ABSTRACT
The breadth and complexity of sustainability aspects and constraints can be overwhelming and can make it difficult for leaders to develop strategy, priorities, and initiatives. The development of detailed, long-term, prescriptive plans for becoming fully sustainable is often an exercise in futility. These plans can help establish a common understanding of how to "do things right" but they are usually not effective tactics for ensuring that organizations are "doing the right things". Constraint headwinds can best be defeated when they are approached as an undesirable stimulus comprised of problems that require a proactive response. The problems need to be analyzed to determine their sources before effective responses can be crafted to address the root causes. Principles are fundamental truths or propositions that serve as the foundation for a system of belief, behavior, or chain of reasoning, and they guide actions to establish acceptable norms.
