How to accelerate sustainability & inclusion through a rapid innovation methodology

Daniel Chartier, Innovation Research Lead, Sustainability
Debra Slapak, Senior Director, Innovation Strategic Initiatives
Rita Stern, Product Designer Lead

The authors are grateful to the Iron Mountain Sustainability team, including Erin Gately, Jen Grimaudo and Sean Mangus.

This paper introduces an inclusive, research-driven rapid learn-and-pivot methodology to help CIOs, CTOs, and product development teams integrate sustainability and inclusion into their development processes.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Enterprise leaders are shifting their cultures and processes to take a longer-term view of what matters most: our people and our planet. A Gartner, Inc. survey ¹ of CEOs and senior executives finds that “For the first time ever, CEOs place environmental sustainability in their top 10 priorities.” After decades of refining strategies that drive growth and profitability–often with minimal focus on environmental sustainability–many organizations are discovering that stepping up efforts in this area pays big dividends. Among the potential benefits: Achieving their traditional objectives by attracting the best talent and more loyal customers, partners, and other stakeholders.

Such shifts are not easy. Just as the old ways of thinking no longer suffice, the old methods of generating innovation no longer deliver against the range of values that leaders, consumers, business partners, shareholders, and employees expect.

How do you approach wide-scale change? Whether in small steps or large strides, organizations can retrofit existing products and practices and design new products and services with sustainable practices at their core. Here, we provide background on the challenges of achieving sustainability goals and propose a practical methodology for solving these challenges in an inclusive, stakeholder-centric, rapid-iteration approach.

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