What is a sustainable business future?
Toby Goldblatt
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3.10.21
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One of the most commonly heard statements of the last year was 'When we get back to normal....'
But there is no going back....
We are entering a period of tremendous innovation - creating the future of work, business, environment, societal behaviour and what we define as value.
'Sustainability' is one of the most overheard words of recent times too. Its modern context is primarily related to climate change and environmentally appropriate behaviour.
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We created Renew to focus on businesses that were poised for hyper-growth, scale by using sustainable techniques and attributes that have served us well previously in our careers. For us they are:
identifying and developing talent that is often undervalued or under-recognised by the broader market. Often this is people from minority ethnic groups, women, neurodiverse individuals and young people such as teenagers and students.
Our future leaders will need to be skilled in classic business management techniques AND modern skills. For us these include elements like authenticity, mental health awareness, vulnerability, purpose and environmental sustainability. Our view is that these leaders create a stronger environment for growth and attract the rare talent that enables their organisations to outperform.
AI and its associated technologies of cloud, automation and IOT are critical to enable businesses to scale and do so in a sustainable fashion. Whether this is in identifying and engaging with #globalaudiences or streamlining business operations to enable a team to operate #virtualfirst . Renew leverages over 20 years of expertise in digital, AI, tech and associated technologies to support its businesses
For us this is the ability to challenge the status quo to build a better outcome. I heard a great quote on this, the other day from Jaydeep Barman the Founder of Rebel Foods - the worlds largest (and fastest growing) chain of internet restaurants:
'Don't build your team in the first instance with industry experts - thats not a good starting point if you want to disrupt'
Certainly this is one of the elements that inspired out investment in Pivot Digital Health - who are trying to improve patient outcomes through innovating in the pharma industry.
A sustainable business is one that is underpinned by solid values in all its people and dealings, not just in its balance sheet. Please see Renew's here. This is a definitely an evolving space. We have been inspired by the work of Kate Raworth (Donut Economics) and others such as Petra Velzeboer (Mental Health) and the innovative team behind Element . Our experience has shown that value driven teams or companies have a better platform for growth.
Our view is that the sustainable businesses of the next decade will either be formed by 1) rapidly scaling start ups, invested in by Private Equity growth capital or 2) restructured corporates driven by mergers and acquisitions or management buy outs or divestments. Renew uses our expertise in partners with financial services firms to enable this to happen, and thus build sustainable scale rapidly.
A sustainable future requires us to have a better and more open relationship with technology. Whether that is around #responsibleAI or #codedbias or around the slightly more murky but important issue of #datasovereignty. Our approach is to provide leadership in this area both to the global debate and to the businesses we collaborate with.
These components enable us to help our partners build a more sustainable business future. Creating value for the economy, society, the environment and our communities overall. The pandemic has caused us to all pause and re-evaluate.
There is no 'going back'. The future is vibrant but we must build it right.
