New Delhi: Black-swan events, global warming, the Covid-19 pandemic and a host of other natural and man-made disasters have tested the resilience of businesses across the world. Usually, the blame for business failures falls on external factors such as adverse business cycles, bad government regulations and lack of infrastructure.
However, the causes often lie within — short-term thinking, destruction of natural resources, exploitation of labour and poor management, to name a few, feel Mukund Rajan and Col. Rajeev Kumar, who in their book, Outlast, write about how scoring well on ESG — environment and social and governance metrics — may help businesses build resilience and outlast their competition.
The book is being credited with being the first Indian-authored book on the subject, and gives a masterful overview of issues commonly faced by businesses, and how to deal with them.
Published by HarperCollins India, Outlast will be released on SoftCover — ThePrint’s e-venue to launch select non-fiction books — on 24 February, at 1 PM.
To “outlast” competition, build resilience, gain competitive advantage and achieve greater returns in the long run, businesses must improve their performance on ESG metrics, write the authors. They also explain what comprise this ESG — environmental impacts such as their consumption of natural resources, waste discharge and carbon emissions, social factors such as ties with local communities, diversity and inclusion, and building a good reputation with stakeholders, and governance, such as board effectiveness protocols, approach to senior executive compensation and appropriate reliance on independent directors.
Following the ESG mantra
The benefits include more efficient use of resources, lower cost of operations, reduced risk, higher employee productivity and increased consumer interest, they write.
The book is a timely read for all those who belong to or aspire to be part of the corporate world. Praising the book, George Serafeim, Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, has said, “Creating prosperity requires business leaders to build trust in their organizations. Outlast provides valuable insights on how to do so in a context where environmental, social and governance issues are becoming increasingly important.”
Mukund Rajan is chairman of ECube Investment Advisors, a pioneering platform to catalyse ESG improvements. Col. Rajeev Kumar is a strategic communications consultant and a fellow of the International Association of Business Communicators.
The two draw upon their considerable experience of working for some of India’s largest organisations to present evidence and case studies that highlight why ESG is the mantra of the future.
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