And yet we know that an organisation, a community or a sector that wants to learn and find new solutions has to be willing to look at the information that disconfirms its past beliefs and practices. Communities, organisations or sectors that want to stay vital must search out surprise, look for what is startling, uncomfortable and possibly even shocking.
The FAO has a fascinating role as a mediator between private and public interests. It will do well not to become captured by one or the other.
Technological innovation alone will not achieve the required reductions in carbon emissions and biodiversity depletion. No matter how many efficiency measures we roll out, technical efficiency won’t be enough unless without a fundamental shift in business models and traditional thinking about business performance.
The pitfall for organisations when crafting their sustainability strategy is to assume their organizational system is simple and predictable when in reality it is complex and requires a much more agile and adaptive strategic approach.
Never have we been so forewarned about a crisis that is unfolding and worsening in front of us. And too many organisations and sectors remain hell-bent on adopting the targets that they can get away with rather than the targets that are needed.