Too Big to Care: Adopt Sustainable Business Practices or Embrace Defeat

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Advance Praise

Glen Wood is the thought leader for business leaders in our post-pandemic global economy. His practical and effective ‘power of circles’ approach dramatically improves overall business outcomes and profit while adding value to society. This is the root of capitalism and critical for the sustainability of any business. Too Big to Care is the blueprint for reimagining your company and a must-read to thrive in this new world.

—Stephen Kagawa, Founder and CEO at The Pacific Bridge Companies and GAMA International Diamond award winner

Glen’s book is the antidote for confusion and overwhelm over how to implement Sustainable Development Goals and comply with environmental, social, and government policies. Glen’s practical and thoughtful approach to elevating companies that both care deeply and compete fiercely is built on a foundation of decades-long experience in business, finance, strategy, and development. His leadership on these critical challenges will have a profound impact on global corporate culture for years to come.

—W. Brad Johnson, PhD, professor of psychology at the United States Naval Academy

In today’s fast-paced world, leaders must consider the impact of their decisions on many factors and stakeholders: employees, teammates, their families, the environment, etc. As a business leader, I know the difficulty in navigating these needs. Too Big to Care is an honest, refreshing, and thought-provoking book for those seeking to be more responsible in their response to these needs.

—David Smith, PhD, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, author, and speaker

If you’re in business, do yourself a favor and read this book. Glen Wood, a pioneering leader in the logistics industry, provides a clear roadmap to success for companies seeking to thrive in our ever-changing world. Using the power of a circle, Glen uncovers how moving toward a sustainability model in practices, products, and marketing will benefit businesses and give them a significantly improved chance at long-term profitability. Wood’s background in logistics and on Wall Street and his experience building a successful, sustainable business helped him develop this realistic, practical approach for a company’s lasting success in today’s world.

—Karen Hill Anton, author of The View From Breast Pocket Mountain

Too Big to Care is a valuable book for anyone seeking to lead their organization toward actual, practical progress in the midst of what can often feel like alphabet soup and PR acronyms.

—Nicholas Benes, Representative Director of the Board Director Training Institute, CEO, and lecturer

Too Big to Care is an important message, and one doubly important in this particular moment: to create a lasting and sustainable model for the future of capitalism and logistics, society needs to return to the power of relationships and sustainable business. Glen Wood provides a clear map of the failures likely for businesses that rely on simple transactional business relationships and only focus on profit. He also provides a roadmap for individuals and businesses seeking to find deeper meaning and sustainable growth in a world of increasing interconnectedness. This is a powerful book meant for anyone seeking to lead their organization forward.

—Richard Folsom, Co-Founder and Representative Partner at Advantage Partners

Working as a senior administrator in academic institutions for over twenty years, I was often admonished to examine the leadership strategies used in the business sector. Now businesses are facing new challenges. With extensive real-world experience in the areas of finance and logistics, Glen Wood believes in the power of capitalism to enhance our lives collectively and individually. He is equally aware of the perils of focusing on profit alone, which he has witnessed firsthand. Wood demonstrates the importance of integrating the focus on profit with an emphasis on values, relationships, and sustainable goals, and he illustrates how that approach can guarantee the success and vitality of the societies of which they are a part.

—Frederick W. Schmidt, D.Phil., senior scholar and inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

Glen Wood’s positivity in laying out how we can all be our best selves—and help our organizations be their best at the same time—is the message many of us need to hear.

—Tony Khan, President and Representative Director of DHL Japan

The future is here. Sustainable development and ESG goals are increasingly used to benchmark corporate performance, at least among those who buy from, work for, or invest in business. In Too Big to Care, Glen Wood and Tatsuhiko Nakazawa make the case with compelling accounts that company managers must also care, now.

—Michael Useem, Faculty Director of the McNulty Leadership Program, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Edge: How 10 CEOs Learned to Lead

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Copyright © 2024 Glen Wood

All rights reserved.

