- What is sustainability in your own words?

- Why does it matter for business?

- How should future managers – youth of today – be prepared to successfully deal with emerging challenges of the world (environmental and societal issues)? 

- In your view, what are three the most important characteristics of a truly sustainable company that should be never, ever neglected and why? Do you know any such company?

- How would you lead the transformation of company, department, process, product to truly sustainable one? Where would you start, what would you do first?

YOUR TASK

Prepare a max 10-slide PowerPoint Presentation for your future employer – offering them the best insight into the new world of sustainability –and why does it matter to business. 

If you will be selected among 15 Super-Finalists that will be challenged to make personal commitment TO BRING SUSTAINABILITY TO BUSINESS, you might become one of the three winners that will attend C:F Academy 2012 & C:F Summit 2012, with travel costs covered and free accommodation, and of course, the speaking opportunity at the event.

TIMELINE

• Submissions: June 7th, 5PM – October 4th, 5PM 

• Community voting:  July 5th, 5PM  – October 4th, 5PM 

• Judging: October 5th  – October 23rd, 5PM 

• Finalists announced: October 28th, 5PM 

• Finalist submissions:  3 months

• Participation in Challenge:Future Academy and Summit: March 15th to 22nd 2012

EVALUATION CRITERIA

1. C:F community will vote for your presentation with “thumbs up” from July 5th – October 10th and will be able to post comments. 

2. Expert judges and community will select 15 Super-Finalists, top 5 by community votes and 10 chosen by the judges. They will be particularly looking for the following: 

a) Quality of the submission – well thought through, takes all most important factors into account, demonstrates clear logic and structure, showcases depth of thinking and understanding

b) Creativity and originality – does your submission showcase originality in your own thinking and unique approach to answering the stated questions?

d) Usefulness – the ‘so what?’ factor – do your insights offer meaningful contribution to a company and could be useful for their development and thinking?

AWARDS

• Top 4 winners, first by community votes and first three selected by the judges will receive a book Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage signed by co-author Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva

• Top 15 finalists , top 5 by community votes and 10 chosen by the judges, will compete in the Super-Finals round for three places at the challengefuture Summit in March 2012 with possibility to present his/her winning solution, travel costs covered and free accommodation. The 15 finalists will be challenged to make personal commitments towards the implementation of bringing sustainability to business. 

• Expert judges will choose the top three ideas that will be awarded

1st place – full participation at the challengefuture Summit 2012 (travel, accommodation and program)

2nd place – participation at the challengefuture Summit 2012 (accommodation, program and 50% of travel)

3rd place -  participation at the challengefuture Summit 2012 (accommodation and program).

•  All finalists will receive the hard copy of The Future Book.

•  And of course, the sparks!

PROMINENT EXPERT JUDGES

Prof. Dr. Thomas Dyllick is

Professor of Management with special focus on Environmental Management, expert of Management Systems for Environment and Sustainability Management, Ecology and the Competitiveness of Companies and Industries, Integrated Management Systems for Environment and Sustainability Management, Ecological Learning Processes in Companies and Value-Creation Chains, State and Development of Sustainable Corporate Performance.

Dr. Paul Shrivastava, has a unique background that combines academic scholarship and teaching with significant entrepreneurial and senior management experience. Currently he is the David O’Brien Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal. He also serves as Senior Advisor on sustainability at Bucknell University and the Indian Institute of Management-Shillong, India, and he serves on the Board of Trustees of DeSales University, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Shrivastava has over 25 years experience in management education, entrepreneurship, and as a consultant to major multinational corporations. He has launched several entrepreneurial ventures 

Dr. Katrin Muff was appointed Dean of Business School Lausanne (BSL) in 2008 after completing her DBA in business administration from the University of Mannheim and BSL. Serving as Dean, Muff ensures real-life business direction at BSL by merging her entrepreneurial and corporate background with the academic world by centering her activities on assuring that students and course participants get the best business education possible. She is a speaker at international conferences on topic of leadership in business, executive coaching, developing future leaders and sustainable entrepreneurship

Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva, is the Coca-Cola Chair of Sustainable Development at IEDC- Bled School of Management, Slovenia, where she teaches courses in leadership, organizational behavior, design thinking, and sustainability. She also serves as Vice-President of challengefuture, global youth think tank and innovation competition. Nadya earned her PhD in Organizational Behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, USA, where she also served as an Associate Director at the Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit, now Fowler Center for Sustainable Value, until 2008. Nadya's book Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage, co-authored with Chris Laszlo has been just recently published by Standford University Press and Greenleaf Publishing.

Dr. Chris Laszlo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Organizational Behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management. He is a partner and co-founder of  Sustainable Value Partners, a strategy consulting firm working with senior leaders in some of the world's largest companies to transform societal opportunities and risks into sources of competitive advantage.  He has led over 100 executive seminars and spoken widely on Sustainability for Business Advantage inside companies and at leading business schools including Case Weatherhead, Darden, Kenan-Flager, and the European business school INSEAD in the Advanced Management Seminar and CEDEP Executive Education program.

Educated at Swarthmore College, Columbia University, and the University of Paris, Chris earned a Ph.D. in Economics and Management Science.  

REFERENCES AND NON-PLAGIARISM 

challengefuture takes a serious view on plagiarism. If your submission has content copied from external resources without proper referencing, your submission will be immediately removed and your educational institute or associated organization will be informed.

We highly encourage and support all C:F members to practice proper credit and references to all your submitted work in Quick Challenges, StormIts or the Main Competition. We advice you to look through the following resources and understand them before submitting any future work on Challenge:Future and even in your educational and professional submissions:

1.How not to plagiarize by University of Toronto

2.Avoid Plagiarism by University of New South Wales

3.Advice for Student - How not to Plagiarize by Lifehack

4.Check your work - Free Plagiarism detection tool

5.How to do a proper referencing - by University of Exeter

6.Various style of bibliography