Purpose+Profit: A Book Review

It’s not often that I wolf down a book on ESG during a work week. However, some works of accessible scholarship entail that kind of attention. Profit + Purpose is an intellectual tour de force which provides a ring side view to how sustainability can be operationalized on the ground from a PE Fund focused on SDGs to the B Corp movement.

The author explicitly lays bare the issues with making sustainability happen through projects and that intentions are not enough.

Doing good should not be impossible, it should be the only way to do business. The lens on implementation is refreshing and case studies educate rather than pontificate through high theory.

The writing is direct and is meant for the manager on the frontline of the sustainability trenches.

Must read for all sustainability professionals.

IAIA 2021 Abstract Acceptance

Twice in two years at IAIA! Such an honor as an environmental and social impact assessment practitioner to have my paper abstract accepted. I hope that they will have an online presentation pathway! Now on to writing the full draft.

A shout out to Hardik Ramaiya for his support and a generous sounding board.

Reframing Stakeholder Engagement as Trust Building

The job of the stakeholder engagement and social license to operate communities is to foster trust and transparency in subaltern groups which are on the receiving end of the power grid of ‘development’ , technology and progress of transnational capital so as to ensure a decent conversation. Outcomes comes much later. History shapes culture and politics is downstream of culture as the saying goes. As far as infrastructure is concerned, the myth of technical best practices embedded in a defined set of values is a smokescreen at best. Each intervention context is deliciously varied, and the so called non democratic Gulf as active societies such as Kuwait. Nothing really is a monolith.

Stakeholder engagement has to be seen from a perspective of forging commonalities in a divisive era of Brexit, US Elections and Tech troubles.