With a focus on how far we have to go often taking the limelight, European Outdoor Group’s Katy Stevens asks how far we’ve come – and matured – as an industry climbing towards a common summit.

A few years back, it used to be about standing out with a unique sustainability angle: It was a competition to the greenest product or the most innovative approach. But, as sustainability has evolved from an organizational nice to have, transitioning through a marketable business essential, to the unavoidable compliance colossus that it has become, it’s all about working together. “Collaboration” is now the term on everyone lips.

Sustainability is the perfect area for collaboration – and not just because we’re all facing the same challenges and working in the same supply chains. With the fate of humanity and the planet hanging in the balance, there seems no better time or reason to all push in the same direction, sleeves up, heads down.

Collaboration can exist in many different forms, it can be big multistakeholder projects, or as simple as sharing resources, or fostering aligned thinking.

Within industry, collaboration mostly needs management, there can be sensitive information being passed around, and sometimes a neutral organization is essential to act as an intermediary. Fortunately, there are a huge number of associations or independent organizations helping the industry collaborate on a wide range of topics.

But most importantly, collaboration is a mindset. It’s putting egos to one side and realizing that this is about more than “me” – it’s about “us.” In turn, it can lead to an incredibly efficient approach, saving businesses both money and time. As an organization founded as a platform for pre-competitive collaboration, it has been a pleasure for us at EOG to see the industry flourish in this direction.

So, whether your painpoint be climate, chemicals, labor or animal welfare, you can bet there’s already a collaboration to be found, ready to welcome you in.

Lead Photo: