The upside of disruption: Building a Sustainable Future - Part 4 of 4

Rasheed Mohamad

March 05, 2024

Sustainability and leadership through VUCA

There are a number of reasons for businesses to take sustainability seriously. The first, and most obvious, is to minimise their environmental impact for the good of the planet and future generations. The second, and maybe less obvious reason, is their bottom line. 

In my earlier posts in this series, I defined the VUCA world we’ve been grappling with since 2020 and explained how implementing a business intelligence process and staying true to the ALE company values of speed and agility, customer centricity, and reliability were critical to survival. Adopting this approach in an environment of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity meant we honoured every customer order while improving communications and processes across the organisation.

In this fourth and final post of the series, I’ll speak about how and why we chose to focus on sustainability despite the VUCA. 

Tackling our ESG strategy

While ALE was in the throes of disruption, we were able to see the opportunity in having a more well defined Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) framework.

Working with consultants, we undertook a full double materiality assessment to better understand our environmental standing throughout our entire value chain, including the supply chain. 

We tapped our best and brightest, formed the “Game Changers” team, and asked them to help us take our existing CSR programme and transform it into a new and more committed ESG strategy. 

We are now defining KPIs. And we are working to drive growth while being kinder to our planet. This is the right thing to do and it’s also smart business.

Because our customers and their organisations want greener technology solutions. Like many other commodities, global events have impacted energy prices, making energy efficiency a major concern for enterprises around the world – ALE included. 

Furthermore, companies are increasingly – and quite rightly – being judged by consumers on their actions in regards to the environment. Words aren’t enough. We have understood this and have taken major steps during difficult times to ensure we act in accordance with our values to meet our customers’ needs.

To learn more about this topic, watch my talk from the Deliver Americas event held this past September in Las Vegas.