First Edition

ISBN: 978-1-5445-4096-2

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For our incredible children, and the bright future they represent:

Shiori, Soma, Rick, Alexander, Victoria, Abigail, Joshua, and Angela.

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Contents

Introduction

1. Logistics and Capitalism

2. The Power of Circles

3. Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance

4. Environment

5. Society and the Family

6. Corporate Governance

7. Investors

8. Workforce

9. Customers

10. Brand Image

11. The New Connectivity

12. Leadership and Management Best Practices

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

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Introduction

Let me tell you about a cycle of events that plays out every day in the world.

The CEO of a multinational corporation in a major city in say, the United States, has a conversation with his board of directors about something called SDGs. He brings the matter to his executive team, and they in turn task their managers with this new initiative. The US manager has never even heard the term, but he doesn’t want to look stupid, so he does an internet search and lands on a United Nations web page for Sustainable Development Goals.1 There he finds a list of seventeen SDGs.

Is this what his CEO was talking about? Because nothing on the page looks familiar to him. These are not the usual goals he’s asked to meet. The first goal, for example, is about ending poverty. Since when did his company care about poverty? There’s another goal about gender equality and another about climate action.

The only thing remotely familiar to him is the eighth goal: decent work and economic growth. His bosses are always looking for ways to make more money, but what does that have to do with—as the United Nations page states—decent work for all?

None of this makes sense to him, but he doesn’t want to say that out loud. Instead, he calls the manager in Tokyo.

We need some SDGs from you guys, he says, praying the Tokyo manager won’t ask him what it means. To his relief, the Tokyo manager is familiar with the term. Esdeegees is a fairly common word in Japan. It’s a hot topic in business circles. The Tokyo manager is even wearing a lapel pin to show his company supports sustainable goals. He doesn’t know that esdeegees is in fact three letters—S, D, and G—and stands for Sustainable Development Goals, but he’s heard the word.

The US manager hangs up, relieved. This is now somebody else’s problem. The Tokyo manager hangs up, troubled. Sure, he knows the term, but he is not sure what he needs to actually do to make his bosses happy. What can he do in his day-to-day work that will have an impact on esdeegees? How does he realistically deliver on this vague goal?

A Changing World

The world is changing quickly. Technology and social media have enabled a new global connectedness and free-flowing of communication and ideas, changing how humans interact and causing a cultural shift. All of this influences business leaders’ focus and how they run their companies. It makes them take a harder look at how they are perceived by the public. Leaders question whether they are supportive enough of their people. They wonder whether they are environmentally conscious enough, and if it really matters. They are also worried about what their customers think about their corporate governance and their brand. Are they transparent enough? Are they too transparent?

Leaders are wondering how the traditional nature of their businesses fits in this new corporate environment. They know what has worked in the past, but fear that the relevance of their established brand is waning. They want to know which parts of their brand are timeless—and which parts are outdated. They are proud of where they came from and believe in the value of their company heritage. But they don’t know exactly where they are going and question whether their history will continue to benefit them or become a detriment to growth.

At the same time, the pressure on business leaders to globalize—or not to globalize—comes with a lot of uncertainty. If globalization is the best path forward for their company, they want to know the best time to start, how quickly to ramp up, and how much globalization will be necessary to remain competitive. How will globalization change their company and will they need to change the way they do business to fit into the culture of the global economy? Whether or not they choose to globalize, they want to know what they have to gain and the risks that come with their decision.

Business leaders also have to consider the expectations of their investors, employees, and customers, not to mention the regulators and politicians. For many, the world around them has changed so much, yet they have not—and now they are at a point where they must decide whether it’s time to redefine who they are as a company. This means getting back to the basics about what is important to them, their investors, their employees, and their customers. That’s a lot of people to satisfy in a super-connected, evolving world. Do they pay more attention to investors? Close shops and go to an online presence only? Should they shift to a different strategy, for example, a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) strategy? Should they hire more people, or look to cut back?

