#INSEADFORGOOD

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Play your part in building more diverse and inclusive teams | hire outlier talent

Photo by João Jesus 

In this article, we tell some encouraging stories about headhunters who took the brave step of recommending candidates who did not “fit the box” and who undoubtedly presented an increased risk for the client companies.

However, the risk paid off in every case, and clients, candidates, and shareholders are happy. 

We examine via the stories of Erin, who got the CEO job, despite having baby-blues, no sleep and no clothes that fit her, or of the incredibly creative headhunter Fabrice, INSEAD MBA’02, who considered 3000 profiles before homing in on that of Ian Rogers, now the Chief Digital Officer of LVMH, the issues that often freeze companies and headhunters in the paradigm of “risk mitigation”, but also the huge leaps forward that can be made when another prism is applied in this area.

We hope that you as individuals will feel more confident about putting yourselves forward for roles where you might see the fit, even if the recruiter will need more of an explanation. And we certainly encourage all those in the position of being able to make your own hires to consider those “outlier” candidates as a matter of course, and possibly even to review and revise your definition of “outlier”.

To know more, access the full article

Claire Harbour, MBA INSEAD 92J Coach

Antoine Tirard, MBA INSEAD 97D Talent Management Adviser, Leadership Consultant, Executive Coach and Author

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Combattre la fracture numérique en adressant les 5 millions de français qui cumulent précarité numérique et sociale

Un Collectif de 35 entreprises françaises engagées

Le Collectif pour une économie plus inclusive  (voir collectif inclusif) regroupe maintenant 35 entreprises françaises - dont le groupe Orange, leader Français en matière de télécommunications.  Ces entreprises emploient près de 1,5 million de salariés en France répartis sur près de 60 000 sites maillant l’ensemble du territoire, dans des zones urbaines comme rurales.

L’un des axes prioritaires du Collectif consiste à améliorer l’accès aux biens et services aux personnes en difficulté. Cela passe par le développement d’un catalogue commun d’offres inclusives centré sur les principales dépenses contraintes des ménages (énergie, télécom, eau, assurance – environ 20 % des dépenses des ménages précaires au total) afin de les diminuer de manière structurelle.

Une offre télécom adaptée à la base de la pyramide

Cette offre « Coup de Pouce » d’Orange comprend une connexion Internet-TV-Téléphone, un téléphone, un accompagnement au numérique et un PC à prix mini – rendu possible grâce au don d’ordinateurs par Orange pour lequel le client ne paye que les frais de reconditionnement.

Cette offre a été construite en « design thinking » avec les acteurs de l’inclusion des Haut-de-France et de l’Action Tank Entreprise et Pauvreté. L’offre est sans engagement, sans augmentation de tarif et sans frais de résiliation, pour éviter tout  frein à son adoption.

En plus de la connexion, du téléphone et de l’ordinateur, des ateliers numériques sont dispensés gratuitement pour apprendre à se servir d’Internet.

Combattre la fracture numérique

Cette combinaison d’équipements à faible prix et de formation contribuent ainsi à combattre la fracture numérique qui, souvent, frappe les populations les plus défavorisées.

En effet, alors que d’ici 2022, 100% des services publics seront complètement dématérialisés, les démarches en ligne sont difficiles pour cinq millions de personnes qui cumulent pauvreté et précarité numérique en France.

Et ne pas être connecté, c’est accentuer sa précarité sociale. A tel point que certains renoncent à des aides auxquelles ils ont pourtant le droit, parce qu’ils n’ont pas Internet !

Toucher le plus grande nombre de personnes

Au sein du Collectif, nous réfléchissons maintenant comment nous pourrions démultiplier nos réseaux de distribution et enrichir ainsi mutuellement nos catalogues d’offre spécifiquement adaptées aux personnes en situation de précarité – par exemple en promouvant cette offre télécom  en s’appuyant sur un canal de distribution banque, assurance ou grande distribution.

Pour en savoir plus : Orange - Bien vivre le digital

Jean-François Cognet, MBA INSEAD 93D Head of Corporate Social Responsability, Orange Business Services

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Une Grange monastique du XXI siècle, un projet d’entrepreneuriat au féminin au service de l’écologie intégrale : « Quand la vulnérabilité devient une force créatrice »

Avant de partir à l’INSEAD, j’ai séjourné deux semaines à l’Abbaye de Boulaur, monastère cistercien niché dans le Gers afin de « me ressourcer ». Et voilà que je découvre une communauté de jeunes et dynamiques religieuses, entrepreneuses et agricultrices, qui se sont lancées dans un projet inouï, telle une « start-up du XII siècle, façon XXIème siècle » ! 

Les sœurs qui vendent des produits fermiers et accueillent des visiteurs à l’hôtellerie monastique ont décidé de relever le défi lié à leur succès. Confrontées à la croissance de leur communauté et aux besoins de financement engendrés, les 27 religieuses ont travaillé depuis plusieurs mois à leur « ambition stratégique » des prochaines décennies. Souhaitant renouer avec l’audace des origines de leur ordre, elles ont créé le projet « Grange 21 » : bâtir une « grange cistercienne » à l’image des granges du moyen-âge ; une ferme laboratoire, véritable pôle de développement économique, social et territorial, lien d’enracinement de la culture et de la spiritualité. 

Le projet s’articule autour de plusieurs axes : écologie, patrimoine, économie, entreprenariat féminin et société. Les sœurs nourrissent l’objectif de faire vivre un site exceptionnel inscrit aux monuments historiques tout en assurant l'existence quotidien de la communauté actuelle et future. L’agrandissement des installations permettra aussi d’accueillir davantage d’hôtes à l’Abbaye, venus seuls ou en famille, le temps d’une « pause spirituelle » ou simplement d’un repos.

Un modèle de gouvernance bien inspirant pour les entreprises.

Rodées aux brainstormings et réflexions collectives, les moniales qui allient travaux manuels et prière (7 offices par jour), conseils externes et convictions internes, ont mûri leur projet en veillant à la pleine adhésion de chacune d'entre elles : sensibilité personnelle, cheminement propre, réticences et suggestions particulières. Patience, écoute, silence et parole ont abouti à un consensus aujourd’hui porté par toutes. Ainsi des fragilités et nombreux obstacles ont été transformés en opportunités fécondes. Un modèle de gouvernance bien inspirant pour les entreprises !

Le BP indique très précisément l’augmentation des capacités de production : de 6 à 24 vaches, de 6 à 12 porcs, de 2,5 à 17 t de fromages, de 1 à 5t de pâtés, de 4 à 8t de confitures et de 0,5 à 2t de farine. Les sœurs souhaitent multiplier par 4 le CA et le nombre de clients grâce notamment à la progression des ventes à la ferme du monastère et au développement de nouveaux canaux de distribution : vente en ligne, restauration locale, réseau des magasins monastiques.

Aussi se sont-elles engagées dans un processus de levée de fonds de plusieurs millions, une opération spontanément relayée par un formidable buzz médiatique, assez inédit pour cette Communauté vouée au silence et à l’intériorité. S’ajoute même un chantier participatif. 

Face à une société en quête de sens et d’écologie authentique, Grange 21 fascine et suscite un enthousiasme inouï auprès d’un public très étendu.

Le premier coup de pioche pour construire la nouvelle étable a été donné en mai 2020. Retrouvez en images cette histoire étonnante sur leur site : www.grange21.org

Valérie de Launay, AMP INSEAD 15 MAR Conseil en Gouvernance, organisation et relations humaines

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Revitalising the Future of our Planet, One Challenge at a Time

The genesis of INSEAD’s “Community Impact Challenge”

“What would happen if we collectively brainstormed to create a better world?” 

That’s the question INSEAD alumnus Paolo Senes and Executive Director of the Hoffmann Institute for Business and Society, Katell Le Goulven, pondered together over coffee in 2019. Wondering if they could engage the global INSEAD alumni community in a series of challenges corresponding with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), they assembled a group of alumni volunteers to find out. The first challenge of the Community Impact Challenge was launched in early 2020 and became a smash success, validating Katell and Paolo’s idea and creating clamor for more.

