The User's Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch How to stretch the sustainability ambitions of business

36 Pages·2017·1.66 MB·English

Project
Breakthrough
The User’s Guide to
The Breakthrough Pitch
How to stretch the sustainability
ambitions of business executives
The User’s Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch 1
Introduction 0.1
About The Breakthrough Pitch Further steps to developing your Pitch
The Breakthrough Pitch is designed as 1 Explain the story of why you decided it
a template to help business leaders — was important to pitch this agenda to
including Chief Sustainability Officers your Executive Team.
(CSOs) — build and present the case for
breakthrough change. 2 Know your audience: develop profiles of
the top team people you aim to persuade.
The User’s Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch
provides background and speaker notes to 3 Be clear on why change is coming — and
help you prepare your presentation, as well why your Executive Team must respond.
as references to a recommended reading
and other resources. 4 Highlight how expectations of business
and the private sector are shifting.
The Breakthrough Pitch (available in
both Powerpoint and PDF format) can be 5 Assume a “yes” — but be very clear what
downloaded from the Project Breakthrough your ask is, keeping it to 1–3 next steps.
website at www.projectbreakthrough.io
6 As you build the pitch, develop a Twitter-
friendly outline to sharpen your focus.
7 Prepare, tear down and then rebuild the
pitch — to ensure it sings.
8 Use the resources listed at the end of
this deck to inform your messaging and
offer your audience next steps in terms
of coming up their learning curves.
The User’s Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch 2
Outline 0.2
1.0 3.0
A new growth story Rebooting the C-Suite agenda
Pages 4–8 Pages 16–28

