Essay by: Mike Shesterkin, Exec. Director In this article, we continue our journey of understanding the business as a system and the ways in which we go about applying such thinking. In the last article, we discussed the knowledge that comes through the International Standards Organization (ISO), and why it is voluntary consensus standards establish …
Essay by: Mike Shesterkin, Exec. Director This week, we’re taking a break from our series on sustainable business leadership to lift-up the Thanksgiving holiday and recognize some of the great work that’s going on in Detroit and SE Michigan for which we are thankful. It was then Secretary of State William H. Seward who drafted …
Essay by: Mike Shesterkin, Exec. Director Last week, we went a bit deeper into the basics of looking at the business through a systems thinking lens. This week, we’ll continue our study, but will take a diversion and examine the resources and knowledge available to us for sharpening our perspective. While we touched on the …
By: Monica Plawecki, SMSBF Staff Writer With the outcome of the 2020 presidential election now decided, many of us have been able to breathe a temporary sigh of relief in an otherwise tense time in our nation’s history. Yet even as voters have chosen a new President to lead our country through the ongoing pandemic, …
We Can Handle the Truth, And We Must: Restoring Transparency and Trust in Our Democracy Read More »
Op-Ed Essay by Mike Shesterkin, Exec. Dir. SMSBF The title of this article may be a bit jarring: What does “political thinking” have to do with business? When it comes to leadership, political thinking has everything to do with business, because it is within the framework of political thinking that the business leader finds truth …
Essay by: Mike Shesterkin, Exec. Director Last week, we covered how it is a business fits the definition of a system and how notions of interconnectedness and emergent properties are important to grasping the business as a system. These ideas are foundational to seeing the business in terms of how it fits within the Earth …
Essay by: Mike Shesterkin, Exec. Director, SMSBF Last week, I covered the idea that sustainable business is grounded in systems thinking and an awareness of the interconnectedness of all things. Within this context, I made the distinction between what many perceive as the purpose of business – maximize shareholder value – versus the systems thinking …
Essay by: Mike Shesterkin, Exec. Director, SMSBF “What is sustainable business?”, is an often-asked question. Perhaps another way of putting it is to ask: What’s the difference between, “sustainable business”, and “plain ol’ business”? The best way I’ve found to get at these answers starts with what I learned a number of years ago from …
Engagement is one of those words we often hear, but probably don’t share a common understanding of its meaning. Not long ago, I brought up engagement during a discussion about setting goals and metrics and was immediately challenged to describe how it could be accurately measured. In the virtual environment, terms such as “impressions”, “open …
Op-Ed Essay by Mike Shesterkin, Exec. Dir. SMSBF The word “democracy” comes from the ancient Greeks; it literally means “rule of the common people”. Getting to a more perfect manifestation of the word democracy is complex; it is perhaps why – in our nation – we struggle with things such as the role of the …
