In early 2019, the Global Environmental Management Institute (GEMI) and the Institute for the Future (IFTF) began a ten-year forecast project to examine the challenge of doing business in a rapidly changing world, where the definition of ‘sustainability’ is broadening every business wants to build and maintain a ‘sustainable’ business model.

The resulting report “Future Forces That will Disrupt Sustainable Business,” examines four future forces that are external drivers of change that IFTF believes have the power to upend today’s business models over the coming ten years, including

The report is built around the idea of full-spectrum thinking, a concept pioneered by IFTF distinguished fellow Bob Johansen in his new book called Full-Spectrum Thinking: How to Escape Boxes in a Post-Categorical Future. Full-spectrum thinking is the ability to seek clarity across gradients of possibility—while avoiding the temptations of certainty.

Building on the foresights in this new forecast, GEMI is planning a new Sustainability Disruption Project to bring corporate sustainability leaders together to continue to understand and develop strategies to help business to efficiently respond and lead through emerging disruptions such as those identified by IFTF.

Join SSF, GEMI and IFTF in a 60 minutes discussion of future forces that will disrupt sustainable business.

Meet the Panel

Bill Gill serves as assistant vice president of sustainability for Smithfield Foods, Inc. In this role, he is responsible for expanding and accelerating Smithfield’s long-term sustainability vision, including identifying and prioritizing proactive sustainability initiatives across the company’s operations

Bob Johansen is a distinguished fellow with the Institute for the Future in Silicon Valley. For more than 30 years, Bob has helped organizations around the world prepare for and shape the future, including corporations such as Nestle and GlaxoSmithKline, as well as a range of major universities and nonprofits.

Scott Nadler is Nadler Strategy’s Principal and founder. He has over 40 years of hands-on experience building, leading and turning around organizations and supporting senior executives in both the private and public sectors.