We're all in it together

All the events of the past few weeks have been further reminders of what an interdependent world we live in today. The G20 continued to worry about trade imbalances and protectionism and the EU Commission continues to fight the battle to secure the euro's long term survival by recognising it's always exposed to its weakest link - put simply, whether we like it or not "we're all in it together". 

As I look into the future I can only see this interdependency increasing as the world becomes a smaller place through the power of the internet and as we face up to growing resource scarcities and the challenge of bio diversity. Importantly, some of these issues can only be dealt with through collaboration and possibly the creation of new international mechanisms which span established national jurisdictions. Time will reveal all.

So in the spirit of this new world of collaboration I wanted to make you aware of the recently published e-book from Harvard Business School on integrated reporting (Executive summary).  The book itself is a great example of a truly collaborative initiative with over 30 contributors, all of whom attended the recent Harvard conference on integrated reporting.

This book provides real insight into the future of reporting and a wonderful tour around many of the challenges and opportunities it creates. It also reinforces how important dialogue and consensus building is to an initiative of this sort. 

It’s an initiative which is trying to provide the bridge between the old and the new, the world of finance and the world of sustainability, those that are motivated by creating wealth and those who want to save the planet, those who are happy with the status quo and those who believe in change.

The Harvard e-book is a good example of co-creation which for many is the model we will all need to embrace and exploit if we are to address the short and medium term challenges facing the world.

Comments

[Edward Harkins]

David, it's interesting and kind of assuring to read that integrated reporting is now been taken so seriously. You rightfully observe that we could be contending with ‘a smaller place through the power of the internet’.

We could also, however, because of the same Internet, be contending with an ever more fractious world, sharply polarised between ‘those that are motivated by creating wealth and those who want to save the planet, those who are happy with the status quo and those who believe in change’.

Trust has to be an essential component in any toolbox that we might exploit to face up to these challenges, from factory floor all the way up to global entities. Informed and frank dialogue will be essential to the building and maintenance of such trust, and integrated reporting has to offer a significant channel to facilitate the dialogue trust.