Short Term Thinking

Poverty forces short term thinking.  Need is a powerful agent in the degradation of our environment so it has to be part of any good sustainability strategy for an organization.  Still many companies do not see this as a critical part of their business.  Leaders know that companies cannot succeed in societies that fail – a repeated lesson learnt in the developing world.   Aside from the obvious feel good implications the reality of addressing this inside a corporate sustainability practice has real asset valuation.   Only sophisticated software solutions can help a corporation move beyond hand-out solutions to real efforts that are long lasting.  Really, the age old idea of teaching to fish over just giving a fish applies here.  The difference is the complexity is so great that getting a handle on the real opportunities can only come through qualitative and quantitative analysis.  Deep review usually translates into a cost center many corporations are quick to reduce or eliminate especially in tough times creating a corporate poverty that forces short term thinking.  The only answer to link the strategy to the performance metrics of the company and perform real calculations that show bottom line impact – or some would say triple bottom line impact.  The good news is that software is available to handle the challenge and is within reach of any growing enterprise.  In a way software gives corporations the ability to think quickly to avoid short term thinking.  Now that’s something to think about.