The Necessary Revolution: Working Together to Create a Sustainable World

Imagine a world in which the excess energy from one business would be used to heat another. A world in which environmentally sound products and processes would be more cost-effective than wasteful ones. A world in which giant corporations such as Costco, Nike, Unilever, Coke, and countless others would form partnerships with environmental and social-justice organizations to ensure better stewardship of the earth and to alleviate suffering throughout the developing world. Now, stop imagining—that worth is already emerging.

A revolution is under way in today's organizations. As peter Senge and his coauthors reveal in The Necessary Revolution, companies around the world are boldly leading the change from wasteful, exploitative, “business as usual” tactics transformative ones essential for creating a flourishing, sustainable world. Though there is a long way to go, today's most innovative leaders are recognizing that we $$pursue revolutionary–not just incremental– changes in the way we live and work. They are learning how to connect short-term opportunities with new strategic necessities for survival.

Brimming with inspiring stories form those individuals and organizations tackling social and environmental problems around the globe. The Necessary Revolution revels how ordinary people at every level are leading this revolution and working collaboratively across boundaries to explore and implement unprecedented solutions for an increasingly interdependent world. Among the examples they offer:

Sweden's flourishing “Green Zone”

GE's ecomagination initiative

Alcoa's water use reduction goals

Seventh Generation's discovery that transparency and innovation for sustainability matter to consumers

Leading food companies and NGOs working for healthy food, healthy farming communities, and healthy farm ecologies

In these pages you will find a wealth of specific tools, strategies, and new ways of thinking that can help each one of us join this revolution-and effectively meet the greatest challenge of our time. It is crucial now more than ever that we recognize the need to act and work together to create a sustainable world, both for ourselves and for the generations to follow.

Imagine a world in which the excess energy from one business would be used to heat another. Where buildings need less and less energy around the world, and where “regenerative” commercial buildings – ones that create more energy than they use – are being designed. A world in which environmentally sound products and processes would be more cost-effective than wasteful ones. A world in which corporations such as Costco, Nike, BP, and countless others are forming partnerships with environmental and social justice organizations to ensure better stewardship of the earth and better livelihoods in the developing world. Now, stop imagining – that world is already emerging.

A revolution is underway in today’s organizations. As Peter Senge and his co-authors reveal in The Necessary Revolution, companies around the world are boldly leading the change from dead-end “business as usual” tactics to transformative strategies that are essential for creating a flourishing, sustainable world. There is a long way to go, but the era of denial has ended. Today’s most innovative leaders are recognizing that for the sake of our companies and our world, we must implement revolutionary—not just incremental—changes in the way we live and work.

Brimming with inspiring stories from individuals and organizations tackling social and environmental problems around the globe, THE NECESSARY REVOLUTION reveals how ordinary people at every level are transforming their businesses and communities. By working collaboratively across boundaries, they are exploring and putting into place unprecedented solutions that move beyond just being “less bad” to creating pathways that will enable us to flourish in an increasingly interdependent world. Among the stories in these pages are the evolution of Sweden’s “Green Zone,” Alcoa’s water use reduction goals, GE’s ecoimagination initiative, and Seventh Generation’s decision to shift some of their advertising to youth-led social change programs.

At its heart, THE NECESSARY REVOLUTION contains a wealth of strategies that individuals and organizations can use — specific tools and ways of thinking — to help us build the confidence and competence to respond effectively to the greatest challenge of our time. It is an essential guidebook for all of us who recognize the need to act and work together—now—to create a sustainable world, both for ourselves and for the generations to follow.

Peter Senge was named as one of the 24 people who had “the greatest influence on business strategy over the last 100 years” by the Journal of Business Strategy

PETER SENGE, senior lecturer at MIT and the founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL), is the author or co-author of several bestselling books, including The Fifth Discipline, Schools That Learn, and Presence. BRYAN SMITH, coauthor with Senge of The Dance of Change and two other Fifth Discipline fieldbooks, is a member of the faculty at York University’s Sustainable Enterprise Academy, and president of Broad Reach Innovations, Inc. NINA KRUSCHWITZ, manager of the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook Project, is the editor of Reflections: The SoL Journal on Knowledge, Learning, and Change. JOE LAUR and SARA SCHLEY co-founded the SoL Sustainability Consortium in 1998; Joe is vice president of content for Greenopolis.com, and Sara is a mentor for the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.