SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS

Marushka, the founder and CEO of software and data services firm Sphera, presents a comprehensive program for embracing environmental sustainability in this nonfiction work.

“Organizations really can be profitable and responsible at the same time,” writes the author in his debut. “In fact, in today’s world, doing both is a necessity.” He notes that conceptual management tools such as life-cycle assessments and enterprise sustainability management are vital gauges, not only for improving performance across the board but also for ensuring that a company’s environmental costs are truly addressed, rather than simply offset in less-visible areas. To help readers assess such issues, Marushka presents the Invention Test, “a collection of multiple-choice questions that will test your knowledge of famous high achievers from the world of invention.” These questions usually present either/or choices, such as asking which came first: a tunnel underneath the English Channel, or someone swimming across the Channel? (The answer is the latter.) He then expands on the importance of the invention involved; for example, the author mentions that Willis Carrier created air conditioning in 1902. “As a result, vast areas of the world are now bearable in the summer months,” he writes, adding, rather broadly, “Imagine running a business in Phoenix or Dubai without air conditioning.” This semi-Socratic approach effectively allows him to widen his discussion of innovation steadily as the book progresses, and his open, engaging prose style often makes these elaborations enjoyable. He breaks down most of his key concepts into overarching categories—“People,” “Planet,” “Governance”—but the ideas themselves are flexible at the point of adoption. When it comes to ESM, for example, he notes that “companies can no longer hide in ivory towers,” but they still need to make choices about which sustainability issues are of greatest priority.

An engagingly example-driven look at incentivizing environmental conscientiousness.