Triple Bottom Line
A CCL Research White Paper
Leadership and the Triple Bottom Line
Bringing Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility to Life
By: Laura Quinn Jessica Baltes
C E N T E R F O R C R E AT I V E L E A D E R S H I P
Leadership and the Triple Bottom Line
CONTENTS
Executive summary Highlights Background TBL awareness and importance TBL leadership skills and actions TBL outcomes and advantages Organizational strategy and the TBL Organizational culture and systems supporting or hindering TBL TBL behaviors: At home and at work Tips and resources Bios References
3 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 11 12 13 13
Center for Creative Leadership, CCL®, and its logo are registered trademarks owned by the Center for Creative Leadership. © 2007 Center for Creative Leadership. All rights reserved.
Leadership and the Triple Bottom Line
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Ideas2Action (I2A) project is a Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®) initiative bringing “ideas into action” by providing relevant and timely research via technology to our open-enrollment programs. In an attempt to understand organizational sustainability, the 12A team collected data from September through December 2006, gauging leader awareness and organizational implementation of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) concept. Two major research methods were used: A short, in-class survey via computer kiosks and an in-depth Internet survey sent to participants 2 weeks following their CCL experience. The Internet survey allowed the 12A team to better understand the high-level trends that emerged from the in-class survey. We received 197 responses to the in-class survey and 50 responses to the Internet survey. The typical respondent was a male (83 percent) between the ages of 41 and 50 (45 percent) representing the executive level (49 percent).
HIGHLIGHTS Leaders believe that taking care of profits, people, and the planet are critical to organizational success, both now and in the future. Of the leaders we surveyed, 73
Leadership and the Triple Bottom Line
Bringing Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility to Life
By: Laura Quinn Jessica Baltes
C E N T E R F O R C R E AT I V E L E A D E R S H I P
Leadership and the Triple Bottom Line
CONTENTS
Executive summary Highlights Background TBL awareness and importance TBL leadership skills and actions TBL outcomes and advantages Organizational strategy and the TBL Organizational culture and systems supporting or hindering TBL TBL behaviors: At home and at work Tips and resources Bios References
3 3 4 5 5 7 8 9 11 12 13 13
Center for Creative Leadership, CCL®, and its logo are registered trademarks owned by the Center for Creative Leadership. © 2007 Center for Creative Leadership. All rights reserved.
Leadership and the Triple Bottom Line
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Ideas2Action (I2A) project is a Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®) initiative bringing “ideas into action” by providing relevant and timely research via technology to our open-enrollment programs. In an attempt to understand organizational sustainability, the 12A team collected data from September through December 2006, gauging leader awareness and organizational implementation of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) concept. Two major research methods were used: A short, in-class survey via computer kiosks and an in-depth Internet survey sent to participants 2 weeks following their CCL experience. The Internet survey allowed the 12A team to better understand the high-level trends that emerged from the in-class survey. We received 197 responses to the in-class survey and 50 responses to the Internet survey. The typical respondent was a male (83 percent) between the ages of 41 and 50 (45 percent) representing the executive level (49 percent).
HIGHLIGHTS Leaders believe that taking care of profits, people, and the planet are critical to organizational success, both now and in the future. Of the leaders we surveyed, 73