I just heard an interesting Podcast in Bayern 2 – Ethik als Erfolgsfaktor – Führungsethik in Zeiten der Rezession (Ethics as a Factor of Success – Leadership Ethics in Times of Recession) of July, 12th, 2009 (it was broadcast this morning at 8.30). It contained a lot of interesting statements and evaluations. One of them was:
“Not thinking of catastrophes as a possible scenario is neither economically sensible, nor ethically acceptable”
To me, this sounds plausible. I rather like that statement. It complements with sustainability. And sustainability as a value is very important for me. “Nachhaltigkeit”, however, is a term that includes many facettes and is hard to define.
Thinking of “Nachhaltigkeit” (in German) also brings to mind such things as industriously sticking to a purpose, consequently and strongly fighting for something, or never despairing in an attempt to accomplish something. On hearing the term, you do not necessarily and automatically think of the rational desire to conserve and further develop natural resources; instead of using them up so you will never see them again, do you?
The German “Nachhaltigkeit” does not spontaneously give you the mental connection with what the English “sustainability” means around the world when we are talking the conservation of our planet. That is why I will now write a few articles on sustainability.
In my next article, I will describe what I mean when I talk about enduring economical behaviour in an enterprise. Later on, I will write about what else comes to mind on the subject.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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