks in North
America and Asia and they've opened
coffee shops in the front of their
provinces and the idea is that they want
more people to come into the bank but
what's interesting is the coffee shop
has a range of short workshops and
courses and one-on-one advice to teach
people more about finance and make it
more accessible why couldn't you have
something similar in business schools
where individuals could go in community
groups NGOs not-for-profit small
medium-sized businesses and get advice
from students from faculty about how to
move forward in terms of sustainability
imagine the impact that that would have
on our communities and then you have
this half a million students that have
just gone through a degree program where
they've helped us solve world problems
helps of community challenges and now
they're able to go into any organization
in the world and make changes from the
inside out imagine the impact that that
would have on all of our businesses as
individuals we have a lot more power
than we think businesses at the end of
the day are made up of individuals such
as ourselves individuals that make
decisions on a day
that affect the world around us as
consumers we make decisions every day
that send strong messages to companies
about what we are and are not willing to
buy our decisions may seem small but
they're not the decision to change a
supplier to give our team members more
time to explore these issues can all
have a huge impact I've heard a lot of
people say that in order to make it
impact you need to quit your job and go
work for a not-for-profit this isn't
necessarily the case I think that the
biggest impact that we can have is by
making changes to our own jobs from the
inside out we need to take
sustainability out of specialized
departments and make it part of all of
our jobs who here has a job at the end
who here wants a job who here has a
degree of any sort or is working on a
degree right now so I'm talking about
business school students but it's not at
all limited to business school students
imagine if in all of our degrees in all
of our in-house training programs in all
of the training that we received we were
taught how to bring sustainability into
those jobs imagine the impact that that
will have we often hear about how
important it is to teach young people
that sustainability right from a very
young age I've actually heard some
people say that it's the responsibility
of primary and secondary education to
teach young people about sustainability
and then if you reach church free
education without this knowledge it's
too late the problem is that when
they're young we create these little
mini eco-warriors and we send them off
to university to learn the skills and
tools that they need for their future
careers there we tell them listen all
that stuff about sustainability all that
is really nice but that's not what's
going to get you a job that's something
that you do after work it's not
compatible with work we need to teach
ourselves our students and our employees
how to bring sustainability into their
jobs we need to teach ourselves how to
take the values that we have at home and
in our daily lives and apply them to our
work rather than keeping it separate
we're educating another generation of
leaders to work in a world that we have
no idea what it's going to look like in
the future but we know that they're
going to be creating it and the least
that we can do is give them all the
tools and skills to be able to do so but
every year that another class graduates
from any discipline without the skills
and knowledge to bring sustainability
forward is an opportunity wasted for the
planet and for society there's a
newspaper in Singapore which is 60 years
old and they've recently done a major
revamp of the newspaper
and this isn't a time when people are
talking about how the newspaper is
disappearing and dying so when the owner
was asked why is it that they spent all
this time and money into this project he
said it was because we expect to be
around for the next 200 years this is
the kind of language that I'd like to
hear from business schools and
businesses we need to create a
generation that's able to maneuver the
world as it is today but can see where
we need to go in to get us there it's a
simple idea but one that I think could
have a huge impact and then when it
comes to MBA programs themselves I hope
that in the future they're not going to
be judged on post MBA salary but rather
on the impact of their graduates have on
the world around them thank you
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