Now is the Time to Transform

As I walk down the streets of New York City, I can feel the excitement around me. Though COVID-19 devastated us in 2020, I now bask in a city that has not only survived, but is vibrating with a palpable new energy. Restaurants are open. Companies are hiring. People are happy to be here.

This energy—this physical movement—is what is so compelling about our collective re-start. I could feel it at our most recent BV North America leadership summit, too. Though the event was still virtual, I saw in all our eyes a renewed sense of hope. With “Sustainable Growth, Sustainable Future” as the theme, we discussed the innovative ideas that will help shape our future. Most importantly, we are all still evolving and moving in the right direction. ?

?How will Bureau Veritas—or any company, for that matter—keep the momentum going? Whether at work or simply walking down an NYC street, I keep coming back to this fundamental question. Pushed to the brink by the pandemic, we have all gone through a global reckoning that has inspired us to take some enormous leaps. Our success, however, will depend on our willingness to embrace change.

Put another way, the answer lies in the fact that transforming is no longer a “nice to have”—it is requirement if we all want to fulfill the promise and potential of a post-Covid world.?

The transformation journey is, of course, unique to every organization. Yet there are certain things we can all do, regardless of industry or sector, to improve our chances of success. By embracing the transformation opportunities around strategic growth, sustainability, and the workforce, some of the most innovative and diverse organizations are already moving toward a more resilient and brighter future.

Consider New and Innovative Ways to Achieve Growth

?The American Jobs Plan of 2021, introduced by the Biden administration in March, is a way to rebuild the nation in the wake of Covid by introducing some radical ideas we have not seen in past plans. Among its many areas of emphasis is the climate crisis, and how our response to it will play a role in our recovery. The plan also shines a light on healthcare, childcare, and education transformation in recognition that healthy “human infrastructure” is a prerequisite to strengthening, repairing, or building physical infrastructure.

Similarly, New York City is starting to look at its future differently by reassessing office space, work culture, and tourism. Crippled earlier this year by extreme weather, Houston is doubling down on its mission to become a city known for its emphasis on renewable energy. Miami, a city famous for spring break, is reinventing itself as it explores ways to become a technology hub. And in the corporate world, BP’s CEO shared at this year’s Columbia Global Energy Summit that the company is transforming from one of the largest oil and gas companies to an integrated energy company––making tangible shifts toward renewables––with goals to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

In each of these cases, leaders are realizing they don’t have to rely on past traditions or expectations as they try to figure out what they want to be.

They also know that they need to go “all in” if they want to achieve true transformation and growth. Recent research backs them up, showing that companies that set gross transformation targets at 75 percent of trailing earnings (or higher) are more likely to create value in a sustainable way. We’ve taken this to heart at Bureau Veritas over the past year, specifically in how we have challenged ourselves to seek meaningful partnerships and acquisitions that will meet our customers’ evolving needs.

As demand for green energy continues to grow, we are also seeing how environmental impact is becoming a bigger concern for our clients. We just knew BV had to be at the forefront of the renewable energy sector through our testing, inspection, and certification services. We have added solar and wind structural inspections to our BV services portfolio with the Bradley Construction acquisition––emphasizing our national reach and focus on renewable energy projects. Bradley Construction has delivered more than 10,000 MW of renewable projects throughout the United States. Through this key investment in Bradley, I’m proud that Bureau Veritas is doing what it takes to advance sustainability and reimagine what we can offer our clients as we strategically grow our business.

Create an Intentional, Achievable Sustainability Plan

Corporate sustainability initiatives tend to come and go as we saw a couple of years ago when it seemed like everyone’s answer to becoming “green” was to reduce their energy and paper usage. Sustainability is trending again, but this time it feels different to me. It’s more substantial as organizations at every level begin to understand from a more holistic perspective why sustainability is critical to the future of our planet.

In this regard, I am happy to see that many companies are already adopting thoughtful, achievable sustainability plans that go beyond isolated efforts in order to hold themselves accountable for real change.

One of those inspiring organizations is Bank of America, which is why we invited their Managing Director of ESG and Sustainable Finance in London, Abyd Karmali, to speak at this year’s leadership summit. He is leading a Bank of America team in mobilizing $300M for low-carbon investment opportunities by 2030. This is big, significant work, illustrating how even companies not traditionally associated with sustainability are taking up the cause to transform on the environmental, social, and governance front.

At Bureau Veritas, we have offered sustainability services in some form for more than 100 years, helping our clients meet compliance, audit, and other environmental regulations. Yet over the past year, we’ve worked extremely hard to build out what we can offer in order to serve the modern demands of our customers. The result is our Green Line of Services and Solutions, in which our end-to-end approach is helping our clients implement, measure, and achieve sustainability objectives. In one example of our work, we developed wastewater testing for Covid. So whether we are developing solutions to continue to respond to the threat of Covid-19, or testing emissions and performing energy audits, I am excited that we are putting sustainability at the forefront for our clients.

We all have a collective responsibility to transform through sustainability, and these intentional efforts within Bureau Veritas and among our customers are proving that it is possible to make real impact when we are all committed to taking the environment seriously.

Bring Your People with You on Your Transformation Journey

The pandemic has compounded an already formidable set of challenges to business transformation. Yet as companies seek to make meaningful change, it will not be enough to concentrate solely on growth and sustainability strategies. To make any transformation effort a reality, we will also need the right skills and people to get there. The most innovative leaders understand this fact and are already examining closely how they can transform the workforce itself in order to help meet future goals.

How are they doing this? In a recent survey, a majority of business ?leaders indicated that skill building is “the best way” to close the gaps created by Covid-19, and that they have “doubled down” in their efforts to reskill or upskill employees since the pandemic began.

Other strategies include reimagining recruitment so an organization can be confident in its ability to attract, hire, and retain the best employees. Adopting strategies to help managers successfully navigate a distributed workforce is extremely important, too, as people going forward expect more flexible hours and the opportunity to work from home when being in a physical location is not essential to performing their jobs.

?Transformation, at the end of each day, will always be a work in progress.

It will always extend beyond the boardroom, too, in that we all bear responsibility for learning, growing, and transforming ourselves. While none of us can predict what will ultimately play out in the coming years as we move on from Covid-19, we will all surely continue to experience the rapid need for change. Despite the unknowns, I know we are stronger over the past year because of our collective resilience! Let’s continue to focus on the transformation opportunities in front of us today. I am confident that our post-pandemic environment will be one of growth and opportunity for all.