The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organisations Are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World (Hardcover)

Senge is best known for The Fifth Discipline ... this book is far better: it is better written and more powerful. On the evidence presented here, the case for business sustainability is overwhelming. Although the authors never say so directly, it seems clear that the business case for sustainability is so strong that the personal beliefs of the CEO and the board do not really matter. Even the most adamant climate-change denier must recognise where the market is going. Forget the environment: this is business. ... Their arguments are compelling and there are plenty of examples of businesses already leading the way. --The Financial Times, 3 July 2008

An interesting and important contribution to the burgeoning literature on the implications of climate change for business. Senge and his co-authors have produced an excellent volume, which deserves to find a place on the shelves of any thoughtful manager. The book is an example of what is is about, since it is both innovative and radical. --Lord Anthony Giddens, professor emeritus at the Centre for the Study of Global Governance and the London School of Economics writing in Management Today, August 2008

Acclaim for The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge, honored as one of the Five Greatest Business Books of All Time by the Financial Times "One of the seminal management books of the past seventy-five years." Harvard Business Review Peter Senge was named as one of the 24 people who had the greatest influence on business strategy over the last 100 years What is THE NECESSARY REVOLUTION? The End of an Era. The Industrial Age Bubble the take, make, waste way of thinking that has dominated the developed world for the past 200 years is coming to an end. Leaders from organizations and groups as diverse as Coca- Cola and Costco, DuPont, Google, Alcoa, and Nike, Oxfam and the World Wildlife Fund are leading the charge to change the very way we do business. The Dawn of a Revolution. The environmental and social challenges before us climate change, the depletion of natural resources, the side-effects of rampant consumerism, and a widening economic divide create an unprecedented opportunity for change. Initiatives from innovative organizations from every sector from the EU's End of Vehicle Lifetime directive to Nike's new green products to Coke s transformative collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund are proving that by working together, businesses, government, and non-profit organizations are starting to bring about real, sustainable change. We must act together now. The Necessary Revolution offers a toolkit with specific strategies and points of action to help change how organizations think and act. Our situation could not be more urgent. We need to cut carbon dioxide emissions globally by 80% in 20 years. We need to reduce our consumption of water and energy drastically. We need to stop pretending that the problems belong to someone else: in an interconnected world, it doesn t matter whose end of the boat has a hole. There are no good guys and bad guys we are all responsible for our core sustainability issues: food, water, energy, waste, and toxicity. And every one of us has to be part of the solution. Imagine a world in which the excess energy from one business would be used to heat another. Where buildings need less and less energy, and where regenerative commercial buildings ones that create more energy than they use are being designed. A world in which environmentally-sound products and processes would be more cost-effective than wasteful ones. A world in which corporations such as Costco, Nike, BP and countless others are forming partnerships with environmental and social justice organizations to ensure better stewardship of the earth and better livelihoods in the developing world. Now, stop imagining that world is already emerging. A revolution is underway in today's organizations. As Peter Senge and his co-authors reveal in The Necessary Revolution, companies around the world are boldly leading the change from dead-end business as usual tactics to trans- formative strategies that are essential for creating a flourishing, sustainable world. There is a long way to go, but the era of denial has ended. Today's most innovative leaders are recognizing that for the sake of our companies and our world, we must implement revolutionary not just incremental changes in the way we live and work.