Hindering their action is the fact that many are locked into a corporate structure and culture that’s no longer sustainable. This makes it difficult for them to hire and maintain good talent. They have problems with both employee retention and client acquisition. Their customers are expecting more from them, not just in products and services, but in how they manage their companies.

So are their shareholders. Before making investments, shareholders are now looking at the total environmental impact of a company’s policies and practices. Are they damaging the environmental ecosystem? Are they sustaining it? Do they define themselves as environmentally neutral, environmentally damaging, or environmentally helping? Likewise, shareholders are concerned about the social impact of a company—not just within the business, but on the world. Business leaders are expected to tackle harassment, eliminate discrimination, and treat their employees fairly, as well as offer a product that contributes to society by adding value. For example, a tobacco company could treat its employees like gold, but it will always fail the second part of the social impact test because its product is, by nature, harmful to society.

Also on the list of shareholder demands is corporate governance. Are business leaders transparent about their corporate governance policies? Are they communicating them clearly to their managers and employees? How accurate is their reporting, and how often do they share it with stakeholders? These three standards—environmental impact strategies, social impact strategies, and corporate governance strategies—come together in what is known as ESG strategies or goals. (If you’ve ever invested your retirement savings in a mutual fund with an ESG tag, now you know what it means.) This, along with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, are now crucial requirements for business leaders. Yet many leaders either don’t know how to address these requests, aren’t willing to address them, or they do not fully understand the benefits and the risks of compliance versus non-compliance.

Those who have chosen to ignore the cultural shift may be dealing with social problems, management problems, and even legal problems and lawsuits from employees within their companies. Behind the curve and out of touch, they’re struggling to understand why what worked in the past doesn’t work anymore. Some are running to catch up, but still very much behind. Others are paralyzed with indecision, unsure of what to do next, and getting further behind by the day. Leaders know they have to make changes, but they don’t want to lose themselves—or the heart of their businesses—in the process. What is the best way to deal with this vastly changing world?

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs (pronounced es-dee-gees), are a great place to start for any business looking to develop a strategy for social improvement. These seventeen goals touch on issues of society, environment, and corporate governance and are perhaps the most comprehensive inventory of what needs to change or improve:2

No poverty

Zero hunger

Good health and well-being

Quality education

Gender equality

Clean water and sanitation

Affordable and clean energy

Decent work and economic growth

Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Reduced inequalities

Sustainable cities and communities

Responsible consumption and production

Climate action

Life below water

Life on land

Peace, justice and strong institutions

Partnerships for the goals

The United Nations SDGs were developed over decades, but only recently codified for their 2030 agenda. At the time of publication of this book, that’s only seven years away. The UN has put out an urgent call for action by all countries, both developed and developing. Their dream is to have a global partnership among countries to achieve these goals. Governments around the world have embraced these goals and have called on corporations to take on the responsibility of helping their respective countries achieve them.

This began at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. More than 170 countries adopted Agenda 21, the plan to build a global partnership for sustainable development. The movement continued at the World Summit in South Africa in 2002. In January 2015, the seventeen SDGs became part of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, and they were published later that year.

Some governments incentivize corporations that comply with these goals, and more guidance can be found on the UN’s website. SDGs are more popular in some countries, such as Japan, than in others. Large corporations in that country have SDG pins that people wear on their lapels, advertising to the world that they are an SDG-focused enterprise. (See Figure 0.1.)

Figure 0.1

In addition to the United Nations website, companies can get help from SDG consultants and/or supply chain companies like our own (Smart Vision Logistics) that assist corporations striving to achieve these Sustainable Development Goals.

Another acronym that businesspeople should familiarize themselves with is USP, which stands for unique social problems. Companies looking to make a positive difference in society can start by identifying their own USPs. For some, it may be gender disparity, while others may be experiencing a lack of access to clean water or the proliferation of child labor or child poverty in their industry or community. Beginning with your USPs, you can start to build a strategy around SDG growth.

