The Odyssey of Modern Business
How companies are dodging one risk and sailing into the unknown
There's a narrative gaining momentum that sustainability is no longer worth the effort. That it is a relic of corporate idealism or partisan overreach. But we’re not done with sustainability or ESG yet. What we’re seeing now is the storm before the next era of growth.
This storm demands courage, clarity, and better navigation because, through the darkness and rain, you might not be able to see the path.
ESG, sustainability, and stakeholder economics are more vital than ever. Paired with technology, they’re the ships that companies will command to reach the next stages of growth. However, every nervous step taken away from the dock puts your business further at risk.
Some business leaders are under the impression that the tailwinds of the current political movement will carry them. In reality, they are buffeted by the storm, unaware of what faces them next as they’ve thrown ESG topics overboard.
The storm’s timing is unfortunate because, whether companies recognize it or not, they are like the explorers of old, in the middle of the ocean looking for opportunity or maybe they are staying home, hoping for the best. Still, they risk losing everything if they ignore what lies beyond the storm.
The deep history of risk and movement
When we think of explorers in the West, we often think about those charting for adventure and seeking opportunity, often on the backs of those less privileged. Yet, this isn’t the only reason people have sought new lands.
As early as 1000 BCE, Polynesians began settling islands across the vast Pacific Ocean, often driven by population pressures and the search for more habitable land. Centuries later, Norse explorers faced similar resource scarcity and would also set sail into the unknown, establishing settlements from Iceland to Greenland and even reaching North America.
Risk at home can lead to expanded horizons.
In more recent times, new forces have propelled mass migrations, ranging from the Pilgrims seeking religious freedom in America to the Great Migration of millions of African Americans escaping racial violence in the US South, to contemporary Syrian refugees fleeing civil war and persecution in search of safety across Europe.
Across time, when survival, dignity, or freedom is at stake, people have always dared to move into the unknown.
The boardroom stays home
In addition to the manufactured uncertainty in the US, forces beyond a company’s control should cause boards and management teams to pause, reflect, and then act.
The fundamental nature of operating a business has shifted as new connected crises are cropping up across environmental, social, governance, and technology. In the US political environment, new forces drive many companies to concessions, similar to hunkering down for a harsh winter because the local sovereign told you to and hoping they throw you scraps.
It’s as if the board has a map to somewhere new, but they are too scared to move. Today’s corporate migrations are limited in imagination to intangible reincorporations from Delaware to Texas, regardless of physical and financial risks in the real world. We’ve seen concessions across various industries, including financial services firms, companies, and higher education. Each capitulation has examined all the factors in play and landed on the President as the biggest stakeholder with the most risk.
It might feel best to keep your head down, but that isn’t what companies are doing. The recent moves haven’t been strategic plays to build resilience but a form of corporate conscription.
The risks beyond Scylla and Charybdis
For those willing to get into the boat and brave the waters, the threats of sea monsters and falling off the world’s edge may be imagined, but the storm they encounter is very much real.
And so, companies are faced with a choice: Do they shift their business and capitulate, or focus on the business risks and face the storm head-on with a plan?
A familiar metaphor for risk management in business comes from The Odyssey. At one point, Odysseus and his crew must navigate through a narrow passage with Scylla, a wicked sea monster, on one side, and Charybdis, a deadly whirlpool, on the other. In the tale, he chooses Scylla based on Circe’s advice, as the creature is less risky. Scylla claims six of his men.
It is indeed an excellent metaphor for choosing between risks, but a limited check-in to that singular scene loses the broader lesson for leaders. The lesson isn’t that risk puts you between a rock and a hard place. Risk is unavoidable, but being unprepared, uncoordinated, and reactive makes it catastrophic.
When faced with Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus weighs his risk, chooses the lower risk, and loses six men. After, the crew ends up stranded on Thrinacia, the island of the Sun God, Helios. After a month, the crew is starving and slaughters the cattle on the island. Helios asks Zeus for retribution, and he destroys Odysseus’s ship, killing the entire crew except for Odysseus.
At this point, Odysseus is carried by the wreckage back through that narrow passage and Charybdis again, barely surviving.
KEY TAKEAWAY: You can try to minimize risk for what’s immediate as much as possible, but unless you have an excellent and thoughtful plan, other risks are always waiting.
In other words, if your company seeks to align with the near-term political winds but ignores the newly complex operating environment, the realities of climate change, shifting stakeholder sentiment, and more, it could lead to disaster.
With a bit of an ESG Mindset, you can weather the storm and find new opportunities that don’t involve shifting your company’s purpose. This allows you to manage both short-term risks and long-term crises.
The tools for the journey
Materiality is your map. It is your guide to what truly matters: externalities, unintended consequences, and their interconnections. It is also your best chance to focus on what you can control.
Stakeholders are your compass, and your employees are the crew. Listen to them, act in their interests and yours. Even the most famous explorers had their detractors. Listen to them, too, but remember who is footing the bill and who rows alongside you.
This is YOUR story. It isn’t about someone else, despite the relentless headlines. YOU need the courage to leave the harbor in the first place.
Explorers of old faced physical dangers and real threats. Today’s leaders navigate intangible, interconnected risks, which are just as real and perilous. Have the courage to recognize that things are rapidly changing, but this change may not be as persistent as the headlines make you believe.
While explorers of old had the means of navigation, they didn’t always know where they would end up. You don’t either. The best you can do is create a durable vision that looks beyond the storm and hope you’ve done enough to make it through.
The horizon may be uncertain, but progress has always belonged to those willing to set sail.