The vision of INSEAD’s Community Impact Challenge is to revitalise the future of our planet by igniting powerful networks of individuals to take action toward the Sustainable Development Goals, today.  They provide practical and purposeful tools that empower people to reduce and offset their personal and business environmental footprint.  Together, they engage and mobilise households, communities, and organisations to align the long-term interests of nature, people and the economy. The volunteer-led group of 300+ alumni describe themselves as Impactivists, and are sponsored by INSEAD, the Hoffmann Institute for Business and Society, and the INSEAD Alumni Association.  

The first challenge took place during January and focused on the reduction of single-use plastics for a period of 28 days.  The intention was to address three UN SDGs:  Responsible Consumption and Production, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Life Below Water. The challenge garnered significant enthusiasm with 2,340 INSEAD participants from more than 90 countries taking part.  And the results speak for themselves:  participants halved their consumption of single-use plastic bottles, 84% adopted reusable shopping bags as part of their routine habit, and 73% stated they became more aware of ecological issues.  

Now the Community Impact Challenge is amplifying the power of the single-use plastic challenge to other institutions as well as to corporations. The group is preparing the materials and processes necessary to export its knowledge.  Actionable toolkits, expert webinars, and a Community Impact Challenge support team are available for those interested. If you’d like to become an Impactivist and run this challenge at your own company, campus, or community, please contact us at communityimpact@insead.edu  and check out the full project report.  

In parallel with reducing single use plastics, the Community Impact Challenge is preparing for round two: a challenge to reduce carbon footprint through sustainable food production and consumption. The upcoming initiative was conceived by the broader INSEAD community, with 255 people contributing their thoughts and energy during the co-creation process.  How can we adapt our habits to eat more sustainably?  Well, come October this year we will all find out!  In the meantime, stay tuned to the Community Impact Challenge via LinkedIn.  

Turns out, Katell and Paolo were right.  We can collectively be a force for good. 

 INDIVIDUAL ACTION, COLLECTIVE POWER.

Julia M. Stubben, MBA INSEAD 09D Leading Strategic Innovation

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De quelques valeurs à promouvoir dans nos entreprises

Photo by Philipp Birmes from Pexels

A l’heure où beaucoup insistent sur l’accélération, le tout technologique, ou la résilience, il paraît utile de promouvoir d’autres valeurs pour faire contrepoids à la pensée dominante et bâtir un « next normal » qui ne se vive pas uniquement comme de la gestion de crise permanente. Il faut réhabiliter les valeurs d’engagement autour d’une intention stratégique, promouvoir davantage l’utilité sociale et le temps long pour apporter non seulement des solutions mais aussi des perspectives au plus grand nombre dans l’entreprise et dans la société.

1. L’engagement

« Si tu veux construire un bateau, fais naître dans le cœur de tes hommes le désir de la mer » Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Citadelle, 1948.

En France, on considère que moins de 10% des collaborateurs sont activement engagés. Or, cette notion traduit l’implication d’un collaborateur dans son travail, vis-à-vis de ses collègues et de l’environnement, et indique dans quelle mesure il contribue au succès de l’entreprise et est aligné sur ses valeurs et objectifs. A l’inverse, on peut penser que le désengagement de tous les collaborateurs condamne l’entreprise à la stagnation et au déclin.

En effet, « ce n’est pas l’argent qui propulse l’entreprise vers l’avenir, mais l’énergie intellectuelle et affective des salariés ; c’est pourquoi l’aptitude à mobiliser jusqu’à la dernière goutte cette énergie constitue le vrai nerf de la guerre », selon Gary Hamel(1).

Le rêve capable de dynamiser une entreprise, c’est « l’intention stratégique », question centrale pour toutes les entreprises qui cherchent à donner du sens au collectif dans un contexte de remise en cause des modèles traditionnels, et de perte de repères, du fait notamment de la révolution digitale et de la mondialisation, mais aussi d’une focalisation sur le court terme dans un contexte d’hyper-compétition, et de désengagement croissant, en particulier affectif, des collaborateurs et du management.

Dans ce contexte, les dirigeants doivent parvenir à résumer l’intention stratégique de leur organisation d’une manière qui suscite l’adhésion, en clarifiant trois composantes :

La mission de l’entreprise, qui est l’affirmation de son intention fondamentale et de sa raison d’être. Elle répond à la question « quel est notre métier ? » ou encore « Quelle est notre différence ? »,

La vision d’une organisation, qui décrit ce qu’elle aspire à devenir. Elle est une image du futur capable d’impliquer et de motiver. Elle répond à la question « si nous étions ici dans 20 ans, que serions-nous fiers d’avoir accomplis ? », 

Les valeurs fondamentales, qui sont les principes qui sous-tendent la stratégie d’une organisation et définissent de quelle manière elle devrait agir, et constituent une sorte de code génétique de l'entreprise.

Cette intention stratégique, qui a pour but de créer une importante inadéquation entre ressources et aspirations et de fixer un cap (orientation), doit également proposer aux collaborateurs une vision originale sur l’avenir de l’entreprise ou du secteur en intégrant l’exploration de territoires nouveaux (exploration), et enfin représenter une charge affective forte en ayant le caractère d’un avenir porteur de sens (destin).

2. L’utilité sociale

« C’est proprement ne valoir rien que de n’être utile à personne », René Descartes, Discours de la Méthode, 1637

Le travail le plus complet en matière de définition de « l’utilité sociale » est celui de Jean Gadrey, en 2003, à partir de la synthèse d’une quarantaine de rapports :  « Est d’utilité sociale l’activité d’une organisation qui a pour résultat constatable et, en général, pour objectif explicite, au-delà d’autres objectifs éventuels de production de biens et de services destinés à des usagers individuels, de contribuer à la cohésion sociale (notamment par la réduction des inégalités), à la solidarité (nationale, internationale, ou locale : le lien social de proximité), à la sociabilité, et à l’amélioration des conditions collectives du développement humain durable (dont font partie l’éducation, la santé, l’environnement et la démocratie)».

Mais avant même de produire de l’utilité sociale, domaine traditionnellement réservé à des associations et autres entreprises du secteur de l’Economie Sociale et Solidaire ou de la sphère publique, les entreprises du secteur privé devraient s’efforcer a minima d’éradiquer ou de limiter la création d’inutilité sociale. 

L’inutilité est une forme grave d’inégalités, car elle enferme « dans des trappes dont il est difficile de sortir(2) » tous ceux qui ne vivent pas de leur travail, comme les chômeurs ou les précaires qui enchaînent les petits boulots, sans perspective d’améliorer leur situation. Personne n’est inutile en soi, mais peut le devenir aux yeux des autres ou à ses propres yeux, en raison du sort qui lui est fait dans une société donnée. 

En ce sens, l’inutilité sociale s’analyse aussi comme la privation, pour les hommes placés en situation d’inutilité, d’une capacité élémentaire au sens de Sen, celle de progresser et d’améliorer son sort. Il faut rappeler les statistiques de pôle emploi selon lesquelles la probabilité de trouver un travail après 12 mois de chômage est de 3% ou encore la difficulté à sortir de la pauvreté en moins de quelques générations.

A défaut de s’engager dans la promotion de l’utilité sociale, les entreprises devraient donc commencer par s’interroger sur leur responsabilité dans la création d’hommes « inutiles » et viser comme premier objectif l’éradication de toute création d’inutilité sociale ou externalités négatives dans ce domaine. Il est de ce point de vue instructif de voir de grands groupes licencier à tour de bras et communiquer massivement dans le même temps sur leur responsabilité sociétale.

3. Le temps long

« Plus la glace est mince plus il faut patiner vite » Ralph Waldo Emerson, On Prudence, 1862

Le sociologue Hartmunt Rosa a bien montré dans son essai « Aliénation et accélération »(3) que notre modernité tardive se caractérisait par une accélération des rythmes de vie, des techniques et du changement social, qui est une source d’aliénation et d’épuisement pour les individus.

