Rethinking 'Sustainable Business': A Practical Guide

This article offers practical tips and actions to take in expanding an organization's understanding of sustainable business.

When most people hear “sustainability,” their minds jump to carbon footprints and green technology. But if that’s where the conversation ends, we’re missing the real opportunity.

Sustainability is just as much about people, relationships, and whose knowledge gets a seat at the table. If you are building a business (whether you're running a startup, managing a team, or shaping brand narratives) how you approach sustainability should stretch far beyond products or profits.

Expanding how we define sustainable or green business is crucial if we want to fundamentally shift away from the truths and practices that led us to unsustainable pathways.

Here’s a grounded, practical look at how you can weave real sustainability into your business practices and communications:

Do we expand sustainability beyond profit margins to center worldviews that have sustained societies for millennia?

Sustainability didn’t start with green capitalism. It didn’t start with net-zero commitments. It started with the worldviews and knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples who have sustained societies and ecosystems for millennia.

Yet, today, these voices are still excluded from the mainstream business world, treated as an afterthought or, at best, a diversity checkbox.

✔️ Acknowledge Indigenous worldviews and ways of being as inherently sustainable,

✔️ Get specific about how this informs our work and process.

“We center worldviews that have sustained societies for millennia, and represent Speakers who are doing this in provenly innovative ways. We guide the Speaker-Client relationships using some of our most nationally recognized work in temporal (de)colonization and respectful, restorative engagements.”

Do we prioritize long-term economic sustainability?

Going beyond financial metrics is essential if we’re going to expand how we understand profitability in more sustainable ways. When we define sustainable businesses, we also need to consider whether a business creates lasting value for its workers, communities, and the environment.

✔️ Consider how your resource allocation benefits collective economic wellness.

✔️ Be mindful of capitalist obsession and definitiond of growth.

“What about long-term economic sustainability? Our accessible pricing model redistributes resources ethically, ensuring that change-makers who are actively solving today’s greatest challenges can build sustainable businesses. One of our Speakers just went from pitching $150.00 for her speech to earning 10 times that, and in doing so met the budget of the client while more accurately pricing her expertise.”

Do we challenge extractive business models by nurturing collaboration over competition?

The way most industries operate is inherently extractive, from how they source materials to how they treat workers.

✔️ Think about the space you create to celebrate wins and articulate failure for future learning.

✔️ Seek out partnerships that strengthen your whole sector, not just your bottom line.

“We’re not here for the extractive, competition reliant models of traditional speakers bureaus. Instead of forcing Speakers to compete, we provide a platform and supports for them to actively collaborate, mentor, and exchange knowledge with one another while amplifying their work to our audiences.”

Redefining sustainability for the future

If we want to build truly sustainable businesses, we need to rethink not only how we operate but also what we strive for: what success looks like when we practice sustainability, how we categorize it in funding and awards, and how we celebrate and uplift businesses leading in these spaces.

If the criteria for a sustainable business only recognize what fits within the status quo, then we are missing the opportunity to support models that are truly transformative.

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