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Positainability: Innovation for doing good and avoiding bad
Ulrich Lichtenthaler • 7. Juli 2022
Positainability – or positive sustainability – is defined in a recent article as the combination of doing good and avoiding bad to arrive at innovative solutions.
The distinction of doing good and avoiding bad is well accepted in the literature about sustainability and corporate social responsibility. This is also described in detail in my recent Journal of Business Strategy article
entitled ‘Why being sustainable Is not enough: Embracing a net positive impact’. In this article, I have tried to broaden the typical understanding of sustainability among many executives and managers towards a more positive perspective beyond avoiding harm.
Doing good and avoiding bad
Specifically, the article abstract includes the following definition of positainability or positive sustainability as “the combination of doing good and avoiding bad to arrive at innovative solutions for achieving a ‘net positive impact’ in the core business rather than merely targeting ‘no net loss’ by reducing harm for the environment and society.” Thus, the concept of positainability highlights innovation opportunities that may result from combining the creation of new value with avoiding harm for the environment and society.
In the article, this perspective is explicated in more detail: “If one particular activity is considered, doing good may be regarded as the positive section of a single dimension from avoiding bad to doing good. If a firm with many different activities is considered, however, doing good and avoiding bad may be regarded as two different dimensions. These two dimensions are not necessarily fully independent, but firms generally may score high in doing good in one activity, while only trying to reduce substantial harm in other activities.”
Doing good and avoiding bad
Specifically, the article abstract includes the following definition of positainability or positive sustainability as “the combination of doing good and avoiding bad to arrive at innovative solutions for achieving a ‘net positive impact’ in the core business rather than merely targeting ‘no net loss’ by reducing harm for the environment and society.” Thus, the concept of positainability highlights innovation opportunities that may result from combining the creation of new value with avoiding harm for the environment and society.
In the article, this perspective is explicated in more detail: “If one particular activity is considered, doing good may be regarded as the positive section of a single dimension from avoiding bad to doing good. If a firm with many different activities is considered, however, doing good and avoiding bad may be regarded as two different dimensions. These two dimensions are not necessarily fully independent, but firms generally may score high in doing good in one activity, while only trying to reduce substantial harm in other activities.”
Positainability opportunities
Unrealized positainability opportunities
As such, the article describes four different types of business activities. These four ideal types are illustrated in the figure above (which is not part of the article).
- Established business activities refer to business activities without a particular focus on doing good or avoiding bad with respect to environment and social aspects.
- Corporate social responsibility programs have sometimes focused on strategic topics in firms’ core business, but they often have concentrated on doing good in relatively isolated ways.
- Traditional sustainability initiatives, in contrast, have often focused on reducing unsustainability in the firms’ core business by avoiding harm to the environment and society.
- Unrealized positainability opportunities can often be found even in companies that are considered as sustainability leaders, and they refer to achieving a ‘net positive impact’ beyond aiming at ‘no net loss’ in the core business.
As sustainability and ESG are on top of many firms’ strategic agendas, there is a growing need for specialized trainings, workshops, and keynotes.
Nachhaltigkeit und ESG stehen bei vielen Unternehmen ganz oben auf der Tagesordnung, daher wächst der Bedarf an spezialisierten Schulungen, Workshops und Vorträgen.
