Business for a Sustainable Future
Course Content
-
Lesson 1: The Sustainable Business Landscape
What are the models, standards, and trends for sustainability in business?
-
Activity1.1
-
Activity1.2
-
Activity1.3
-
Activity1.4
-
Activity1.5
-
Activity1.6
-
Activity1.7
-
Activity1.8
-
Activity1.9
-
Activity1.10
-
Activity1.11
-
Activity1.12
-
Activity1.13
-
Activity1.14
-
Activity1.15
-
-
Lesson 2: Driving Change in Business: the Entrepreneurial Mindset
How do entrepreneurs design business models that open up new opportunities for scaling environmental initiatives?
-
Activity2.1
-
Activity2.2
-
Activity2.3
-
Activity2.4
-
Activity2.5
-
Activity2.6
-
Activity2.7
-
Activity2.8
-
Activity2.9
-
Activity2.10
-
Activity2.11
-
-
Lesson 3: Building a Sustainable Venture
How do I pitch, run, and grow my own business or initiative?
-
Activity3.1
-
Activity3.2
-
Activity3.3
-
Activity3.4
-
Activity3.5
-
Activity3.6
-
Activity3.7
-
Activity3.8
-
Activity3.9
-
Activity3.10
-
Activity3.11
-
Activity3.12
-
-
Explore More
-
Activity4.1
-
Activity4.2
-
Activity4.3
-
Driving Change in Business: the Entrepreneurial Mindset: Introduction
How do entrepreneurs design business models that open up new opportunities for scaling environmental initiatives?
Environmental challenges are often opportunities in disguise, so how do we instigate change and capitalize on these opportunities? Being a catalyst for change certainly isn’t easy, but there are a set of skills and processes that entrepreneurs use, and by learning them we increase our power to drive change. Here we will learn about entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, the resources that exist for today’s business change-makers, and how to take the first steps towards building a sustainable business venture that can scale and thrive.
By completing this lesson, you will:
- Get into the mindset of an entrepreneur: understand how entrepreneurs see business opportunities and use them to spark change in wicked problems.
- Map the stakeholders involved in the change you’re driving, and analyze their needs, motivations, and level of influence.
- Practice taking a great idea and designing a business model that helps it scale sustainably (financially and environmentally).
Pre-Reading
The entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial mindset, and the leadership skills needed:
- The Surprising Advantages Environmental Entrepreneurs Have Over Established Companies explains why and how entrepreneurs can capitalize on environmental ventures better than existing companies. Being more locally focused and bigger risk takers, environmental entrepreneurs are often first-movers, which has worked very well in many cases.
- The Venture Development Processes of ‘Sustainable’ Entrepreneurs characterizes some of the personal and situational elements that led to the creation of a few very recognizable brand names.
- Why You Should Become an “Intrapreneur” Discusses the benefits of innovating within an existing company, and what kinds of individuals generally do best as intrapreneurs.
- Market imperfections, opportunity and sustainable entrepreneurship ties together the market failures from lesson one with the themes in this lesson. (This article requires access to ScienceDirect, so it is optional for those who don’t have access, but highly recommended.)
- As exciting as environmental entrepreneurship’s potential is, it’s important to take a balanced view and avoid over-glorification. Tackling Heropreneurship reminds us that entrepreneurs often fail to actually make the impacts they hope to, and can have an inflated sense of entitlement and vision. Often, driving change is less about creating a new venture and more about understanding who is in the space, and using entrepreneurial tools to forge new connections.
- Collaborative and Transformational Leadership in the Environmental Realm breaks down several real-world examples of leadership in conservation non-profits, businesses, and government agencies.
What is an Innovation Ecosystem? characterizes what makes up an innovation ecosystem. (Read pages 1-2; additional pages discuss development agencies, and are not required.)
It can be difficult to get started in communicating your business idea and getting feedback; prototyping can be a kick out the door to get started. 5 Cheap And Easy Ways to Prototype Your Startup Idea is a helpful refresher if you haven’t completed module 2 (Designing Environmental Solutions). At the end of the lesson, you’ll take a first stab at designing a business model for your chosen challenge. In preparation, read How to Master the Business Model Canvas for Social Entrepreneurs.
You can also download this lesson as a PDF or a Microsoft Word Document: