KEY TENSIONS
As pioneering businesses grow in influence, they face tests of integrity, resilience, and leadership that shape their ability to deliver on their mission. The participating companies identified several consistent tensions. The way in which companies navigate these challenges impacts not only the fate of individual businesses but also how effective that business is as a force for systems change.
Protecting the founding culture
Building from core values as the business grows in size and complexity, especially when the business is rooted in strong founding stories.
Bringing others along
Bringing diverse stakeholders, from customers to policymakers to industry peers, along as systems change partners without being perceived as “selling out” by the core base.
Changing systems from within
Navigating incumbent market realities while pushing for transformative change.
The cost of standing out
You have to take [clients and investors] step by step through a series of hard questions in this shift to new ways of working: What does it mean to build a business for the future?
Managing heightened scrutiny from media, investors, and the public when “doing good” attracts heightened expectations and even criticism.
Guarding against misinformation
Navigating disinformation in fast-moving digital environments where narratives can quickly distort.
Participant
BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY 14
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