Sustainability & the state of "Shashwat"

“Shashwat” originates from Sanskrit and it means permanent or perpetual.

I have been silently observing the world around, the breaking news on screen, the corner article on the paper, the talk’s people talk, promises which people make and the commitments which other break; finally all these things were compelling me to believe in the non existence of the word “Shashwat” in real sense amongst individuals, teams, companies and countries.

As I see, to reach the state of “Shashwat”, the answer may be not comforting to many and will arise many questions to the mind of people and corporate. I am writing this purely for an open discussion and ask few questions and help to answer few questions to myself.

I will take the support of buddy; his name is Thermodynamics as he will be with me as I put forward my views.

Prudent companies have been working rigorously towards sustainability, there are many initiatives they have undertaken and working towards it. The buzz words are “Triple Bottom Line” and “3P- people, profit & planet”. The intent is to make the business model and the organization sustainable. Sustenance will lead to perpetuality and that investors realize the commitment of the company and have confidence on the future of the company. Even if the company doesn’t make great profit, stake holders would like to see returns at least more than the “price value of money” for the current year.

Now here starts the fundamental concerning issue. To reach the state of sustenance and perpetuality, the initiatives call for immediate and bold steps... but considering the concept of Perpetual Motion Machine (PMM), the state of perpetuality comes when there are infinitesimally small change which cannot be differentiated but the state changes without realizing it.

Now when companies plunge into sustainability and perpetuality, the steps they have taken are more than what it should be, hence disrupting it more. Here the selection of initiatives is the key, thrust on going green initiative and investment in sustainable business models are something which everyone know but does it is disrupting the balance of 3P and eventually increasing the entropy of the organization. While reaching the state of sustainability the entropy of the organization should tend to move towards lower and lower (I am discounting the fact that companies will still compete for triple bottom line but in balance).

Hence change agent leading to physical dislocation such as green initiatives & investment in sustainable business model brings lesser imbalance than changes which impact an employee’s mind. I have my clear thoughts that sustainability & perpetuality of what organizations are working on should start with the fundamental change in the thinking and thought process of employees.

The suggestion is to make changes small & consistent in the minds of the people but not directly on the business model (the practice which most companies are up to these days).

I am trying seeing through a common link between “Shashwat”, sustenance, sustainability, organization and proved concepts of thermodynamics.

If this needs discussion feel free to contact me on shashwat.km@gmail.com.

Spell & grammar to be ignored as it’s a Saturday noon and though my name is Shashwat but I have still not reached the state of “Shashwat”.