Cette accélération subie pour rester dans la course viole en effet la promesse de réflexivité et d’autonomie qui est au cœur de la modernité, puisqu’il n’y a plus aucune remise en cause ou débat possible autour du délai imposé et de l’impératif de la nécessité de toujours accélérer pour se maintenir.

Ce qui est vrai pour les individus est vrai pour les entreprises, qui craignent de perdre une position concurrentielle chèrement acquise, faute de ne pas être assez « agile » ou assez « digitale », ou encore de ne pas « pivoter » assez vite.

En corolaire de ce primat de la vitesse et du « sprint » permanent, on observe un mépris croissant pour le temps long et la stratégie en particulier, définie comme un processus d’allocation des ressources à moyen terme devenue inutile, compte tenu « du degré d’incertitude que nous vivons, qui appelle des réponses immédiates ». Pour certaines entreprises, l’agitation permanente et l’improvisation sont érigées en vertus cardinales.

On peut émettre l’hypothèse que cette accélération/aliénation est pour partie à l’origine du désengagement des collaborateurs, puisque « rien ne dure », et rend difficile dans certaines entreprises la conception et la mise en œuvre de « projets d’utilité sociale », qui en général, réclament un investissement au long cours. 

A titre d’illustration, on peut évoquer la mise en place de dispositifs de type « zéro chômeur de longue durée » dans les territoires ou encore les projets de réduction des empreintes carbone des entreprises par la plantation massive d’arbres par exemple. Il est clair que les résultats tangibles de ce type de projets requièrent le temps long. 

L’investissement dans le capital humain et le développement de nouvelles compétences, ou encore le développement de nouvelles capacités stratégiques, et même les grands chantiers de transformation, participent également de ce temps long.

Les trois valeurs décrites ci-dessus se renforcent donc l’une l’autre et forment un triptyque vertueux - engagement, utilité sociale et temps long – que les entreprises devraient promouvoir davantage.

Cyril Chapelle, MBA INSEAD 99D Principal, BNP Paribas Consulting

Références :

(1) G.Hamel, C.K. Prahalad : « La conquête du futur », Dunod, 1995 (2) Pierre-Noël Giraud : « l’homme inutile », Odile Jacob, 2015 (3) Harmundt Rosa : « Aliénation et Accélération », La Découverte, 2010

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L’arbre qui tombe fait plus de bruit que la forêt qui pousse

J’ai découvert ce proverbe africain il y a quelques années quand je dirigeais Uber au Maroc et il a tout de suite eu une forte résonance pour moi. Il m’a permis de rationaliser et de verbaliser ce que je vivais et pressentais intuitivement sans arriver à l’exprimer clairement. 

Dans le contexte d’alors, les lobbys de taxis et détenteurs d’agrément faisaient grand bruit en dénonçant la mort annoncée d’une profession tandis qu’en silence, des milliers de femmes et d’hommes, dont d’anciens chauffeurs de taxis, retrouvaient leur dignité au travers d’un emploi plus rémunérateur et plus valorisant. 

Aujourd’hui, je suis dans un contexte différent. J’ai quitté le Maroc, j’ai changé de métier et de secteur mais à la lueur de la crise du COVID et de mon engagement vis-à-vis de la Fondation Mozaik, qui travaille à l’inclusion économique des jeunes de quartiers défavorisés, j’ai retrouvé avec force l’essence de ce proverbe. 

Les médias, les flux LinkedIn ou Facebook ou les messages Whatsapp nous abreuvent d’informations angoissantes sur la crise sanitaire en cours, la crise économique en gestation et le mur de la dette à venir. Et pourtant, tous les jours, je vois et j’entends les bruissements subtils d’une forêt qui pousse, celle de l’économie sociale et solidaire (« ESS »). 

En premier lieu, je constate une forte mobilisation des acteurs de l’ESS. A la fondation Mozaik, j’ai été le témoin privilégié de l’énergie formidable qu’ont déployé les équipes dès le début du confinement. La plupart des formations et accompagnements de groupes ont été basculés du présentiel au digital, les coachings et mentorats individuels ont été renforcés, l’effort sur les projets spécifiques maintenu, dont l’ambitieux Plan 1000 Jeunes et l’équipe recrutement a mis les bouchées doubles pour mener la campagne alternance dans les meilleures conditions possibles, ce dispositif étant une passerelle essentielle vers l’emploi. En dehors de la fondation, je découvre tous les jours de nouvelles initiatives associatives : maraudes renforcées, paniers solidaires, initiatives collectives telles que « Inventons le Monde d’après » etc.

Ensuite, je vois une armée de bénévoles se lever, prête à combattre la crise par la solidarité : les bénévoles de la Fondation Mozaik se sont mobilisés davantage, de nombreux citoyens se sont engagés dans la réserve civique ou auprès d’associations locales. L’entraide s’est également organisée hors structures via des initiatives individuelles : coachings gratuits, cours et webinars en ligne, courses entre voisins. Une tendance de fonds s’est également confirmée chez les indépendants : l’alternance entre missions de conseil solidaires et missions plus traditionnelles. 

Enfin, beaucoup de pourvoyeurs de fonds et d’entreprises hors ESS se sont montrés à la hauteur de l’enjeu. Les partenaires de Mozaik ont maintenu voire renforcé leurs engagements et plus largement, de nombreuses entreprises se sont mobilisées au travers de dons et de mécénat de compétences à l’instar d’EDF, de Suez, de KPMG, Caisse d’Epargne et bien d’autres. 

Je crois sincèrement que ce changement est une tendance de fond et non une collection d’initiatives individuelles ou collectives éphémères et sporadiques. Pour ma part, je continuerai de planter des graines et d’essaimer pour contribuer à faire pousser cette forêt. 

Meryem Belqziz, MBA INSEAD 11D Advisor & Coach

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Créer l’étincelle

J'intervenais hier dans un collège comme Passeuse de Passion pour l'association Like Ton Job. Like Ton Job a pour mission de faire intervenir des professionnels dans des collèges des quartiers défavorisés afin qu'ils parlent de leur parcours, de leur métier et de leur passion dans le cadre d'ateliers interactifs.

Il est 16h, j'entre dans la classe et découvre 10 collégiens fatigués et avachis. Quand l'animatrice et moi initions un tour de table pour leur demander ce qu'ils aimeraient faire plus tard, ils regardent dans le vide, haussent les épaules ou baissent les yeux. A la question "qu'aimez vous faire ?", beaucoup répondent "manger" ou "dormir" et lorsque je leur présente mon parcours, le niveau d'énergie reste toujours aussi bas.

Je commence à me décourager. Comment créer le déclic ? Qu'est ce qui leur apporte de la joie ? Le mot joie résonne en moi et je pense soudain à l'outil ikigai ("joie de vivre" en japonais). L'ikigai permet de trouver sa raison d'être au croisement de ses compétences, ses passions, ce dont le monde a besoin et ce pourquoi on peut être payé.

Je décide d'adapter l'ikigai selon trois questions simples :

Nommez une activité ou matière dans laquelle vous êtes bons

Nommez une activité que vous aimez

Imaginez un métier à la croisée des deux

La dernière question fait l'objet d'un brainstorming de groupe et là, les collégiens atones s'animent, les mots fusent, les yeux pétillent et la magie opère :

"Tu sais dessiner et tu kiffes Will Smith ? T'as qu'à créer un manga sur Will Smith"

"Moi j'adore aider les autres et je suis bonne en maths. Je vais créer une association de soutien scolaire"

Après 10 minutes de brainstorming, les graines d'entrepreneurs ont des rêves plein la tête et commencent à se projeter et poser des questions sur les études pour y arriver. A la fin de l'atelier, ils partagent avec enthousiasme leurs métiers rêvés avec un second groupe qui a rencontré un autre passeur de passion.