With globalization and global GDP growth We outline 5 key questions that every
faltering, identifying future growth executive team should be asking itself —
opportunities has become an urgent and offer some case studies of emergent
priority for policy-makers and business and established businesses that are
leaders alike. The UN Sustainable already evolving in light of the growth
Development Goals represent an ambitious and disruption story.
shared vision for the future of humanity and
can serve as a guide to tomorrow’s market
conditions and opportunities. 4.0
Next steps on the
Breakthrough journey
2.0 Pages 29–34
Disrupt or be disrupted
Pages 9–15 This section includes links to a range of
resources and engagement opportunities
The rapid emergence and convergence of for businesses that want to take action.
new technologies are already leading to
widespread market disruption. As a result,
the lifespan of an S&P 500 company
has fallen from 67 years to 15 years. To
respond to — and get ahead of — impending
disruptions, leaders must learn to think and
act exponentially.
The User’s Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch 3
A new growth story 1.0
With globalization and global GDP growth
now faltering, identifying future growth
opportunities has become an urgent priority
for policy-makers and business leaders alike.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals
represent an ambitious shared vision for
the future of humanity and can serve as a
guide to tomorrow’s market conditions and
opportunities.
The User’s Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch 4
A new growth story 1.1
The SDGs as a crowd-sourced market agenda
Background Key Messages Resources
In September 2015, all 193 Member States Business has a key role The SDGs explained for business
of the United Nations adopted a plan for Fulfilling these ambitions will take an UN Global Compact website.
achieving a better future for all — laying unprecedented effort by all sectors in https://www.unglobalcompact.org/
out a path over the next 15 years to end society — including private enterprise. sdgs/about
extreme poverty, fight inequality and
injustice, and protect our planet. The Exponential progress needed The Sustainable Development Goals:
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Incremental approaches alone (i.e. doing The Breakthrough opportunity of our time
also known as the Global Goals, are the more of the same), even when delivered A Project Breakthrough blog by
product of the largest public consultation at scale, are unlikely to achieve the Lise Kingo, Executive Director of the
process in UN history, with Governments progress we need. UN Global Compact, 26 April 2017.
involving business, civil society and citizens https://medium.com/project-
from the outset. breakthrough/the-sustainable-
development-goals-the-breakthrough-
opportunity-of-our-time-6a5645f4e960
The User’s Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch 5
A new growth story 1.2
The Sustainability Revolution is here
Background Key Messages Resources
The Generation Foundation’s 2017 white Change will be fast The Transformation of Growth
paper, The Transformation of Growth: A combination of technological change A white paper by Generation Foundation,
How Sustainable Capitalism can drive a and societal pressures are driving June 2017.
New Economic Order, outlines the critical the pace of transformation. Talk of a https://www.genfound.org/media/1436/
dynamics that have led capitalism to the transition is misleading, the white paper pdf-genfoundwp2017-final.pdf
crossroad it faces today, and three new argues; revolution is a more appropriate
trajectories of growth driving Sustainable characterization of what’s coming at us. Are you ready for the Sustainability
Capitalism: Revolution?
1 A Decarbonized Economy. There are win-win opportunities A Project Breakthrough blog by Richard
2 Circular Business Models. The opportunities associated with the Roberts, Volans, 31 July 2017.
3 Employment and Communities. ‘Sustainability Revolution’ do not come https://medium.com/project-breakthrough/
at the expense of profits, but have been are-you-ready-for-the-sustainability-
the basis for identifying new business revolution-ef524a63a71c
initiatives. This underscores what we have
observed more generally to be true with 2017 Sustainability Trends Report
great companies: sustainability is a tool A report by Generation Investment
for growing revenue and profitability while Management, 2017.
strengthening their competitive position. https://www.generationim.com/
sustainability-trends/sustainability-trends/
The User’s Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch 6
A new growth story 1.3
$12 trillion a year markets by 2030
Background Key Messages Resources
The Business and Sustainable SDGs offer a compelling growth strategy Better Business, Better World
Development Commission, co-founded Going beyond efficiency gains, the A flagship report by the Business and
by Lord Mark Malloch-Brown and Paul SDGs offer business an impetus for Sustainable Development Commission,
Polman, was launched in January 2016 innovation that has the potential to open January 2017.
to accelerate inclusive growth and up new market opportunities. In total, http://report.businesscommission.org/
drive business action on sustainable 60 market ‘hot spots’ worth $12 trillion
development. The Commission published a year in revenues and savings by 2030 Breakthrough Business Models:
its flagship report, Better Business, Better were identified across the four nexuses Exponentially More Social, Lean,
World, in January 2017. highlighted in the slide. Integrated and Circular
A Volans report, commissioned by the
Disruptive insurgents are already tapping Business and Sustainable Development
into these new markets Commission, September 2017.
‘Unicorns’ (start-ups valued at over http://volans.com/2016/09/breakthrough-
US$1bn), such as AirBnb, BlaBlaCar and business-models-how-to-drive-
Transferwise, have already achieved sustainable-growth-in-an-exponential-
headway by using exponential technologies world
and business models, and focusing on
delivering new products and services that
meet the changing needs of a growing
world population. Many are doing so by
adopting lean processes, integrating across
multiple value domains, and shifting to
circular designs.
The User’s Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch 7
A new growth story 1.4
Going for breakthrough
Background Key Messages Resources
In order to tap into the SDG-related Shifting to Breakthrough Saving the planet from ecological
market opportunities, whilst eradicating In ‘Business-as-Usual’ we deny or deflect disaster is a $12 trillion opportunity
negative impacts on society and the calls for change. Ultimately, this trajectory An article by John Elkington, Harvard
planet, business needs to venture beyond can end in ‘Breakdown’, where negative Business Review, May 2017.
‘Change-as-usual’. Compliance, Corporate environmental, social and/or governance https://hbr.org/2017/05/saving-the-
Social Responsibility, reporting and shared exponentials dominate. ‘Change-as-Usual’ planet-from-ecological-disaster-is-a-
value initiatives, whilst they continue to be is the world of incremental, percentage 12-trillion-opportunity
valuable, are now part of the baseline that point change. ‘Breakthrough’ outcomes,
all business needs to operate from. by contrast, are much more ambitious– Taking sustainability exponential
seeking 10X or even 100X change. A Project Breakthrough video featuring
John Elkington on the U-bend of history
Breakthrough requires new mindsets, and why the SDGs require something
technologies and business models more than incremental change.
Our global challenges require business to http://breakthrough.unglobalcompact.
embrace “10X” thinking — aiming for at org/briefs/taking-sustainability-
least 10-fold improvement — as well as exponential-john-elkington-volans
experimenting with new technologies and
business models.
The User’s Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch 8
Disrupt or be disrupted 2.0
The rapid emergence and convergence of new
technologies are already leading to widespread
market disruption. As a result, the lifespan of
an S&P 500 company has fallen from 67 years
to 15 years. To respond to — and get ahead of
— impending disruptions, leaders must learn to
think and act exponentially.
The User’s Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch 9
Disrupt or be disrupted 2.1
Technology in the driving seat
Background Key Messages Resources
In The Fourth Industrial Revolution (2016), Disruptive convergence of technologies The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Klaus Schwab (Founder and Executive Underpinned by the proliferation of mobile A book by Klaus Schwab, 2016.
Chairman, World Economic Forum) device ownership and digitalization, the https://www.weforum.org/
explains how the velocity, scope and new technologies underpinning the Fourth agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-
systems impact of an emerging wave of Industrial Revolution are increasingly revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-
technologies will have dramatic impact on converging — with far-reaching implications respond
entire systems of production, management on how business can relate to customers,
and governance. develop new products and services, The wannabe innovator against the
drive innovation and organize talent and status quo
Meanwhile, the lifespan of an S&P 500 resources. A Project Breakthrough video featuring
company has fallen from 67 years in the Andrew McAfee, Co-Director of MIT’s
1920s to just 15 years today, according to Opportunities and potential blind spots Initiative on the Digital Economy.
research from Yale University. 75% of the Technology today is enabling new business http://breakthrough.unglobalcompact.org/
S&P 500 today will be replaced by 2027. models, many of which have the potential briefs/andrew-mcafee-digital-economy-
to help deliver the SDGs. Nonetheless, in mit
navigating this new business landscape,
business also needs to ensure that it is Disruptive Technologies Briefs
aware of, and addressing, implications in A series of 12 briefings developed by PA
areas including employment and income Consulting for Project Breakthrough.
inequality. http://breakthrough.unglobalcompact.
org/#disruptive-technologies
The User’s Guide to The Breakthrough Pitch 10