Kalle reflects on Product-Service Innovations

Strategic Takeaway for Leaders at all Levels Everywhere

The global landscape is shifting fast—ecologically, socially, and economically. For leaders, the defining challenge is no longer just doing things right—it’s doing the right things.

Most organizations, despite good intentions, are failing at this. The result? Massive investments in initiatives that can’t scale and are ultimately doomed. These failures don’t just appear in sustainability reports – they hit the bottom line through cost surges, stranded assets, and lost market relevance.

To change courses, leaders need a system that aligns innovation with a strategic trajectory toward long-term viability. There is but one scientifically grounded Operative System designed for exactly this, FSSD. It’s not just about full scale sustainability, it’s more profitable from the start, easier to implement, and more engaging to share amongst co-creating teams, value chains and wider stakeholder groups.

For a deeper dive into the science behind this system, see the peer-reviewed Open Source paper with all its references: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3357. For the full title, see footnote below.

Or, for concluding reflections, practical insights and training, visit: https://fssd.global → Kalle Reflects.

If you need any further advice, perhaps getting some further references, please ask https://fssd.global

Footnote: Broman, G. I., & Robèrt, K.-H. (2025). Operative System for Strategic Sustainable Development—Coordinating Analysis, Planning, Action, and Use of Supports Such as the Sustainable Development Goals, Planetary Boundaries, Circular Economy, and Science‐Based Targets. Sustainable Development, 1–16.

True, Scalable Innovation more in detail

“Innovation” is a buzzword in every boardroom. But what does it really mean? At its core, innovation is not just about inventing something clever. It’s about creating solutions that can be realized and adopted at scale—solutions that are relevant, attractive, and future-fit.

At the Department of Strategic Sustainable Development (Blekinge Institute of Technology), we research methodological support for innovations that can thrive in a sustainable society—or serve as steppingstones toward it. Why? Because the future will not reward short-term fixes; it will reward solutions that are both desirable and feasible in a world moving toward sustainability.

Two Questions Every CEO Should Ask

Are we doing the right things? Is this solution aligned with a trajectory toward any scalable goal that may exist in the future? Or in other words, will the goal remain relevant as markets, regulations, and societal expectations evolve? The left part of the figure prompts this question by use of robust boundary conditions for future-fit excellence, the big missing piece today.

Are we doing things right? Can this solution be realized efficiently, stepwise and profitably all the way? How will we organize sourcing, production, logistics, sales, and after-use management? The right part of the figure prompts this question by use of robust boundry conditions for operational excellence.

Both dimensions matter. A brilliant systemic idea that fails in execution is wasted. A technically feasible solution that locks you into an unsustainable unscalable path is a liability.

The ABCD Approach: From Vision to Action

To navigate this, we use the ABCD process within the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD). See the paper on the Operative system, or read Kalle’s Reflections about various hot topics that applies this System more in detail.

Incremental improvements of outdated systems—like making combustion engines more efficient or prolonging fossil fuel use motivated by carbon capture—fail the first test: they are not future-fit. They risk becoming stranded assets.

As Professor Mats Leijon puts it: “To constrain thinking by looking at an artifact with blinders, and ask, ‘how can this thing be improved’ is a sign of poor engineering.”

The same applies to leadership. True innovation requires lifting the blinders and asking: How do we create development paths that will thrive all the way towards attractive futures that can be — not just patch the economy of the past?