Je les quitte à 17h, pleine de joie à mon tour d'avoir contribué à créer une étincelle et ravie d'avoir trouvé un outil simple que je vais utiliser dans mes prochains ateliers de coaching avec des jeunes et moins jeunes.

Meryem Belqziz, MBA INSEAD 11D Advisor & Coach

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Learn from refugees who became entrepreneurs and find out what you can do to support them

We recently engaged with various refugees and the organizations that were supporting them, particularly in the Netherlands, which is known to be a particularly friendly place and eco-system for those who have been forced to start over. 

The stories we uncovered were inspiring in and of themselves, in terms of the leadership traits that all these amazing survivors demonstrated, such as resilience, innovation, creativity, problem-solving, and more. However, above and beyond that, the encounter got us thinking: what more can we do as individuals and organizations, with regard to welcoming and valuing people into our teams, who may well have a contrasting mix of experience and learning, and who may not look like nor feel like our “typical” profiles, but whose diverse viewpoints could add value to what we do?  

And, moreover, what can each of us do to contribute more to a greater social cohesion?  The number of refugees or “displaced people” is growing every year, and will only increase even faster as we move through the Covid19 epoch. Almost every town and community is sheltering somebody or many people, who are trying to rebuild everything, including their careers.  How easy would it be for you to seek them out, and find out what you can do to support them?  It might be as simple as donating a set of pans and plates, but it could also be that you could support through mentoring, or making introductions, or just gently encouraging them.

Read, among others, the story of Tey, who fled a warzone and leveraged education to become the king of crypto, or the romantic saga of a couple from Syria who married before ever meeting and are now building a food business in Amsterdam.

We need to get past our preconceived notions of what a “professional” looks like, and open up more to the idea of the potential. The skills, attitudes, and experiences acquired along the way of the journey to freedom undertaken by such individuals are rich and countless.  What are you going to do to encourage them?

Claire Harbour, MBA INSEAD 92J

Coach

Antoine Tirard, MBA INSEAD 97D Talent Management Adviser, Leadership Consultant, Executive Coach and Author

Resource:  Article publié dans INSEAD Knowledge, avril 2020,

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Work from home vs. commuting: a simple environmental case for the extreme 8-hour video conference day

Lockdown workers use digital infrastructure to maintain their activity instead of commuting. If these digital habits are here to stay, what are their impact on the environment and especially greenhouse gas emissions compared to commuting?

A step aside: keys on greenhouse gas and climate change

A greenhouse gas (GHG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases are water vapor (H20), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and ozone (O3). The concentration of greenhouse gas in the atmosphère is linked to the global average temperature. There is scientific consensus that climate change is occurring and human-made CO2 emissions are predominantly causing it.

The warming power of the different gas as well as their persistence in the atmosphere are very different. Scientists have defined an equivalent between the different greenhouse gas and CO2. This way, greenhouse gas emissions can be expressed in one common unit, i.e., metric tonnes CO2 equivalent (t CO2e). CO2 has been chosen as it represents three-quarters of total greenhouse gas emissions released in the atmosphere each year.

It is always useful to have a few orders of magnitude in mind to put things in context. Common sense and experience teach you how much €1, €10, or €100 are worth or how many calories are required per day without putting on weight. However, we have hardly any references in our lives for greenhouse gas emissions.

Here are a few orders of magnitude

50 billion t CO2e are released worldwide each year by human activities  [1]

France emits 460 million t CO2e per year [2]

The total emission caused by the consumption of an average individual living in France (also known as carbon footprint) is 11 t CO2e [3]

A Paris New-York return flight is 2,6 t CO2e per person [4]

The average family car driving 15 000 km per year releases 3,3 tCO2e [5]

The key to the solution to climate change rests first and foremost in decreasing the number of emissions released into the atmosphere.

Individual carbon footprint should reach no more than 3,9 t CO2e by 2030 and 1,5 t CO2e by 2050 to maintain temperature increase below 2°C [6]

Digital services and GHG emissions

In our professional and personal life, we rely on digital services and devices a lot. The Covid-19 crisis reinforced the role of digital. Without the Internet and all the digital services, we would not be able to work remotely, keep contact with loved ones, exercise, study, and entertain ourselves.

Sustainability awareness in electronics is new. Although digital technology is invisible and looks “clean”, it relies on equipment that needs to be built, data centers and telecom networks that need electric power, end users equipment that needs to be recharged, and finally equipment that needs to be taken care of at the end of their lives.

As a result, the digital sector accounts for 3-4% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions [7]. This is already twice as much as the 2% emissions of civil aviation. Furthermore, it grows at 9% per annum, compared to 1,5% in all other sectors. Video streaming accounts for most of the traffic on the internet and GHG emissions.

The digital sector can be a leveraging tool in the ecological and energy transition provided it takes into account the same constraints as all other sectors and reduces its impact on the environment: energy and mineral resources scarcity, climate change and natural ecosystems vulnerability.

Homeworking vs. commuting

When going to the office, you may drive a car, take public transport or even ride your bike… With the exception of riding a bike or walking to the office, like the majority of human activities involving combustion, car commuting releases CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the Earth’s atmosphere contributing to the acceleration of global warming.

How does car commuting compares to an 8 hour online video conference day of an “extreme work-from-home”? Computing the impact of digital services is a difficult task. A rough estimate is shown in the graph below using simple assumptions and data from the Shift Project data repository [8]. Everything else being equal, this calculation shows that if you drive to work you have a much lesser GHG impact if you stay home and video conference all day unless you drive less than 0,1km in France, 1,8 km in the USA or 2,5 km in China. Estimation is based on a medium resolution video stream of 480p: the higher the video resolution the higher the resulting GHG emissions.

Countries show different results because their energy mix differs. For instance, France relies on nuclear electricity, low carbon energy for 76% of its electricity. China’s electricity is from coal (70%), a high carbon emission energy. This results in more emissions per each unit of electricity in China than in France.

This is a first-order analysis. To deepen the analysis, second-order phenomenons could be taken into account:

The analysis assumes that the video conferencing session is between persons in the same territory and that the service uses telecom and data center infrastructure in the same territory. As the Internet relies on a distributed architecture, this is only partly true.

If working from home means more equipment (computers, phones, servers…) in households and enterprises or causes indirect negative effects such as people deciding to live further away from work and shops, results have to be revisited to take into account the so-called “rebound effect”.

Digital transformation has the ability to reduce the commuting impact on GHG emissions by enabling work from home. However, negative impacts can be significant if not accounted for in a proper ecological transformation strategy. If you are interested in furthering the topic of digital transformation and the environment, there are more and more research and studies available, some of which are listed in the references below [7,9].

Corinne Bach, MBA INSEAD 05D Entrepreneur in ecological transition

This article was initially published here : https://www.transitionroute.com/work-from-home-vs-commuting-a-simple-environmental-case-for-the-extreme-8-hour-video-conference-day/

References

[1] Climate Data Explorer. 2017. Country Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. http://cait.wri.org

[2] Tableau de bord CITEPA https://www.citepa.org/fr/politique-ges/

[3] L’empreinte carbone by Commissariat Général au Développement Durable Services de la donnée et des études statistiques, April 2018 https://www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2019-01/document-travail-n%2038-empreinte%20carbone-avril-2018.pdf

[4] Computation from ADEME Base Carbone https://www.basecarbone.fr/fr/basecarbone/donnees-consulter/liste-element/categorie/191

[5] Computation from data from ADEME Base carbone https://www.basecarbone.fr/fr/basecarbone/donnees-consulter/liste-element/categorie/151

[6] Computation from population growth projection of UN https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population and 2°C pathway implying a 4% yearly decrease in global emissions

[7] The Shift Project, Lean ICT: towards digital sobriety, 2019 https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/lean-ict-our-new-report/

[8] Computation from The Shift Project Digital Environmental Repository data on video (10mn 1080p resolution video uses 100Wh of electricity), country electricity mix https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/lean-ict-our-new-report/, March 2019 and data traffic from 1080p and 480p resolution videos https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/How-Much-Data-Does-YouTube-Use

[9] The enablement effect: the impact of mobile communications technologies on carbon emission reductions, GSMA and Carbon Trust, 2019 https://www.gsma.com/betterfuture/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/GSMA_Enablement_Effect.pdf

[flash-impact-for-good]

EcoVadis: Shedding Light in Supply Chain Sustainability

Considered as a French “soonicorn,” EcoVadis is another successful INSEAD start-up, co-founded by Pierre-François Thaler (MBA INSEAD 99) and partner Frédéric Trinel in 2007. The business helps to bridge the information gap between corporates procurement and suppliers, focusing on extra-financial risk in the environment, social, and governance (ESG).

