[Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from a podcast interview Leslie Guevarra
conducted with Angela Nahikian, the director of Global Environmental Sustainability at Steelcase Inc. To read the full transcript, or to listen to or download the podcast, see "Steelcase's Vision for an Eco-Friendly Future."]
The key to Steelcase Inc.'s business sustainability practices and its design strategy lies in its approach, says Angela Nahikian, the company's director of Global Environmental Sustainability. That approach may come as a surprise to some people who have tracked this industry leader and its nearly 100-year history of innovation. Nahikian talks to GreenBiz Radio about her company and the concept of "radical evolution."
LG: Would you talk to us about sustainability practices in business? It's a huge issue and Steelcase has long been an innovator in this area and in fact an industry leader. Tell us, what are the big things? What should we be keeping in mind?
AN: Well, I think when it comes to sustainable business practices, it begins with a curiosity, and I think the insatiable appetite for more information and more understanding. We like to consider ourselves as students, curious students of sustainability, and I think that if you keep that mindset and hold on to that mindset, there are just endless opportunities from a business and a business model perspective.
Approaching it from that direction, we really are very focused on not only the environmental sustainability aspects of our products, which have been a significant investment for us and a significant focus over the years but particularly in the past five to 10 years, and understanding the chemistry of our products, which is a significant learning and an ongoing learning for us. So, we begin there, and invest in understanding the lifecycle impacts of our products and then (in) ways that we can ensure that our products have a second life through either recycling or reuse.
With those three platforms in mind, that's the beginning of all of the thinking that we do around our product development side around sustainability. But I think more and more, we're interested in -- what are the innovation opportunities and how do we start truly braiding and integrating the social, environmental and business model aspects into total design solutions?
We're thinking about sustainability as being the ultimate systems design problem: How do we weave these three elements together to really innovate? Because I think that's where we believe the future of sustainability opportunities will be -- as the innovation opportunities provided by thinking about it differently.
LG: It seems that there is not only a greater interest but a greater urgency surrounding all these ideas. Why is that? Why is that happening now?
AN: Well, I think certainly there has been a lot of evidence on the environmental side from a climate perspective that there is an absolute sense of urgency. We have a lot to make up for and we all have to have the sense of urgency. But at the same time, I think that (with) especially society at large, large corporations, large businesses -- there really has to be an evolutionary aspect to sustainability and those things are intentioned. So, what it requires is this sense of urgent iteration, this radical evolution -- if you will -- approach to sustainability that is really going to win. I think a lot of people understand that now and are starting to see ways in which they can have that radical mindset, but evolve in a way that sustains business and standards of living and society expectations.
Angela Nahikian is a featured speaker at Greener By Design 2009, which runs through Wednesday in San Francisco.