CHAPTER 2

SUSTAINABILITY

The Global Challenge, the Business Opportunity, and the People Factor

ALTHOUGH THE WORD SUSTAINABILITY HAS become a common term in business circles and elsewhere, it remains an evolving concept. In this chapter, we examine the current meanings of sustainability and consider how and why sustainability has become a strategic imperative for leaders in every kind of organization—including HR professionals.

For many people, the first thing that comes to mind when sustainability is mentioned is the environment—and it’s quite accurate to think that such issues as pollution, recycling, climate change, energy and water conservation, and stewardship of natural resources are all high on the sustainability agendas of businesses. ...

Get Talent, Transformation, and the Triple Bottom Line: How Companies Can Leverage Human Resources to Achieve Sustainable Growth now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.