EcoVadis evaluates supplier ESG performance through a document audit and generates a ‘scorecard’ with the evaluation results. On the EcoVadis platform, suppliers can share the scorecard with client buyers within the EcoVadis network while buyers can monitor supplier’s performance in a user-friendly interface. The co-founders found the INSEAD network indispensable when looking for core members to build this venture – they found Sylvain Guyoton (MBA ’02) as the architect of the evaluation methodology and INSEAD Professor Luk Van Wassenhove as an advisor on the scientific committee.

According to an article by McKinsey & Company, a typical consumer company’s supply chain accounts for more than 80% of greenhouse-gas emissions and more than 90% of the impact on air, land, water, and geological resources. However, a survey by The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) found that less than one-fifth of the 1,700 respondents said they have a comprehensive view of their supply chains’ sustainability performance. EcoVadis aims to shed more light on their suppliers, while solve suppliers’ pain of answering numerous surveys and questionnaires on their ESG practices from different clients. 

Today, EcoVadis has grown into a global company with 600+ employees across 10 offices. Working with over 450 household brand names worldwide, the company has evaluated over 60,000 companies in 200 sectors and 155 countries, collectively accounting for more than US$1.5 trillion in procurement spend globally. After the company received a remarkable €200 million funding from CVC Growth Partners and minority investment from Bain & Company in early 2020, it expects to grow the number of evaluations exponentially. The co-founders credited their success to these main factors: laser-like focus on core business; flexible business model to accommodate market change; and forward-looking international expansion and offshoring strategy early on. 

Now, students can learn about EcoVadis in the classroom as an INSEAD business case on the company was published in January 2020. Hopefully, the case will inspire students to develop their own innovative business services or products to solve pressing sustainability issues our planet faces. 

Learn more about EcoVadis https://www.insead.edu/centres/the-hoffmann-global-institute-for-business-and-society/stories/INSEAD-and-ecovadis-two-decades-of-sustainability-in-business

Anne Nai-tien Huang, MBA INSEAD 19D Technology for Sustainability | Sustainability for Financial Performance

[flash-impact-for-good]

Stop going in circles

Taking circular economy innovation mainstream

Photo by Maxime Lebrun on Unsplash

Can you draw a perfect circle?

For centuries, children, artists, and mathematicians have strived to create a perfect circle by freehand.

Making the world circular is just as hard as drawing a perfect circle. And successfully executing and deploying such projects in an organization is hard too. But the win can be big for those that get it right — as well as for everyone and everything around them.

At its core, the circular economy promotes waste prevention, less pollution (and polluting processes), reuse of materials, and the regeneration of natural systems. Its principles can also be applied to products and services, business models, and economic systems.

In fact, a 2015 study found that a circular economy model could boost Europe’s productivity by 3 percent by 2030, saving €600 billion a year. Companies like Philips have already embraced circular solutions, such as reclaiming all used customer goods to be carbon-neutral.

Still, circular has struggled to go mainstream.

But things are changing. Here is how:

Finding form

Circular meets Design

The circular design is where the circular economy and design [thinking] intersect. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), a voice of authority in the circular economy space, has partnered with IDEO to develop the Circular Design Guide. The guide combines the best of circular economy thought-leadership with the finest in design and innovation to provide designers a structured method for incorporating the principles of the circular economy in their work.

Then, circular design meets software

So, how do you draw the perfect circle?

A compass produces the best circles. And it can do it over and over again.

Comparably, adopting and managing circular design at scale in organizations requires the right tools.

NEXT is that compass.

“There’s a world of opportunity to rethink and redesign the way we make stuff.” — Ellen MacArthur Foundation

NEXT, the digitally-guided business design platform is pioneering circular design in a new form. The Circular Design Guide, developed by IDEO and Ellen MacArthur Foundation, is now available in the NEXT marketplace. Teams can tap the best of circular design methods directly in the context of their innovation and business transformation projects.

“Software Is Eating the World” wrote Marc Andreessen in his famous essay in The Wall Street Journal. As our planet sprints towards an uncertain future, organizations will benefit from an actionable, repeatable, and scalable approach to circular design:

End-to-end coverage from Idea-to-Market: NEXT covers the end-to-end scope of circular design projects. It lets organizations capture, nurture, and prioritize the early-stage opportunities. And supports the complete scope of a circular design project that converts the early-stage opportunities into validated and vetted propositions ready for implementation.

Designed for globally-distributed and remote teams: We live in a global economy with supply chains spanning the world. NEXT’s digitally-guided circular design process, and its platform partnerships with the likes of Miro and Zoom, allows distributed teams to work together effectively. Teams spend less time with logistics and traveling, and more time innovating, transforming, and designing what really matters.

Faster time-to-market of circular propositions: Rooted in the principles and best practices of the circular design, NEXT let’s product managers, purchasers, or marketers innovate and transform as the best innovators do. Making the planet better in the timeframes proposed will require everyone to chip in — and I mean everyone. By keeping circular projects on track and teams productive, NEXT will expedite our collective ability to rethink our offerings faster. And accelerate our time towards saving our planet.

People, planet, and profit

Democratizing circular design has a real impact on the world. It brings a user-centric method that makes the world better for people. It hard-wires a process that protects the planet as a resource. And it creates differentiated business models that make profits.

Adopting circular design has never been easier and more relevant for corporates, nonprofits, or public sector organizations. For example, Amsterdam has put circularity at the heart of its post-Covid strategy. The city is adopting the circular economy model that Kate Raworth from Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute explains in her 2017 bestselling book, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist.

“When suddenly we have to care about climate, health, and jobs, housing, care, and communities, is there a framework around that can help us with all of that?” Raworth says. “Yes there is, and it is ready to go.”

In the same respect that business design is a crucial part of good business, circular design is an essential part of better business.

The future looks circular. Expect to see many people designing many perfect circles.

Moodi Mahmoudi, MBA INSEAD 11D CEO & Co-founder, NEXT

[flash-impact-for-good]

“You’ve come a long way, baby”

This slogan, “You’ve come a long way, baby”, was splashed across the glossy magazines of my youth, vaunting women’s progress – via their rights to consume products that had once been reserved for men only. The issue of women’s progress in the business world is another debate entirely: the proverbial glass sometimes seems to be filling gradually (e.g. , according to the French secretary of state in charge of equality between men and women, women held 45,2% of positions on SBF120 management boards in 2019); but the glass moves slowly at the top (21,4% of positions in Exco or equivalent). And these broad numbers hide huge disparities. As mentioned by Guy Le Pechon, MBA INSEAD 69, head of Gouvernance et Structure, and a data specialist on equality between men and women, three corporations among the CAC 40 don’t have any woman at their Exco; and only one reaches the ratio of 40% for this entity.

Yet forward movement is undeniable. I would like to offer here a random walk through some 15 years of experience designing, delivering, and observing initiatives to strengthen the representation of women in companies. Along the way, the useful question I hope to explore is what we have learned about fostering gender balance, and how these insights may help us move further down the road towards greater gender balance. 

