”Wow, it’s quite a difference between what the planet wants and what the customer wants!”
The quote comes from the marketing manager at one of our customers who exclaimed it in a workshop this week. The management team was gathered. Each person had been given the role of one of the organization’s stakeholders. Now, their task was to describe their (the stakeholder’s) expectations of the organization. The expectations turned out to differ quite a bit from each other. Especially when we introduced the planet. The differences became something of an aha experience; something tangible to relate to when the action plan was to be created later on.
The Preem issue
It’s impossible to write a post this week without mentioning Preem and the Mark och Miljööverdomstolen’s remark. To be honest, the issue has dominated all our discussions this week. The gut feeling says: What?! Is an expanded thick oil refinery really what the world needs right now? What happened to the environmental goals?
Miljöbalken and the EU law say it is totally OK. After all, we have the emissions trading system. But the Mark och miljööverdomstolen don’t go by gut feelings, so what choice did they have?
Now it’s the government’s turn and so it becomes political. Everything is now up for grabs: jobs, climate targets, miljöbalken, the sulfur directive, Sweden as an attractive investment country, Sweden as a law-abiding country that adheres to existing laws and regulations, Sweden as one of the world’s first fossil-free welfare countries, renewable fuels, growth, the Paris Agreement and regional development … More?
Can we help out?
The gut feeling is loud and of course it is different gut feelings that rule in social media right now; super confident, populistic and fast as lightening. Lobbyists from all directions do the same; the simplest and most dramatic story wins.
But the issue is complex. And, as we’ve said before, we love diving into complexity and work out the essentials from there. So we would like to help the government out with a stakeholder and materiality analysis. We want them to dig deep, ensure that all stakeholders are represented – the planet as well – and relate to these stakeholders’ perspectives when giving Preem their answer. The issue is too important to be arbitrary and we think we can help.
We have of course asked.
