The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World

by Andrew S. Winston

Overview

We live in a fundamentally changed world. It’s time for your approach to strategy to change, too.

The evidence is all around us. Extreme weather, driven by climate change, is shattering records all over the planet. Our natural resources are in greater demand than ever before as a billion more people enter the global middle class, wanting more of everything. Radical transparency is opening up company operations and supply chains to public scrutiny.

This is not some futuristic scenario or model to debate, but today’s reality. We've passed an economic tipping point. A weakening of the foundations of our planetary infrastructure is costing businesses dearly and putting our society at risk. The mega challenges of climate change, scarcity, and radical transparency threaten our ability to run an expanding global economy and are profoundly changing “business as usual.” But they also offer unprecedented opportunities: multi-trillion-dollar markets are in play, and the winners of this new game will profit mightily.

According to Andrew Winston, bestselling author (Green to Gold) and globally recognized business strategist, the way companies currently operate will not allow them to keep up with the current—and future—rate of change. They need to make the Big Pivot.

In this indispensable new book, Winston provides ten crucial strategies for leaders and companies ready to move boldly forward and win in this new reality. With concrete advice and tactics, and new stories from companies like British Telecom, Diageo, Dow, Ford, Nike, Unilever, Walmart, and many others, The Big Pivot will help you, and all of us, create more resilient businesses and a more prosperous world. This book is the blueprint to get you started.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625270528
Publisher:	Harvard Business Review Press
Publication date:	03/11/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Andrew Winston is the founder of Winston Eco-Strategies, advising many of the world’s leading companies on environmental strategy. He sits on sustainability advisory boards for Kimberly-Clark, Hewlett-Packard, and Unilever, and serves as Sustainability Advisor to PwC. Andrew’s career history includes corporate strategy consulting with The Boston Consulting Group and management positions in strategy and marketing at Time Warner and MTV. A globally recognized expert on green business strategy, he is a sought-after speaker on the world’s mega challenges and how companies can manage and profit from them. He writes regularly for Harvard Business Review online, the Guardian, and other outlets and appears in major media such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and CNBC.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Signals from a New World 1

Part I Today's Mega Challenges

1 Hotter (and Cleaner) 23

Doing Business in a More Extreme, Unstable World

2 Scarcer (and Richer) 35

Resources Are Getting More Expensive

3 More Open (and Smarter) 47

There's Nowhere to Hide

4 A New Mind-Set 63

Principles and Hurdles

Part II Radically Practical Strategies

Vision Pivot

5 Fight Short-Termism 93

6 Set Big, Science-Based Goals 115

7 Pursue Heretical Innovation 131

Valuation Pivot

8 Change the Incentives, Engage the Whole Organization 147

9 Redefine Return on Investment to Make Better Strategic Decisions 163

10 Put a Number on the Value of Natural Capital 177

Partner Pivot

11 Become a Lobbyist 193

12 Collaborate Radically 211

13 Inspire Customers to Care and to Use Less 227

Big Pivot

14 Build a Resilient, Antifragile Company 245

Conclusion 261

Envisioning a Big-Pivot World

Afterword 267

Appendix A Sustainability 102: The Business Case for Green Strategy 273

Appendix B Setting Science-Based Goals 287

Notes 293

Index 321

Acknowledgments 337

About the Author 343

Editorial Reviews

“Best Business Book of the Year: Sustainability” — strategy+business magazine

“Winston’s passion and sincerity clearly move his engaging discussion beyond mere consultant hype. In this book, he provides a realistic way to address these mega issues along with tested strategies on how to manage these challenges effectively and profitably.” — CHOICE, a publication of the American Library Association

“a practical, working handbook for teams, organizations and corporations to “recreate their operations to succeed within the scientific reality of a hotter, wilder, more radically open world. With a certain climate-challenged future ahead of us, The Big Pivot gives us a realist's path to making sure it's a prosperous one, too.” — Sustainable Brands (sustainablebrands.com)

ADVANCE PRAISE for The Big Pivot:

Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever—
“We’ve reached a tipping point. Our planet and our society are at risk . . . Andrew Winston’s The Big Pivot offers a radical new direction for business that also represents the most practical path forward . . . a must-read for anyone interested in the future of business and our world.”

David Crane, President and CEO, NRG Energy—
“Andrew Winston’s The Big Pivot is the blinking red warning light on the dashboard for every CEO . . . He lays out a road map for a major shift in consciousness and purpose for the private sector.”

Lauralee Martin, CEO, HCP—
“Andrew Winston has identified issues for business that require more than just a minor change of behavior—these big challenges demand an urgent ‘pivot’ by business for our own survival . . . I hope CEOs and other business leaders step up and read this book.”

David Steiner, CEO, Waste Management—
“. . . Winston’s practical approach to the largest issues of our generation makes his a voice that’s respected by the world’s leaders in politics, NGOs, and business.”

L. Hunter Lovins, founder and President, Natural Capital Solutions; coauthor, The Way Out—
“The Big Pivot is Winston’s most important and impactful work to date—better even than Green to Gold. It’s a wake-up call for you, your boss, and whoever sits in the corner office . . .”

Thomas J. Falk, Chairman and CEO, Kimberly-Clark—
“Andrew Winston’s The Big Pivot provides thought-provoking perspectives into some of the biggest issues facing companies around the world . . . a call to action in a time of radical change and competing priorities.”

Jeff Seabright, Vice President, Environment & Water Resources, Coca-Cola—
“A resounding call to action for business to embrace the risks of climate change, resource constraints, and radical transparency and turn them into strategic growth opportunities . . . a must-read road map for business success in the twenty-first century.”

From the Publisher