When several large French companies signed the “Charte de la Diversité” in 2004, our Head of Human Resources asked me to develop a program that would support women’s career development in the organization. I looked at the market to see what was available and was struck by the way that many training firms seemed to assume that women had to be “fixed”, taught to overcome “weaknesses”, or trained in more masculine behavior. This did not feel right – how could we “strengthen” our pools of female talent by focusing on what women might be “doing wrong”? We chose instead to tackle the issue indirectly: I set up a training program led by a specialist in career management for high potentials – a brilliant older man. “Female issues” were never addressed directly in the program – it just so happened that all the (very interesting and carefully selected) participants in each session were women. (What we didn’t know then was that in this way successfully avoided triggering a dangerous unconscious bias about women’s competence, sending instead the message that anyone, and of course women, could benefit from enhancing their career management skills). My first learning: don’t “fix” people who aren’t “broken” – build their strengths. 

Interestingly, it was a member of what one could call the “old guard” – a highly successful gentleman in a very powerful job – who made another significant contribution to levelling the playing field. “We have lots of women entering the pipeline,” he told me, “but after a first role, the men all ask to lead a sales team, while the women want to move into marketing – jobs do not give them line management responsibility and credibility.” To counter this, he carefully mapped and measured something which had previously been intuitive: what were the key career steps that opened the way up the corporate ladder, and where relative to those steps were the pools of female talent? The corporate “ladder” actually looked more like a vertical maze; often several steps along a same level were necessary before one could climb to the next rung on the ladder. But like any maze, it was easy to get lost. Second learning: By providing clear experienced-based information about the critical steps on any given level, this gentleman basically “injected information” into the career management process – not to tell women what to do with their careers, but to offer more effective advice, starting early on. 

Driving for more women in management eventually began to provoke some pushback: some male colleagues would quietly ask me, “Do I have a future in this organization? Will there always be a woman ahead of me on the promotion list?” Hearing men share such concerns troubled me: if you are promoting a worthy idea and yet generating a sense of unfairness, then the idea needs to be reviewed – not rejected or reduced in ambition, but re-examined. This is when we clearly understood that we had to change not only the way that women looked at themselves in the organization, but also how the organization looked at its people. 

A conversation at a conference on diversity with a woman who held a very senior position in her organization gave me additional insight. Asked about her success, she pointed to the “pairs of eyes” that had watched her work over the years and could vouch for her. It was as though her capabilities had to be cross-checked – which was of course equally true for her male colleagues, who intuitively moved around and got themselves “seen” by several potential sponsors. Long before “sponsorship” became a popular concept, she had realized that it was easier for one person to say, “She is ready for the next job!” if someone else could back up the statement. 

Waiting for this to happen through multiple-year job rotations, we realized, would take much too long. Then I encountered a talent manager in a small financial services organization who had crafted a clever process to respond to precisely this issue: he organized “walkabouts” for talented individuals, setting up a series of meetings for each with high-level executives who might never meet that young woman (or man) until it came time to make a key staffing decision – which was too late. By putting rising potentials in front of senior management, this talent manager was transforming them from names on a CV to real humans whom the senior executives could get to know. Again, this practice plays to our human nature – no amount of data on a page can replace the power of what we learn from interacting with someone. This learning could be called, “you have to be seen to be believed”. 

Despite the value of all these approaches, these actions remain focused on shifting individual mindsets. At some point, on a topic as complex as gender balance, institutions, not just individuals, need to change. And I still did not have the answer to my vague discomfort, my concern that some people felt our efforts to level the playing field were potentially unfair. 

Interestingly, it was ideas from INSEAD research, adopted into our organization, that gave us some of the keys. Most INSEADers are familiar with Kim and Mauborgne’s work on “fair process” – the concept that a fair, well-run decision-making process will lead to better acceptance of the outcome, even by those who do not obtain what they want. This work made its way into our organization: the “fair process”, in which all the voices relevant to a decision were heard and considered before that decision was made, became institutionalized as an essential feature of our people management. A fundamental part of the fair process is feedback: because it embraces the full variety of perspectives on a topic or a person, the process makes it possible to provide feedback to the person, so that the individual can continue to learn and grow. Next learning: good process and good feedback confirm that both your intentions and your decisions are fair. 

In 2018, INSEAD celebrated 50 years of women at the school and hosted a Summit to showcase research from its Gender Initiative. One presentation by Ivana Naumovska, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, particularly caught my attention. She had performed meta-analysis of multiple diversity initiatives across companies and sectors and had teased out lessons about what did and did not work. 

The two areas identified as having greatest positive impact were mentoring programs and network-building initiatives: mentoring because it enabled the participants to understand the rules of the game, how their organization really worked (this was true for both mentees and their mentors), and network-building because it cultivated awareness in the individuals of what opportunities – for jobs, projects, useful partnerships, and even just information sharing – were available across their organizations, especially outside their silos. I was pleased to see these conclusions: they were an academic validation of the intuition which had led us to set up mentoring and networking for communities (not just individuals). In other words, by creating groups of mentors or mentees and getting them to coach each other on how to take up these roles, we let people see that this was simply part of “how we do things around here”. Next lesson: if you want to change institutions, not just individuals, give people shared responsibility to build something new together. 

Beyond creating “institutions” that support diversity, what has emerged over time is a culture shift. In the way we pursue gender balance, we are really striving to make good use of the organization’s talent to adapt to changing organizational needs. There are ongoing challenges: how well do all these changes resist a major economic crisis, or a corporate reorganization? As we move out of a public health crisis and towards a difficult economic situation, we need to remain vigilant about topics like diversity. Looking further ahead, I wonder how the “recipes” described above will stand the test of time. Traditional management is being replaced by agile tribes, collectively-managed feature teams, and networked organizations. Millennials have shifting expectations about the meaning of work. What will be the secrets to career success for women (and men) in the organizations of the future? Time will tell, but it is a safe bet that attention to individual mindsets and corporate culture will remain key.  

Jocelyn Phelps, MBA INSEAD 93D Program Director, Leadership and Organization Development at Société Générale

[flash-impact-for-good]

“Collaboration is the System Change” Developing advanced and sophisticated collaborations is needed to tackle the societal challenges of our century

The need for more collaboration to create value in a complex world

Photo by Darrel

Blue Ocean strategies have considerably helped companies move beyond a world of aggressive competition; as a consequence, their frontiers, formally considered as essential strongholds, are blurring. It enables the most mature ones to even develop further and increase their ability to create value by implementing unexpected multi-stakeholder collaborations. 

Meanwhile, the world faces a number of unprecedented social and environmental challenges. As most of the underlying issues are not stand-alone situations, they should be seen as wicked problems with several interdependencies playing out. Our capacity to bridge our differences and to develop new levels of collaboration actually represents one of the biggest opportunities to tackle such complex challenges and deliver systemic change.

It is already visible in the creation of more and more collaborative actions on a local, regional, national and international scale. And if anything, Covid 19 only increased the trend, with initiatives such as the impressive work between an Italian hospital, a research institute, a 3D FabLab and the sports giant Decathlon, who together transformed snorkeling masks into emergency ventilators in a weeks’ time. 

Collaborating is complex: 5 typical barriers

Progress has been made to understand the intricacies of collaboration but there is still a long way to go the reach an adequate level of sophistication. There is an overall agreement that collaboration is tough, and consequently that it takes more time but, when it succeeds, it creates more value. 

There are different types of collaborations, they are at different stages, with different needs and solutions, and they cover a whole spectrum of objectives, formats and opportunities. Despite those differences, 5 typical barriers are generally observed: 

Strong focus on own interest from each partner;

Stakeholder dominance, often from 1 direct partner who brings in most of the resources of the collaboration, which often results in resistance and distrust from other vital key players;

Insufficient resources: funding, organizational capacity, specific collaboration expertise to bring the collaboration to the next level; this often results in the decreasing commitment of the partners already pretty soon in the process

Too homogeneous group (‘us knows us’) which limits access to complementary perspectives & resources;

Collaboration speeding into action, taking insufficient time to develop the collaboration in depth (e.g. build trust, develop shared values) which can result in time-consuming tensions later on.