ChatGPT und generative KI werden uns nicht überflüssig machen – auch wenn die aktuelle Berichterstattung genau diesen Eindruck erweckt. ChatGPT hat uns allen verdeutlicht, wie schnell sich manche Felder künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) aktuell weiterentwickeln. Auch wenn einige dieser Entwicklungen schon seit Jahren erwartet wurden, ist die Geschwindigkeit vieler Verbesserungen selbst für manche ExpertInnen erstaunlich. Der aktuelle offene Brief des Future of Life Institute, der von über 1.000 Personen unterzeichnet wurde, ist daher grundsätzlich nachvollziehbar. Darin wird insbesondere auf die Risiken von KI hingewiesen und eine sechsmonatige Pause für das Trainieren leistungsfähiger KI-Lösungen gefordert. Eine ausreichende Beachtung der Risiken von KI ist unbedingt erforderlich, auch wenn die aktuelle Berichterstattung dazu oft zu kurz greift. Noch erstaunlicher ist aus betriebswirtschaftlicher Sicht jedoch das Medienecho der letzten Wochen und Monate zu den Auswirkungen von KI auf die Arbeitswelt, das sowohl in klassischen Medien als auch bei Social Media zu beobachten war. Dort wird häufig gefragt, ob wir als Menschen noch schlau genug sind im Vergleich zur KI. Auch wird diskutiert, ob KI künftig die meisten Führungskräfte ersetzen wird. Besonders oft steht also wieder einmal die Frage im Mittelpunkt, wie viele Personen durch KI ihren Job verlieren werden. Diese Frage ist auf den auf den ersten Blick vielleicht nachvollziehbar, weil durch KI-basierte Automatisierung in den nächsten Jahren tatsächlich in nennenswertem Umfang Jobs verloren gehen werden. Insbesondere werden auch solche Büro-Jobs betroffen sein, die bisher noch nicht automatisiert werden konnten. Dadurch sind mit offensiven Schlagzeilen sicherlich hohe Klickzahlen zu erreichen. Außerdem werden auch Arbeitsplätze in der Medienbranche automatisiert werden, wodurch sich die Berichterstattung zusätzlich erklären lässt. Integrierte Intelligenz strategisch oft wichtiger als eigenständige KI Dennoch wird viel zu oft ein einseitiger Schwerpunkt gelegt und damit auch ein falscher Eindruck vermittelt. Der wirklich entscheidende Teil der Entwicklung für die meisten Unternehmen und ebenso für die meisten Arbeitskräfte liegt in der Kombination von KI mit menschlicher Arbeit – und eben gerade nicht in der vollständigen Automatisierung von Jobs durch KI. In den letzten Jahren kamen verschiedenen Studien immer wieder zu ähnlichen Ergebnissen. Der Grundtenor ist dahingehend identisch, dass sich deutlich mehr Jobs verändern werden als komplett wegzufallen (vor allem, wenn die Zahl der Arbeitsplätze berücksichtigt wird, die durch KI zusätzlich entstehen). Diese Kombination von menschlicher mit künstlicher Intelligenz wird auch als integrierte Intelligenz bezeichnet.
Despite the massive attention to sustainability and ESG, many firms still underestimate the opportunities for innovation beyond reducing CO2 emissions.
The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY goes beyond traditional sustainability, and it refers to developing innovative solutions for a ‘net positive impact’. What is the GREEN GRASS STRATEGY? The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY is a sustainability strategy that focuses on innovation and new business opportunities rather than limiting sustainability programs to resource efficiency and the optimization of established processes. As such, the GREEN GRASS STRATEGY goes beyond traditional sustainability concepts that often focus on avoiding harm (no net loss) to consider positive sustainability and to embrace doing good (net positive impact). The GREEN GRASS STRATEGY enables you to leverage sustainability for innovation and value generation, and it can be systematically developed with the SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION MAP , which helps firms to achieve a competitive advantage by systematically pursuing sustainability innovations in all ESG dimensions – environment, social, and governance.
Generation Z – and what is next? Many of today’s students are ‘sustainable natives’ and expect companies to make a positive contribution to solving ecological and social problems. In an international survey of more than 27,000 people, GlobeScan found in 2020 that for 60% of younger participants, climate change and social inequality are top priorities, combined with the expectation that companies should contribute to solving these challenges. Very importantly, the young generation expects positainability , i.e. making a positive contribution and not just reducing negative effects of doing business, for example by reducing CO2 emissions. To implement this positive sustainability approach, companies would need to pursue a GREEN GRASS STRATEGY . So far, however, many companies are hardly prepared for the future changes due to the ideas of those persons that will be starting their careers in the next few years. In fact, this new generation of ‘sustainable natives’ presents new challenges and opportunities for companies (as I have explained in more detail in a recent article in the Haufe Personalmagazin ). In particular, the following typical perspectives of this ‘Generation PI’ – Positive Impact – have to be considered. 1. Sustainable natives Many current students are ‘sustainable natives’ because they perceive sustainability as a core topic since their early youth. In contrast to the extensive public discussions about ‘digital natives’, the role of ‘sustainable natives’ has been mostly ignored so far. 2. Doubtful prospects Typical for ‘Generation PI’ are doubts whether their future standard of living will remain as good as their current situation and as the life of their parents, especially due to climate change. 3. Expected limitations Many current students expect restrictions on possible behaviors to enable a more sustainable economy and society in the future, for instance bans or massively increasing prices for air travel or the consumption of less sustainable food. 4. Positive contribution Beyond the goal of no-net-loss, ‘Generation PI’ is ready to make a positive contribution in terms of a net-positive-impact. Here, companies need to focus on major innovations rather than limiting themselves to reducing CO2 emissions in established processes.
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