You can’t manage what you can’t measure.
This common sense platitude holds true for a lot of things:
Salary, punctuality in trains, inflation. And – of course – sustainability/ESG data.
Measuring alone can be complex enough.
But there are also incentive systems. And the impact they have on aspirations to deliver results.
Where sales targets for instance are as good as always understood as ‘invitation to be exceeded’ (with financial and other bonuses resulting from overachievement) the near opposite holds true for ESG/sustainability related KPIs.
And that absolutely must change.
For every single person in every single company.
KPI priorities must be flipped on their heads.
The supply chain.
It has been accepted a long-time ago: supply chain is a risk. Or better: a RISK in capital letters.
But also a word that sounds impersonal. Very akin to a factory being a cogwheel in a much larger clockwork. And while the definition of the term does list ‘people’, the focus is very clearly on the idea of it all being a neat system of seamless interactions.
On December 14th, PPR published the expert review report on Puma’s Environmental Profit and Loss Account (E P&L). The panel of experts that had been commissioned to undertake the review brought some of the most eminent names in the industry together, among them John Elkington, Peter Bakker, or Pushpam Kumar.
Ever heard of EMAS, the European Eco Management and Audit Schema? No? This is a brief introduction to what it is, with links to further resources.