FiNTEL Sustain rankings 2024: Number 8, MGM Resorts
Sustainability is a key tenet for all gaming stakeholders. But the biggest players in the global industry should lead from the front, says MGM Resorts’ VP of sustainability Michael Gulich.
“I think for the bigger operators that have institutional investors, we’re definitely getting a signal from the market that it’s important,” Gulich says of sustainability. “I think in some ways it is our social licence to operate.”
MGM’s Focused on What Matters platform, for social impact and sustainability, is a “foundational value” for the operator, he continues. “We have aggressive goals. We have good corporate support and we have good visibility with our executive leadership and our board.”
He is responsible for a critical mass of operations in southern Nevada including Las Vegas, seven regional US properties, two in China and a Japanese resort under construction in Osaka.
“We’re a long-time operator in these communities and so we’re deeply invested in the health and the resilience and the sustainability of these communities for a number of reasons,” Gulich says. “Probably first and foremost is it’s where our staff live. Literally, it’s where we live. And we’re invested in the success of these communities.
“From an environmental sustainability perspective, we see that through the lens of energy and carbon, water and waste.”
Conservation key to sustainability in LV desert
After all southern Nevada is on the frontline of climate change, he says. “I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that if climate change were a shark, that teeth would be water.”
Living and operating in the driest desert in North America means MGM has set corporate goals covering energy, carbon, water and waste. Gulich and his team are responsible for crafting that strategy and launching the initiatives.
It’s a research-driven approach. The team writes white papers to define the issues facing the business. This starts initially on a global level then narrows to a regional and local focus. It benchmarks against MGM’s peers and assesses internal data and ultimately maps strategies and actions against the points of biggest leverage.
MGM leadership allows for aggressive goals
Gulich’s team at MGM has aggressive goals, supported by a commitment from its board of directors and leadership team. Executive compensation is also tied to social impact and sustainability goals.
But essentially, it’s change management. “[And] change management is difficult,” Gulich says. “It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about sustainability or any other kind of change management. There’s a certain organisational momentum of ‘doing things the way we’ve always done things’.
“You come in with a with an idea for change, you want to affect some different outcome than the status quo. And there’s often some outpouring of negativity that you have to endure and listen to. And once you get over that it’s a little easier to have a conversation.”
“We control nothing and we’re trying to change everything”
He says it’s important for his team to listen. “In sustainability teams we say we control nothing and we’re trying to change everything. We’re not leading with authority in that regard. We’re not direct supervisors of these staff; we don’t control their budgets and we’re not necessarily decision makers in their areas of operation. But what sounds like resistance, I think is often really, really important feedback that we can learn how to integrate the things we’re trying to do with our business.”
For MGM, being ranked in FiNTEL Sustain’s top ten for sustainability is a sign that the approach is working.
“We’re not doing it for the awards or for the rankings, right? I mean but it’s helpful and I think it’s another signal to us that we’re heading in the right direction.”
Over the next two weeks iGB will be counting down the ten highest ranked companies in FiNTEL Sustain’s Sustainability Plus rating system. Watch FiNTEL Sustain founders Robert Montgomery and Steven Myers share the rationale for creating a gaming-specific rating system in this exclusive interview.