Navigating the Paradoxes of Sustainability

“Sustainability” is a domain of theory and practice in which people seek “win–win” opportunities for business and society, short- and long-term prosperity, humans and the natural environment. Lurking within the concept are some challenging paradoxes surrounding these parts and wholes of social systems that lead to tragedies of the commons. These paradoxes become salient when natural and organizational resources become scarce, when diverse societal stakeholders give voice to their interests and perspectives, and when efforts at organizational change bring these latent concerns to light. As people navigate these paradoxes of sustainability, they can manage them defensively, or actively engage paradox toward two positive outcomes. One is trade-off-breaking innovation that achieves win–win solutions. The other is flourishing of people who realize their contradictory sets of cares and motivations. Achieving the goals of the sustainability paradigm may therefore require “champions of ambivalence” who foster paradoxical thinking and action in organizations.