Thank you to Sarah Kear and Ecokinesis.

***

“We are all on the Titanic”, but it’s not hopeless! This encouragement came from Dr. Karl-Henrik Robert, founder of The Natural Step, and keynote speaker at the CBSR 8th Annual Summit, Collaborating for Sustainable Change. This some how did not make me feel better! But by the time he finished his analogy, my eager attention had returned.

If we’re on the Titanic, then our Iceberg is society’s collapse from chronic un-sustainability.  If business waits below deck with the majority until the Iceberg is looming large on the horizon to change its ways, we are clearly doomed. We’ll all clamour and climb over each other to get the ear of the captain. Not only are we all pleading with him at once, but none of us can agree on which course of action is best either. We haven’t taken the time to discuss it. Now it’s too late.

However, if business gets itself some nice first class tickets by leading the way with collaboration and innovative new practices, we’ll have first view of the Iceberg when it first appears on the horizon. We can leisurely stroll to talk to the captain. Please change course, old chap! Good news, we agree on the course of action and we’re far enough away to adjust our course little by little and miss the Iceberg. Whew!

The ticket to riding first class on the Titanic, according to Robert, is having a common language to talk about un-sustainability and how to get out of it. These are the System Principles as I described in Part II.

We need to break out of our silos of discipline and have collaborative conversations. Designers need to talk to teachers, who need to talk to engineers, who need to talk to manufacturers, who need to talk to the people on the factory floor and in the cotton fields.  Our problem of chronic un-sustainability knows no boundaries, so our conversations must not either.

I’d like to suggest that an Appreciative Inquiry approach is a really great way to move from conversation to action. You can read more about that in an earlier blog post Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

A great opportunity for business to engage in conversation and meet partners for collaborative action is coming up! It’s the Green Business Strategy Summit on November 12th, 2010 at the beautiful Fairmont Royal York in downtown Toronto. If you’re involved in Operations (employees and facilities), Infrastructure or are a Communications professional, there is a stream just for you! Click here to check it out!

This is part III of III reflections on Collaborating for Sustainable Change, the 8th annual CBSR Summit, and Smart Shift, hosted by Durham Sustain Ability in the last half of October 2010.