But what does ‘sustainable’ really mean? 

With ‘sustainability’ it has become locked in the crosshairs of the pursuit of environmental best practice, which arguably is the commercial equivalent of cart before horse.

The very modus operandi of a sustainable business means that one of the outputs will be environmental responsibility, though a company delivering environmental sustainability won’t necessarily be a sustainable business.

Arguably ‘sustainable’ is kind of a business definition of holistic, with everything it does interconnected by its culture.

In other words its about sense of purpose, values, behaviours, active brand, internal/external engagement with all of the stakeholders, relationship optimisation, consistency, resilience, a mindset which sees challenges as opportunities, a desire to develop a circular economy, all of which combines to deliver sustainability, all rooted in responsible practices that will serve to preserve our planet.

For a book co-commissioned by Brevity Marketing and to be published by DECISION magazine, business owners and directors from across generations and market sectors share their thoughts about how they would define the characteristics of a sustainable business, and what the journey might hold.

Leading up to the launch, the latest interview will be available here to download.