Making Sustainability Work: Best Practices in Managing and Measuring Corporate Social, Environmental, and Economic Impacts by Marc J. Epstein with Forwards by John Elkington and Herman B. “Dutch” Leonard (2008) (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 288 pp., hardcover, ISBN: 1576754863) .
This book really helps practitioners “do sustainability.” The book is practical and readable. It would be a welcome addition to any manager in the corporate world, but also a welcome read to sustainability advocates. Too often sustainability takes one of two paths: environmentalist or academic. That unfortunate dichotomy leaves out the important middle ground–business. How do we engage in practices that produce sustainability? What practices work best? How do we put theories to work? These are the questions that Making Sustaibility Work answers.
So often the business world is full of theories and sloppy metaphors that it’s a wonder anything gets done. The practice of business is often maligned in the literature in favor of the theories behind practice. Epstein does an admirable job of turning that phenomenon on its ear. This work should serve as a blueprint for executives seeking to make their companies sustainable. It provides the practical advice, from a qualified expert, that we all need and desire.
This book is an admirable addition to the broad body of scholarship on sustainability. It combines the rigors of academic excellence with the practicallity of how-to manual.