Moving towards more sophisticated collaborations

Lessons from existing collaborative initiatives are being collected and some early best practices are being defined, to overcome the typical barriers: 

Partners must pay (much) more attention to the collaborative process. When the collaboration is still emerging, or when it enters a new phase, an independent trusted facilitator can help focus on that process. Without such support, it has been noticed that the failure rate of emerging collaborations is much higher. 

Each collaboration is unique, and it is wicked, but polyphony (i.e. diversity of partners) makes all the difference. Partners must therefore be aware of their blind spots and unlearn to follow the lead of the usual suspects (i.e. the players who are the most visible, successful, privileged, visible, etc.), in order to listen instead to the unheard voices. 

Time is not money: building an effective collaboration takes time; rushing into action often leads to roadblocks along the way. In a world that considers speed and efficiency as some kind of Graal, it is tough to let go and to follow a pace that is set by the lowest common denominator of each partners’ speed at any point in time. But collaboration success depends on it. 

Trust is the cornerstone of any collaborative project. It is the very first lesson that INSEAD teaches MBA students. From the first day, students are ‘forced’ into fixed unlikely (highly polyphonic) study groups and throughout the first terms, they learn to collaborate until social, cultural, professional differences don’t matter anymore but instead become an asset to deliver better value. In any collaboration, partners must learn to build high level of trust, which requires step by step commitments. It begins by knowing each other intimately and by taking some distance from own interest. Partners then can start aligning their purpose and develop shared values. 

If the world needs more collaboration between polyphonic partners, we, INSEAD alumni, are best prepared for developing a strong and sophisticated collaborative ecosystem. As our dean, Ilian Mihov, said: “If not now, when? If not us, who?”

Marion Pelletier, MBA INSEAD 08J Co-founder, The Pond & The Waterfalls

[flash-impact-for-good]

Sustainable Fashion and the case for Made-To-Order, customizable items

Googling “Sustainable fashion” yields 8.5 million results. So quite a relevant topic today. And it touches on both environmental and ethical labor considerations.

Environmental and labor practices considerations in the fashion industry

The fashion industry is considered as one of the most environmentally challenging ones. If either the 2nd most polluting industry in the world [1,2] after oil or the fourth-worst in terms of environmental impacts after housing, mobility, and food [3], it does not really matter much. 

When nearly 20% of global wastewater is produced by the fashion industry [5] and 20,000 liters is the amount of water needed to produce one kilogram of cotton, equivalent to a single t-shirt and pair of jeans [6] the environmental case is hard to miss. 

Every year more than 150 billion (and rising) garments are produced, equivalent to 20 new items per person [2]. 

With fast fashion clothes worn on average 5 times and kept for only 35 days (vs. 10 times for the average garment [7]) and, as an example, the average American disposing on average of 35kg of clothing per year [2], it is no surprise that about half of the purchased items are thrown away within one year only [7]. 

Also, some high-end brands send unsold items directly to incineration for fear of brand equity dilution.

On top of it, additional waste comes from transforming raw materials into fabrics, with cotton alone being the world’s single largest pesticide-consuming crop, using 24% of all insecticides and 11% of all pesticides globally [5], while another 15% of waste is left on the factory floor at the time of cutting [8].

As for labor conditions of those involved in the manufacturing of apparel and shoes, it would simply suffice to recall the tragedy of Rana Plaza [10] and how far we still are from equitable and fair labor practices even ten years later.

A more sustainable way forward, 

Fortunately, positive initiatives toward more sustainable fashion have been blossoming.

On the environmental side, recycling, rental clothes, pre-owned are words becoming increasingly common. However, all of this is no easy solution. Recycling is easier said than done; only 1% of items are actually recycled into new garments. Renting garments can apply to a few items but not to every-day basics. Buying pre-owned ones can marginally extend the lifetime of only durable enough garments and do not appeal to the vast majority of consumers.

On the labor side, despite the many initiatives announced to provide better working conditions in developing countries, the incentives to cut corners are still high as labor is a major cost item in the fashion industry.

An even better model: Made-To-Order + Customization 

Think of the following: a garment or a pair of shoes made-to-order, based on customer’s specs and crafted by workers being fairly paid to create long-lasting items in a country with solid labor laws. In one shot, no more overproduction and the pollution that goes with it (only what is ordered is actually produced), no more mass-produced items not matching market demand ending up in incineration facilities or landfills, no more waste associated with items not being worn or worn only a few times, no more labor exploitation, no more items that fall apart after being worn only a few times.

Matteo Altobelli, MBA INSEAD 98D Co-founder & Partner, Tilden

Article initially published here: https://www.jclutz.com/en/jc-lutz-world/2019/3/15/a-quick-guide-to-choosing-a-new-pair-of-sneakers-ak2cl-m2sc8-baerg

Sources:

[1] The Economist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko_BZhIpI1Q 

[2] Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2015/12/03/making-climate-change-fashionable-the-garment-industry-takes-on-global-warming/#78e7f25279e4 

[3] WRAP, 2017, Banbury, Mapping clothing impacts in Europe: the environmental cost, prepared by Sarah Gray http://www.ecap.eu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Mapping- clothing-impacts-in-Europe.pdf 

[4] Permanent Style https://www.permanentstyle.com/2019/05/how-sustainable-is-luxury-bespoke-clothing.html?mc_cid=f646c6eb5a&mc_eid=b7989a9f72  

[5] UN [United Nations Partnership on Sustainable Fashion and the SDG’s]

[6] WWF https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/cotton 

[7] GFA https://globalfashionagenda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/GFA17_Call-to-action_Poluc-brief_FINAL_9May.pdf   

[8] EDGE https://edgexpo.com/fashion-industry-waste-statistics/# 

[9] European Parliament  https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/633143/EPRS_BRI(2019)633143_EN.pdf 

[10] Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Dhaka_garment_factory_collapse  

[11] GFA https://globalfashionagenda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pulse-of-the-Fashion-Industry_2017.pdf 

[12] Traid.org https://traid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/impacts_of_clothing_factsheet_23percent.pdf

[flash-impact-for-good]

Empowering people for the ecological transition / leisure

Photo by Alena Koval

A few months ago, following a conference on the prospects and challenges of the tourism and cultural sectors - before COVID-19 -, I asked myself the question about what would be an ideal world for me today: a world without problems of food, energy, transport, with an abundance of biodiversity and without pollution. That would be beautiful and perfect! It was a dream!

I woke up and saw around me that people, for the most part, shared this ideal, but they also found -like I did-, that there was a big gap between this ideal universe and reality, and this despite the announcements and promises made by the authorities, governments, businesses, political parties, international organizations, ....

Most people are dissatisfied with the current situation and want to act in favor of environmental protection. It is ultimately the citizens of this world that will really make the difference. It is indeed for each individual to fight his/her own battle against climate change.

This is how and why ZeroCC was born: to get into action by giving people the ability to offset his/her carbon footprint related to the leisure activities he/she has decided to engage in. It could be a visit to the museum, an exhibition in a National Monument, or a sporting event in his/her hometown.

Everyday established and new companies are providing services to governments and corporations in the area of energy efficiency and carbon footprint calculation and offsets. Methodologies exist and they are deployed at large. At the level of the individual smartphone, apps are flooding the digital space providing carbon compensation services.

In ZeroCC we believe a third way could prove complementary to those mentioned above and result in larger and faster benefits in the fight against climate change. Our focus is on leisure activities, namely those involving culture, arts, and sports.

Our vision calls for a society in which every person will manage its own environmental footprint, be it carbon, biodiversity or waste.

“Give us the tools and we will do the job” said Sir Winston Churchill. ZeroCC sees it as its mission to provide digital and collaborative tools that will make the ecological transition a reality for each person.

Our first service concerns climate change.

ZeroCC stands for “zero-carbon, certified” how does it work?

