More about Andy

Andy Hoffman is the Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan; a position that holds joint appointments in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the School for Environment and Sustainability. Andy is a leader in using organizational, network and strategic analyses to assess the implications of environmental issues for business, and has published 14 books and over 100 articles and book chapters on the topic. Prior to academics, Andy worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency (Region 1), Metcalf & Eddy Environmental Consultants, T&T Construction & Design, and the Amoco Corporation.

More about Brad

Brad Zarnett is a Canadian sustainability strategist and the President of Eco-Opportunity Consulting. In 2008 Brad founded the Toronto Sustainability Speaker Series (TSSS) to showcase sustainability leadership and has since hosted more than 40 events. Brad’s current focus is to broaden the conversation as to why Corporate Sustainability, CSR, Impact Investing and Profit with Purpose have not lived up to their promise and, more importantly, to identify the best path forward to ensure that we pass along a functioning planet to our children. Brad has a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University in Toronto and you can follow him on twitter @bradzarnett.

Recommended Resources

Andy and Brad recommended some of their favourite resources for understanding business sustainability.

Book: Winners take all: The Elite charade of changing the world(Anand Garidharadas)



Andy: “There’s a lot I resonated with in that book. He’s pointing out that the fictional win-win is a dangerous mirage. If you want to really deal with the serious issues we face, it’s not going to be as simple as just create a new market, sell a new product, make yourself rich and the world becomes better. But I’m hesitant to go in the direction of blaming all our social problems in the hands of a small number of the powerful elite.”



Podcast Series: Pitchfork Economics (Nick Hanauer)



Brad: “His message is that if we don’t get this right, the pitchforks are going to come for us. The inequality is obscene. I think change is coming, and I don’t think it’s going to be the incremental kind of change.”



Article: The Next Phase of Business Sustainability (Andrew Hoffman)



Andy: “For the past 25-30 years, we have been trying to fit sustainability into the existing models and metrics of business practice and theory — what is called ‘enterprise integration.’ But it is clear that this will not work for addressing the new types of environmental issues of today — climate change, species extinction, ocean acidification, and other aspects of the Anthropocene. These are systemic changes to the ecosystem and they can only be addressed by systemic changes to our models and metrics of business practice and research. This new mode — what is called ‘market transformation’ — is the renewed focus of my research, teaching, and corporate engagement.”



Blog: Is CSR Working (Brad Zarnett).



Brad: “After 12 years of working in Corporate Sustainability I began to look more closely at why the promise of a more sustainable world has not been delivered. My focus these days is to start a conversation as to what happened and what is the best path forward to ensure a better future for everyone.”