You took the job to change how the company works. A year in, you’re running a pilot.
Meanwhile everyone has a different idea of what you’re there for. Marketing wants a campaign. Finance wants a cost line it can cap. Legal wants the disclosures filed on time. The CEO wants a slide for investors.
The question of how the business model has to change, which was the whole point of the role, never quite makes the agenda.
If that sounds familiar, look hard at the tools you’ve been handed. Most of them were built for a world that holds still. I call that world Planet Simple, and since March I’ve been writing about the traps it sets: tools and frameworks that look rigorous and quietly shrink sustainability down to something the current business model can digest.
All the posts are now live.
The full series
New here? Start with The Mental Model Sabotaging Corporate Sustainability, which sets up the whole idea.
How we think about it
Trap 1: Charity Isn’t Strategy. Offsetting harm with good works while the business model stays put.
Trap 2: The Definition of Resilience That Makes You More Fragile. Resilience as bouncing back to how things were.
How we handle uncertainty
Trap 3: The Climate Analysis That Cost Six Figures and Told Them Nothing New. Expecting climate projections to make the decision for you.
Trap 4: Your Company’s Climate Report Says You’re Fine. It Shouldn’t. Stress-testing today’s strategy and calling it scenario analysis.
Trap 7 (new): Why the “Most Likely Scenario” Is the Least Useful One. Planning for the middle when the impact sits at the extremes.
Trap 8 (new): The Climate Risk Score That Gets the Wrong Answer by Design. Averaging independent perils into a single score.
Trap 9 (new): When the Number Becomes the Point. Treating the financial number as the deliverable.
How we learn
Trap 5 (new): When “Learning from Experience” Means Muddling Through. Adjusting to feedback with nothing you set out to learn.
How we report
Trap 6 (new): The Sustainability Chart That Looks Rigorous and Isn’t. Ranking issues that all need managing.
Where they all lead
Trap 10 (new): The Better You Optimize, the Worse It Gets. The ultimate trap.
If these traps have helped you effect change in your organizations, or you have feedback on improvement, I’d love to hear it.
This is part of the Planet Simple Traps series, exploring the tools and frameworks that look rigorous but quietly reinforce the assumptions holding corporate sustainability back. Based on Leaving Planet Simple by Dr. Alex Gold.