All leisure activity institutions are aware that the sustainability of the business needs to be aligned with the sustainability efforts made all around them. They are increasingly aware of their energy consumption, they make energy efficiency efforts a “must do” in their priorities and will inevitably translate the result of the above into a carbon footprint. At some point, all of them will have carbon targets.

By calculating the carbon footprint generated by an average visitor, we can propose to all visitors the possibility to fund the compensation of such a carbon footprint equivalent at the time of booking or purchasing a ticket online, in a seamless transaction and as part of the ordinary e-ticketing process.

In this way the customer is empowered to manage his/her own carbon footprint; he/she becomes effectively engaged in the fight against climate change and the leisure activity institutions to pursue their zero-carbon trajectories.

Events, culture, sport, and leisure activities create positive emotions for visitors or spectators that we can engage in the fight against climate change. This is a market of 300 million visits per year in France and more than 3 billion visits per year worldwide.

We created ZeroCC in early 2020, we have established key partnerships and are starting our commercial campaign in July.

Stay tuned for more news on ZeroCC!

Cesar Ortiz Sotelo, MBA INSEAD 85D Founding Partner, HALLCROSS PARTNERS

[flash-impact-for-good]

A world tour of innovations for urban bicycle riding

Image from S. Hermann & F. Richter

This article travels the world to see how cities, companies, and start-ups are fostering the use of bicycles for personal transportation and delivery of goods.

We are gradually getting out from quarantine, getting around on errands, and commuting back to work. Riding a bicycle is a good alternative to respect physical distancing while getting back in shape after several weeks of staying at home.

This time may be a chance for an environmentally friendly mode of transportation to strive in busy cities. Still, there are many issues to address: public space availability, safety, comfort, maintenance, and parking. Let’s see how different parts of the world are tackling these issues.

Environmental benefits

Freight and personal transportation is responsible for 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions [1]. Environmentally, a bicycle is a symbol of decarbonized transportation and sustainable cities. Bicycles are an eco-friendly means of transportation that requires no fossil fuels.

As an energy-efficient form of transportation, bicycle uses renewable human power in the most efficient way compared to other alternatives to move people and product from point A to point B: there are no greenhouse gas emissions emitted per km on a bike compared to 220g of CO2eq per km in a car [2].

Safe bike lanes

Cycling is an efficient way of using scarce space in urban areas. However, governments and cities have been struggling to give more space to bicycles. This is a chicken and egg problem. There are not enough bicycles to reserve them space and there are not enough bike lanes for bike riding to go mainstream.

Now everything has changed. Many cities across the world have created additional dedicated bike lanes post Covid-19.  

The UK government has put forward a £2 billion package to foster cycling and walking. Pop-up bike lanes with protected space for cycling, safer junctions, and cycle and bus-only corridors will be created.

Bogota, the capital city of Columbia stands 12th in 2019 Copenhagenize index, which ranks bicycle-friendly cities. Bogota has extended its formerly Sunday only Ciclovia program to all days of the week and added 80 km of bike lanes to its 550 km of existing ones.

In New York City, officials have announced that up to 100 miles of streets will have extended bike lanes and sidewalks.

There are precautions cyclists need to adhere to in order to make their commute as safe and stress-free as possible: knowing the route in advance, being alert of the environment, putting a helmet on, wearing reflective clothing, and having appropriate lighting to be seen on the road.

Secured parking

Where and how can you confidently park your bicycle knowing it will not be stolen, or damaged by weather, and will not disturb pedestrian traffic? Parking is indeed also an issue. The cities are struggling to keep up with the demand and manage sometimes anarchic parking.

In the Netherlands, a giant bike parking facility is conveniently located directly next to Utrecht Central Station, Stationsplein. It caters space for 12,500 bikes.

Automated underground bicycle parking systems are popular in China and Japan. The machinery frees up space on the surface. One system can hold 200 bikes.  To see it working, watch this “futuristic” video.

When you can’t park or when you want to travel longer distances, you may take your bike with you in a bus or a train. This can prove difficult in busy public transit. The region of Seattle has found a solution. Bikes can be installed at the front of buses.

Bicycles on buses in Seattle

Access to bikes

First things first. You need a bike. There are many ways to get one, from buying to rental or leasing.

Most large cities now have bike rental services. Rental systems can be with fixed stations or dockless, whereby bikes can be left anywhere.

Itaú’by Tembici in São Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Santiago or Velib by Smovengo in Paris both provide traditional and electric bikes. Riders park them at pre-defined spaces in bike stations.

Free Float bike rental has suffered from theft and damage. Few are still operating. Among them Dott in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Poland, Mobike in China.

Tembici bike stations in São Paulo

Electric bicycles or e-bikes participate in making bike mainstream. Less effort is needed to drive longer distances or carry stuff and you can stay fresh after riding your bike. However, electric bikes come at a hefty price compared to traditional ones: €500 to €3000 for an electric bike compared to as low as €200 for a traditional one.

Leasing models make electric bikes more affordable. Such a model is rolled out by the Dutch company, Swapfiets in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. For €75 per month, you get an electric bike of your own with the additional benefit of including repair and maintenance.

Repair and maintenance

The rental and leasing models leave the hassle of repairing and maintaining to the lessor or the rental company: a big advantage. Repairing a flat tire, adjusting brakes or derailleur, or tightening the chains are common tasks of the everyday cyclist. They are not easy when you are not into “do it yourself” or are not equipped with the proper tools (and need to stay clean in your business attire).

Going to the nearest bike shop is an obvious choice. Alternatively, you may rely on online platform that puts you in contact with a technician that comes and repairs your bike at your place. Cyclofix or Repair and Run are such services operating in major cities in France.

Bikes for all needs

Bikes, once all similar now come in very different shapes to cater to various needs:  design and performance, delivery of goods, kid transportation, and city commuting.

The number of electric bike firms is growing. High-end ones compete on design and functionalities.

Angell bikes come with a secured system against theft and modern and slick design.

One of the models of Moustache Bikes provides an ultra-low stepover frame that makes it easy to get on and off the saddle at each red light in the town.

Vanmoof bikes include automatic electronic gear shifting and integrated anti-theft technology.

A removable battery built seamlessly into the frame is Cowboys bikes’ signature detail.

In addition to these high-end electric bikes, you can find cargo bikes designed to transport children, carry your groceries or deliver a product to e-commerce customers: to name a few Italian Measy, French Douze Cycles, Dutch Urban Arrow or California based Yuba bikes.

Finally, folding bikes such as those of British Brompton are useful if you have limited storage place. It also makes multi-modal transportation possible.

Bikes at the office

Riding a bike to work is what 62% of Copenhagen citizens do every day. Without the appropriate infrastructure at work (parking space, storage space, showers, bike-friendly culture), it can be hard to change habits.  Luckily, more and more employers are working hard to foster bike commuting, a more reliable, healthy, and environmentally friendly alternative to driving.

Companies may provide for a bike fleet in addition to or replacement to a car fleet.  Start-ups have emerged to help organizations set-up and manage such fleets such as the French  Zenride or Green On.

Beyond cities

Innovation and progress are happening all over the world to foster bike riding as a mode of transportation.

Give it a try. Riding a bike brings back a sense of freedom to a daily commute. No need to have the exotic expensive bikes and gear to be a cyclist. In addition, a bike will help you rediscover the joy of stepping out of the door and exploring your surroundings like the breathtaking roads of Cormet de Roselend.

Corinne Bach, MBA INSEAD 05D Entrepreneur in ecological transition

Recap of innovations

References

[1] Fifth assessment report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2014, summary for Policymakers, and technical summary.

[2] There are different greenhouse gas. Their warming power as well as their persistence in the atmosphere are very different. Scientists have defined an equivalent between the different greenhouse gas and CO2. This way, greenhouse gas emissions can be expressed in one common unit, i.e., gram CO2 equivalent (g CO2eq). CO2 has been chosen as it represents three-quarters of total greenhouse gas emissions released in the atmosphere each year.

This article was posted in June 2020 on Transition Route - Ecological transition blog for resilient businesses