2022 Recap | 2023 Outlook
by Brian Pageau
Happy New Year!
2022 marked the most significant year of growth in Foresight’s history. It was exciting, it was exhausting, it was rewarding, it was painful, and it was worthwhile. As we look back on the year, it seems appropriate to share a few highlights that particularly align with some of our fundamental beliefs.
We believe an empowered, valued, and trusted person who feels safe at work will drive meaningful impact within and beyond the company they choose to serve.
We began the year with approximately 20 teammates and added another 30 wonderful members to our team over the course of the year. This tremendous expansion has broadened and deepened our capabilities while greatly diversifying the spectrum of perspectives that move us closer to fulfilling our Purpose. We are so excited to see what this collection of values-aligned, mission-driven humans will create in 2023!
We believe an integrated and holistic approach to Sustainability will create the most value for our clients and our company.
We launched Flourish, our most comprehensive service offering, in 2022. Flourish is a curated set of disciplines, integrating strategy, data, benchmarking, branding, values, and market research, all in service of accelerating our client’s sustainability journey. Flourish empowers our team of interdisciplinary experts to truly partner with our clients as an extension of their teams. We’ve had brand new clients launch their first ever Sustainability strategy and efforts through the Flourish service, and we’ve had many clients enhance and expand their current strategies through Flourish. We are so excited to see more companies adopt this holistic, proactive approach in 2023!
We believe that in order to most effectively address the greatest challenges and opportunities in the market and in the world, we need as many intrinsically motivated people as possible contributing to the solutions.
We created the MicroVlogCast in the beginning of 2021, and it’s become the embodiment of our attempt at creating the “biggest tent” possible for people and companies who are curious (and serious) about Sustainable business practices. The “MVC” has a few foundational characteristics that are designed with this “big tent” in mind.
Be Approachable – We know energy, carbon, ESG, and Sustainability topics can be intimidating. If we show our humanity (imperfection) in the MVC, we believe more people might be interested in the topics we were discussing.
Make the Content Digestible – We know energy, carbon, ESG, and Sustainability topics can be complex. If we keep the episodes short and create a theme around each season, we believe we will reach a broader group of people than simply the passionate experts who’ve been in the business for a long time.
Demonstrate our Expertise - We know energy, carbon, ESG, and Sustainability topics are serious and have real-world implications. If we demonstrate real credibility and capabilities, we believe people will learn something meaningful and be empowered to make an impact.
Transparency is Transformational + Abundance Mindset - We know energy, carbon, ESG, and Sustainability topics can be confusing. If we are going to be purpose- driven and truly “Accelerate Sustainability,” we believed showing our work and making the content easy to understand was vital. Even if it means losing business because we show a client or competitor how we operate.
We’ve created and published nearly 80 episodes over the last two years and are excited to continue making them in 2023. Alongside the MVC, we’re so pleased to increase our efforts in creating the biggest tent possible for sustainable business practices in the launching of our new webinar series, “The Foresight Forum.” The Forum will give us all a chance to go deeper into these important topics while remaining approachable, digestible, knowledgeable, and transparent.
We believe in, and are inspired by, a more conscious capitalism.
These days, it’s easy to be a skeptic, a cynic, disgruntled, and disillusioned. We seem to be more isolated and polarized than ever before. We are bombarded with negativity, short-termism, and scarcity on a continual basis. It’s easy to presume other people are “out to get us” and that if we disagree, we must be enemies.
And yet, when we look back in history, humans have demonstrated time and again an ability to believe in something bigger than themselves, live and work in community, and solve big challenges by coming together and ultimately caring for each other. These moments of progress happen in big and small ways, and take on different shapes at different times, but all have these same general themes.
Now more than ever, companies are being asked to more clearly demonstrate how they are contributing to the good of humanity. They are being asked to show and to prove how they are taking care of their employees, the environment, their suppliers, and their communities.
These requests can feel like mandates, distractions, and “extra work” to many organizations, which can be frustrating and make companies feel excluded or on the defensive. What a shame and a missed opportunity. We at Foresight are emboldened by the challenge of educating and inspiring companies to see the real value in pursuing sustainable business practices. Real value, for all stakeholders.
Across hundreds of companies and dozens of industries, we have seen time and again that sustainable practices and disciplines make our clients more attractive to prospective employees, better equipped to retain employees, increase their marketability and sales opportunities within their markets, drive more profit to the bottom-line, and decrease negative impacts on the environment.
What business doesn’t want more engaged employees, better sales, better profit, and to be better stewards of nature? We believe every business wants these things because history has shown we are at our best when we pursue good, care for our neighbor, believe others want the best for us, and believe others are doing their best.
Cheers to 2023 and the continued work of building a more conscious and sustainable future together!
Yours,
Brian Pageau
President