There are also monitors and scores, such as the country risk monitor and sovereign risk score, that can help you discover how your country is performing in regard to SDGs. These are assigned by private companies.

A company doesn’t have to solve the world’s problems to make a difference. Leadership should be aware of their business’s limitations and respect them. Every country has cultural, religious, social, and historical elements that affect the sphere of influence a company has in social matters. The key is to identify what you can change and begin there.

That being said, it’s also time to re-examine our perspective. SDGs can seem overwhelming, and perhaps superfluous. After all, what do these goals have to do with a profitable business? More often than not, leaders find themselves asking: Why should we bother? But they must re-evaluate this perspective. For while a company doesn’t have to solve the world’s problems, it’s time to consider that solving some of them is the right business strategy. Perhaps it wasn’t the right business strategy for the last twenty years, but for the next twenty, it is the clearest path to strong, powerful profits.

As Tony Robbins said: Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. Ask better questions. Instead of seeing SDGs as a burden, ask yourself: Will reaching these goals light a fire under my company’s profits? Then do your research. You will be surprised by the answers.

How We Got Involved

We, the authors of this book, didn’t enter the business world intending to launch a sustainable logistics company. We weren’t thinking about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We weren’t thinking about corporate environmental impact, corporate social impact, and corporate governance (or ESG goals) either. More and more, these are the three standards by which companies are measured—not only by socially conscious investors, but also by anyone interested in a company’s future financial performance. Though perhaps it’s not so surprising that we eventually went in that direction.

I, Glen, was born and raised on a small farm. My father had died in a machinery accident when my mother was pregnant with me. Unable to support herself and my older brother on her own, she moved the family to her parent’s farm in Ontario, Canada. My brother and I grew up working on the farm, which relied on logistics—planning, coordination, and implementation—to ensure healthy animals and sustainable lands. I knew that if I didn’t feed the chickens, they wouldn’t lay eggs. If the pigs weren’t tended to, they wouldn’t have piglets, and if the land was ruined, there wouldn’t be another growing season. Even at a very young age, I was always thinking about logistics and sustainability—ecological balance—and the business of the farm. Things came in and things went out, but nothing was wasted. We couldn’t afford to be wasteful.

I was also quite musical. Thanks to the generosity of someone from church who believed in my abilities, I was granted a scholarship to Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. I graduated at a young age and even then, I was thinking about the investment that person made in me and my responsibility to sustain their donation through my own actions.

Just like on the farm with my responsibility to the land and the animals, I wanted to be a good steward of the investment in my education. I traveled to China to teach English and music and was there shortly after the Tiananmen Square Massacre. It was a scary time to be in China, and so I decided to relocate to a position in Japan. I was asked to work in Chichibu, a city located a several hour drive northwest of Tokyo in Saitama Prefecture.

There, I did a homestay with a Japanese family, learning their language, customs, and culture. I continued teaching English and music, as well as North American customs and culture, to high school students. I also spent time working at the City Hall helping the local government with international exchange projects. Japan has relationships with sister cities around the world, and people visiting Chichibu from those cities often spoke English but struggled with Japanese. Being bilingual, I assisted with communications. I also helped facilitate meetings between the Chichibu mayor and visiting mayors from the sister cities. Chichibu Township, Ogano Town, incidentally, is where I met my business partner and the co-author of this book, Tatsuhiko Nakazawa.

After a while, my boss and the mayor recommended me to a position in Tokyo where I would take on a management role on a multi-national level. As a program manager at CLAIR, which stands for the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, I helped manage the logistics of bringing in roughly four thousand people from forty countries every year and placing them in locations around Japan. As you can imagine, the work appealed to my interest in logistics.

I also worked with many senior government officials. Eventually, I was welcomed into a think tank. We were a team of about twenty people, mostly politicians, all working together at the official residence of the prime minister of Japan. This was just after the country’s economic bubble had burst, and it was then that I had my first real conversations about sustainability. The politicians and business leaders wanted to know how to create an economy with long-term sustainability, instead of bubbles