In his TED talk, Bob Langert (2019) discloses the stories from his time working in McDonald’s management team – about how he, together with environmental activists, implemented changes to make the company more sustainable. Nowadays, environmental initiatives are a global trend that is rapidly gaining momentum and changing the work of international corporations. However, in the late 80s, large companies rarely concerned themselves with the protection of animal rights or switching from plastic to paper. Langert (2019) shares how confused he felt in the beginning when he was tasked first with the goal to bring McDonald’s from the “garbage crisis” the corporation brought itself into with non-ecological packaging. It is understandable even now: despite the fact that the topic of environmental protection has been on the rise lately, it is still rather difficult to imagine how such a large company would change.
McDonald’s is very well-known for its fast food; the lines of produce, logistics, recipes, and policies have long been established, and implementing changes into them might seem to bring only problems. However, Langert (2019) proposes a rather logical, though not so obvious, decision: to cooperate with the exact same people who contradict the company in the environmental field and see what solutions they might have. While corporate managers understand business and how it works, ecology activists understand what steps need to be taken toward a better world. Langert (2019) provides some specific examples that show how important it is to collaborate on such matters, as they lie on the overlap between business and sustainability. Neither of the sides has the full knowledge of both, but each are experts in their own respective fields, so by coming together, they are able to create a solution that would actually work. I think this approach can be applied to many situations, especially in business; one needs to see the issue from a different perspective to determine the best course of action.
However, I also must note that during my first watch, I was rather confused by the way Langert (2019) seemed to approach the issue. Perhaps this confusion stemmed from the fact that I did not believe that corporations in the late XX and the beginning of the XXI century would be willing to actually collaborate with environmental activists. It would be more plausible to me if Langert (2019) said McDonald’s first created a great strategy all on its own. I would believe if he said that critics were pleased with the company’s effort enough to be more cooperative in the future, and that is how the “friendship” between them and the corporation began. Thus, it was actually rather astounding to hear that a McDonald’s corporative manager made the effort of actually reaching out to the environmental protection organizations and was supported in all his actions.
I think I could say it gives me hope: if a giant like McDonald’s was willing to make a real effort to help various causes in the 80s and 90s, then perhaps other corporations would too? It is clear from Langert’s (2019) various experiences that this approach works – while they were not able to totally reduce plastic waste or refuse to use meat, their collaborative strategies provided a lot of positive effects. By working together, I believe we can overcome every crisis, and McDonald’s example is a piece of real evidence to support that claim. It would be great to see more corporations, both big and small, engaging with environmental protection organizations to develop effective working solutions today and in the future.
Reference
Langert, B. (2019). The business case for working with your toughest critics. TED Talk. Web.