UBC Sustainability Initiative Work Learn student, Alex Migdal (a graduate student with the UBC School of Journalism), sat down with Sauder School of Business lecturer Tamar Milne, to discuss the central role sustainability and responsibility play in ensuring organizational profitability and success.
Just after graduating from the UBC Sauder School of Business, Tamar Milne landed a lucrative job with Procter and Gamble — and promptly turned it down.
Instead, she accepted a marketing role with De Dutch Pannekoek House, a small restaurant chain based in Vancouver.
“Everyone told me I was nuts,” Milne recalls.
Rather, Milne was drawn to a smaller business environment. Today, she instills that belief in her students at Sauder, where she teaches courses on social entrepreneurship and ethics and sustainability.
Business is a force for good, Milne says, and on Nov. 17, she’ll be speaking at UBC’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability about why sustainability and social impact are the hallmarks of a thriving business.
You say that sustainability and responsibility are central to profitable and successful organizations. Why is that?
If you have a toxic waste spill or protest groups at your front door, or customers who are refusing to buy your product, then those are in-your-face and immediate issues for companies. There’s also public scrutiny. Today, everyone has a camera phone and a social media account. If we don’t change, we won’t be around for long.
Sustainability is also the number one driver of innovation. Companies who are succeeding are the ones who see this as a long-term strategic opportunity. There’s forthcoming legislation that’s going to change how businesses have to act. You can choose to be pushed over that edge or you can leap on your own accord.
What are some sustainable practices that innovative businesses have adopted?
One example is a flooring company called Interface. Flooring is incredibly toxic. The waste and garbage it produces, the water use, the chemicals. In the mid-90s, Interface’s founder had an epiphany. He read The Ecology of Commerce. One chapter, called “The Death of Birth,” is about species extinction. It struck him and he did a complete 180. His company, in 2020, will be moving towards being regenerative and restorative. This is a global company. Their earnings per share is growing. They’re incredibly successful and they pin it all on sustainability and what it’s done for employee productivity, creativity, innovation and customer loyalty.
How do you get businesses who see sustainability as a nuisance to switch their mindset?
It’s the number one question from my students, particularly my graduate students who have been in the workforce for a while.
There are some very low-hanging fruits in terms of cost cutting, such as using fewer resources to lower waste costs. But once you cut out that fat, it’s hard to make deeper cuts. A lot of companies then look at sustainability: Reducing your emissions, investing in your people, paying fair prices for inputs that count for environmental costs. Those are very immediate, short-term costs.
The payoff is going to be longer term. To get companies to see that is difficult. We can get them to pay attention and make these changes by providing examples of those who are leading change and succeeding.
Why are you interested in business as a force for good?
It’s funny - I’ve asked myself the same question. I have a bachelor of commerce from Sauder. The professors under whom I studied were social marketers. Social marketing uses marketing to influence behavior positively, like smoking cessation or obesity or recycling behaviors. The researchers were business people looking to make the world a better place.
My first jobs were not in sustainability or responsible business. But the companies I’ve worked for, most of them have been values-driven. The leader of the company has a heart and cares about more than just profit and cares about people.
I also grew up in Northern British Columbia in the bush, on a farm. All of our holidays were trips to the mountains. I went into the wilderness. I can hunt and fish and build a fire from scratch. I just love the earth and I’m also a people person. I want people to be treated well.
You note that your UBC education influenced your views on sustainability. How do your students approach business?
I remember teaching 100 first-year students at a time, and some of them you could just tell that business wasn’t clicking for them. They didn’t love the discussions about maximizing profit. There was no life in it for them.
Then we would do a class on social responsibility and social enterprise and they would sit up and have their hands up. They were into it. Sometimes they would come up and tell me after, “I had no idea. I felt like I was selling out. I didn’t think I’d fit.”
What questions do you hope to raise in your talk?
I want to help business shed some of its bad reputation. I think people automatically assume we’re all in it just to maximize profit. I have so many examples of companies where that’s not true.
Second, I want more interdisciplinary involvement in tackling these issues. Businesses can help you figure out how to think of your solution in terms of value, collaboration and influence. Business is not a solution on its own, but we can be awesome facilitators.
By Alex Migdal, November 16 2016
This interview has been edited, condensed, and published in relation to our event Sustainability Talks: Business as a Force for Good and as a way to profile and share UBC faculty members' expertise.