Myths greatly slow down human evolution, in any field. The attribution of acronyms to legitimate, valuable initiatives is one of the factors that contribute to the formation of myths and the consequent marginalization of these initiatives. ESG is a classic example.
The myth covers the acronym with prejudices against activism, tries to summarize it as philanthropy and diversity, and resists the alleged bureaucratization of Compliance. Marginal costs are attributed to it, which productive activities have to bear as a burden.
Many businesspeople and managers are still trapped by this myth, and do not recycle its principles in their daily lives. They are thus prevented from realizing the real values involved, creating conviction on the topic, and stopping acting with their noses turned up just for the sake of convenience, when external demands for actions and reputation challenge them.
Care for the environment is not new, it is transcendental, and it is a natural need. The environment demands and responds. Attention to Social, starting with internal dealings, has always been crucial, so that people can free themselves from their internal desires to perform at their best. And Governance has always minimized business risks.
When all of this was summarized under an acronym, its meaning was drastically reduced, and created a piece that was manipulated by some, discredited by others, opportunized by some, and distorted in general.
But, fortunately for everyone, there are always those who don't lose sight of the real reasons for things. And the reactions to returning to these values are concrete. Still on a small percentage level, but growing.
By standing up and dusting off the myth, economic opportunities begin to become visible.
You gain margin by looking at your energy bill and discovering the multiple possibilities for cost reduction. Including the outdated myth that photovoltaic energy does not pay for itself. Opportunities include leasing energy created from clean energy sources, with significant reductions.
Margin is gained by looking at the water and sewage bill, and quantifying opportunities for collection and use, water and sewage treatment, use of solutions that intrinsically reduce consumption, adopting effective and low-consumption irrigation solutions .
Margin is gained by looking at the Greenhouse Gases generated in the operation and by products, understanding their impacts and considering solutions not only to compensate, but to reduce generation. Specific projects exist, with a strong impact on this reduction. And, even better, recycling projects are substantial providers of credits to this account.
Margin is gained by looking at the waste generated, including rejection of intermediate or finished products, and saving on the source and disposal costs of this waste.
In Agro businesses, significant productivity is gained by using modern and accessible technologies. There are also gains in projects that correct and prevent soil erosion. There is benefit from the use of natural biochemical agents.
By taking care of these, or part of these aspects, there is a gain in reputation, before business partners, and before the consumer public, contributing to the stability or increase in sales volumes, with an obvious impact on results.
In the social field, the gain comes from focusing on retention, on the perception of justice in treatment and remuneration, on effective concern for the quality of life of those who put their effort at the service of the common good, with their health prevention, with their diet, with your pleasure and well-being. It is a powerful and definitive gain. Much more than competing for ephemeral Great Place to Work titles. The real prize is in the awareness of providing, and observing the results. With retention and effective engagement, productivity actually increases, and process losses are minimized. Perennial margin gain.
For those who will respond that this is a huge cost, I recommend looking at the waste in your process, and finding the gains that will pay for the above paragraph. Double gain, because there is still real reduction and margin gain left over. There are real cases to report.
Diversity, in turn, goes far beyond mixing genders, races, sexual preferences, and inclusion. The excessive obsession with making and showing numbers in this sense loses the intrinsic value of diversity, which is the combination of various training and thinking tendencies, sources of vital energy, attitudes, and ways of seeing life around you. And, even worse, it creates tensions, marginalizes the subject, feeds the myth of costs, disregards skills, and completely abandons the basic human element: merit. Treating diversity seriously and thoughtfully produces significant gains in productivity, with a direct impact on the margin.
Another myth that puts clouds ahead of management's vision is dealing with surrounding communities, whether with momentary or recurring needs. By providing charity, many take their place in heaven for granted, and go online for the advertising gains that can come from there. While legitimate managers see this deal as an opportunity to generate real and lasting value, shared between the company, its employees, and the training of professionals in this community. They don't make a fuss, but recognition comes, and is more valid, when referred to by third parties or benefiting parties. More gains from reputation.
In both E and S there is much more to gain, economically, many of these specific or more expressive gains in certain segments.
In Governance, its lack can lead to lethal impacts. Gaps in Compliance and Risk Management will allow irrecoverable losses to reputation, if not directly to results. And Governance is not police, but primarily the automatic control of risks in operation, administration and management processes. Once the Guidelines are established and the Practices are implemented, life goes on without the scare of 'smile, you're being filmed'.
One of the most mistreated aspects of Governance, across a broad spectrum of companies, is the lack of truly integrated management systems, both ERPs and BPMs.
Not many companies properly capture all their costs, and even fewer classify them accurately. Just like with recipes. Few reach an accurate analysis of their results, what helped and what hindered. What is recurrent, and what was a localized event. Faced with poor analysis, they make equally poor and mistaken decisions.
Good systems, in themselves, are capable of reflecting any and all work processes, logically framed within tax laws and operational logic. What happens is that, when implementing a system, sed organizations come across severe gaps in their processes and, in their laziness to face the problem, and in the rush to rush through the implementation and contain their costs, they force the configuration to manual entries, that destroy the integrity of the process as a whole. And they pay for it for the rest of their lives. The gains from well-configured and implemented processes and systems are significant and lasting, and directly impact margins and their control. And, to top it off, the competitiveness of the business.
Just as, in all human segments, habits are preferably initiated by the easiest, most immediate, most accessible path, and are then gradually corrected, so it will be with ESG. All the earning opportunities mentioned here, and many others, will be progressively identified with those grouped under the acronym, and will be practiced with science and application. Irreversibly.
And the world will become ESG. Anyone who doesn't go will be marginalized, looking out the window, outside.
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