Trends are evident in business. The fashion industry lives and dies on seasonal must-have changes from short skirts to bold patterns to platform shoes.
 
Yet in business what is really important are megatrends. In his 1982 book, “Megatrends,” author John Naisbitt defines megatrends as “a general shift in thinking or approach affecting countries, industries and organizations.”
 
During the last several years, three megatrends have increasingly gained speed, yet very few people actually discuss them or understand how to deal with them.
 
First, a little background is required to understand what is happening within the global marketplace.

Corporate Social Responsibility 

With the forthcoming retirement of the majority of the U.S. workforce, finding qualified replacements is going to become extremely competitive and very expensive. Generation Y -- those born after 1980 -- are now making employment decisions based upon the usual factors and, in some cases, something new: corporate social responsibility (CSR).
 
In years past, companies demonstrated corporate social responsibility -- beyond paying their local, state and federal taxes -- from their interactions within the community to truly being good stewards of their people to their environment. Now incoming employees want to see CSR extend to the impact of all decisions on the environment. This is indeed a general shift not only in organizations, but in entire industries and even countries and therefore is one of the three emerging megatrends.

Sustainability Strategies
 
Even if a company does not generate a product that may negatively impact the environment, there are still what are now called sustainability strategies to lessen that organization’s overall impact on the environment. Organizations that deliver sustainable results based upon their people, their processes and their environment will realize improved profits. Sustainability is the second megatrend.
 
The federal government is now requiring Sustainability Performance Plans (SSPPs) for contractors who wish to secure federal contract bids. A recent report by KPMG, a national tax and advisory firm, reported in a global survey that more than 30 percent of all businesses do not have a sustainability plans even though 50 percent of those same surveyed executives believe such plans will positively benefit the bottom line.
 
Today’s bottom line is no longer just profits, but rather a three-fold bottom line:
 
1. People
 
2. Processes
 
3. Environment

The Bottom Line:  Change How We Think 

These three revenue and cost streams now have their own separate functionalities and importance on the ever-growing sustainability of any organization along with the overall corporate social responsibility. Changing how we think about the bottom line is the third megatrend.
 
Understanding these megatrends can help the smallest to the largest organizations. By being aware and having clarity around these significant shifts in how to think about business can only help those organizations that truly want to be forward thinking and more importantly want to be around the next 5, 10 to 50 years.
 
 

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