When actions don’t speak louder than words
Do you always do what you say? Of course you do. We all do. We are people of our word. Okay, maybe that’s not entirely true. We intend to do what we say. We try to. We want to. But it’s not always possible to do so, or we can’t be bothered, or we didn’t mean it anyway.
They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That seems pretty mean-spirited to me. Surely good intentions are better than bad intentions – isn’t that the case?
The answer is no. If your bad intentions are aired, they are likely to be challenged, and you may be shamed, or persuaded, or forced to act otherwise. However, who is going to challenge your good intentions? People will support those wholeheartedly, and then be left, stuck in a hole, when they are not realised.
People speak of ‘unintentional’ consequences of their actions, and of any harms inflicted not being ‘personal’. But the truth is that in business matters, those consequences were intentional, as ignorance is no excuse in law. And when things happen to people, they immediately become personal.
For Sustainability, this is a particularly tricky area. The interdependence of economic, social and environmental factors is complex, hard to measure, and ever changing. We must look at short-term and long-term gains, local and global aspects, and things happening now which may cross the tipping point into forever. For the latter reason in particular, nobody should wait to take the first step.
Governments, businesses, and individuals all have reasons for their values not matching their actions. Governments will delay or dilute difficult actions which are necessary but will be unpopular and may jeopardize their re-election. Business goals are made to satisfy their shareholders, rather than having goals in the wider interests of society and Gaia, which may reduce efficiency and increase costs. Individuals want to live their best lives, and directly or indirectly, they see their rights as overriding those of other species, current outsiders (maybe defined by geography, race or gender) and future generations.
People may believe in all sorts of things: liberte, egalite and fraternite; that we should all live in a fair and beautiful world filled with equal opportunities; that businesses will improve the lives of their workers and the communities they engage with; that government policies of job creation via economic growth can create happier, healthier citizens. But all of these beliefs may never see the light of day if the values of their holders are not matched by their actions.
There are two key reasons for such cognitive dissonance. The first is the tension between human needs and wants. Our needs are internal forces, they are innate and finite; however our wants are external actions, they are many and chosen. And especially with the individualistic mindset of the Western world, we tend to choose what we want, rather than what we need.
The second reason is that the ‘sustainable consumer’ is an oxymoron – how do they both sustain (conserve) and consume (destroy)? Consumption is, at least partially, a cultural process to establish our identity and place in society. Thus it holds a key.
Maybe instead of focussing on their bog-standard USP – which may be a first step on the road to hell – brands can focus on their USSP – their Unique Sustainable Selling Proposition. This would be something aligned with the UN SDGs and Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance or RSPO certifications, for example.
Such brands will lead people along a road built by good actions. Early adopters, and then the majority of people, till start sharing the vision till we reach the tipping point of Sustainable Action. We will be moving forward personally and intentionally, stepping across the Value Action Gap.
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