Why we exist

Markets work because of what Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter called “Creative Destruction”. He describes it as a "process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one".

To address sustainability at the speed and scale required - which has been the life long focus of the company's founders - we need creative destruction on steroids!

The old, linear, waste generating, fossil fuel powered industrial system needs to be destroyed and replaced with a new one. Fortunately this is already underway in the energy sector, with fossil fuels now in terminal decline.  But we need it every sector and every country. And we need it urgently.

That’s why we formed Disruptive Consulting. We support large companies - that are already leaders in sustainability - to disrupt and transform their own markets. To make money at the expenses of competitors who are sustainability laggards. To accelerate, and then win, the market race to sustainability.

World View

The issue with sustainability is not the availability of solutions, but the speed with which we’re taking them to scale.

What is holding us back? Many argue it is the lack of commitment to acting on sustainability by business leaders and investors - that if they wanted to drive it harder they could. We think this view is based on a flawed analysis of how markets and business operates. Most businesses and certainly nearly all investors, are not leaders but followers. They move as and when the market moves in a new direction.

So the idea that we can drive transformational global change by getting investors and business to proactively act ahead of the market is fatally flawed. And given we need to act urgently to address the existential risks posed by various sustainability issues, it is a dangerous idea because it will not work.

We understand the crucial role of leadership by forwarding thinking companies and business leaders. We have after all spent decades working alongside the top leadership of large global corporations who are deeply committed to drive change.

But what we need now is not more leaders, but more followers. That means we need outstanding success by a small number of leading companies in key market segments that show the possibilities on offer. The rest of the market will then follow. The companies most likely to lead this do not need to be convinced of the need to act, they need to see outstanding success. That is the focus of our work, to help them deliver this outstanding success. Then the market will follow.

What we do

The issue we see with most corporations who seek to lead on sustainability is that they are generally very good at developing solutions and getting them ready for market. Where they tend to fail, is creating or shifting the market context so that customers want to buy their solutions.

There's two reasons for this.

Firstly their culture and approach is steeped in the "corporate responsibility" mindset. They see this as "the right thing to do"  and as a result have great passion and commitment to action. This is a good thing but it mean they often take action ahead of the market's demand.

This leads us to the second reason. Companies generally don't have the culture or skills necessary to drive social change.  And to shift the market often requires social change.

So in short, that's what we do. We work with companies that already have stand out solutions to sustainability challenges to help them understand the social change they need in order to also have stand out market success. We then help them to drive it.

We address issues like:

• Does their market solution really address a significant and engaging social need - something society could be engaged by? 
• What practical social change do they need for the market to shift in the right direction for their business success? 
• What skills and people do they need internally to build a "campaigning" mindset.
• Who can they work with externally to help to drive the social change they need - who are the best potential partners and relationships.

Our Principals and Founders

Paul Gilding

Director and CEO

Paul is one of the world’s most experienced and respected corporate advisors and advocates on the implications of sustainability for business strategy and the economy.

He works with the CEOs and Executives of many leading corporations around the world and has spoken to hundreds of business conferences and public forums.  Amongst his various current roles, he is a Fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership, where he researches and teaches on the inevitable global economic transformation around sustainability.

With nearly 40 years experience on sustainability as a corporate advisor, activist leader, businessman and thought leader, Paul provides deep insights into the challenges and opportunities that environmental and social trends present for society, companies and investors.

His book The Great Disruption was published by Bloomsbury in the United States and Europe in April 2011 to wide acclaim. It has been translated for publication in Germany, The Netherlands and Brazil. His views have been featured in major media outlets around the world including by Pulitzer Prize winning writer Tom Friedman in the New York Times, where Friedman concluded “Ignore Gilding at your peril.”

Paul’s experience and career has seen him go from serving in the Australian military, to being global head of Greenpeace to being owner and CEO of two companies, strategy consultancy Ecos Corporation and energy efficiency company Easy Being Green.

He has advised the Boards and Executives of companies including Unilever, BHP Billiton, DSM, DuPont, Ford Motor Company, Fonterra and many others. Through this work he has developed close working relationships with a large number of Chairmen, CEOs and executives, helping them to deepen their understanding of sustainability issues, particularly the relationship to business value and strategy. He has also maintained close links with the NGO community and helped to develop stronger partnerships, understanding and relationships with business.

He lives on a farm in southern Tasmania, Australia with his wife, where they grow vegetables and raise chickens, pigs and their children.

Joakim Bergman

Director

Joakim has spent his adult life driving social change. Swedish by origin, he studied law but soon after landed at Greenpeace, where he discovered his passion for campaigns. In the early 1990’s his time as Campaign Director of Greenpeace Sweden saw some of the organisation’s earliest innovation in market campaigns, including on chlorine bleaching in the pulp and paper industry and the PVC campaign. He went on in Greenpeace to various roles including CEO of Greenpeace Sweden, Deputy CEO of Greenpeace International and a board member of Greenpeace USA and Central and Eastern Europe.

In 1996, Joakim established and ran a solutions focused market campaigning business in Sweden. Over nearly two decades he has developed unique experience in driving market growth strategies for sustainable products for large international corporations. His clients have included companies in forestry, health and nutrition, building materials and recycling.

Joakim has also worked at Action Aid Sweden, advising them on how to become a campaigning organization and advised numerous other NGOs on how to improve their campaigning. Joakim has lived in the Netherlands and Australia, where he developed a passion for surfing. He is now based with his family in a small fishing village in the south of Sweden despite the lack of surfing opportunities.

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