What challenges and strategies are top of mind for you in sustainable business?
As I chat with many clients, friends and former colleagues, it sounds like many are in survival mode. I think it’s caused a long overdue reckoning for our field, focusing us on what really matters and what is valuable. There are many companies that are trying to survive the current environment, but the ones best positioned are the ones trying to fortify their current position and to build for the road ahead. I think we can say with certainty that it will be a future with even more severe disruptions than we are today. The increase in focus on adaptation and emergency management will be even more important.
What should we be doing differently today?
I think there are a few things we should be doing differently. For too long, sustainability departments operated as an island and over time, lost sight of things as they became increasingly overburdened with regulatory and disclosure requirements. I think where the rubber hits the road is when findings from the sustainability team are translated into compliance and enterprise risk functions, which makes it a lot more tangible to boards and leadership.
I also think the way that we lead needs to change. Leaders need to focus on service, building legitimacy and credibility with the stakeholders that they are working with. This comes from listening and being in close proximity to your constituents. Legitimacy also comes from doing what you say you’ll do and also creating the conditions for participation so that there is a sense of ownership and long-term sustainability to the initiatives long after leadership has changed. I’ve really been impressed with NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani in his humility, his ability to connect with and mobilize people from different walks of life, and also his messaging discipline!
IF YOU COULD RESET SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS, WHAT WOULD YOU EMPHASIZE?
There are a few things. First, is looking at better ways of measuring outcomes instead of just dollars or numbers of people. I love the examples that I hear from other functions and hope that we can embed them into our thinking. Most recently I was speaking with a client’s colleague from the food safety and quality assurance function and she told me that something as simple as seeing water on the floor gave her a measurement for three things: food safety (microbe growth), health and safety (worker slips) and also wasted resources (leaky water). I also remember Temple Grandin, a world renowned animal welfare expert, said that she measured the welfare of cattle by one metric only: vocalization. That told her everything she needed to know of whether or not the cow was in pain or distress. I’m not sure if everything can be measured so elegantly, but it would save us a lot of resources to focus on getting the work done instead of spending all our time measuring and reporting.
One other thing I would emphasize is Indigenous ways of knowing and being. The idea that we are connected to the land is often lost in Western society, and the wisdom inherent to it underpins why Indigenous people are protectors of 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. The idea of “two eyed seeing”, or combining traditional knowledge and western science is really powerful in helping achieve the sustainability outcomes we need.
Lastly, I think I would focus on adaptation with frontline communities. We are too far gone with climate change at this point, and we need to rapidly adapt to all the wild weather we are already seeing. People know their own communities the best, and we need to give them the resources to protect themselves.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
Strangely or not, the things I’m most proud of in life are not “big business” related. I am really proud of the relationships and communities I’ve cultivated over the years with Diversity in Sustainability and in my own life and career – particularly the spirit of collaboration and reciprocity that comes with it. I’ve always been a really curious person, and it’s given me great joy to see the paths that people have taken.
If I did have to pick something I was proud of from a business and sustainability perspective, it was coordinating the response to Rana Plaza from the Canadian retail sector. Working on new standards, providing guidance to the Canadian government really helped create a greater impact alongside our American counterparts.
I’m also proud of spearheading a pollinator garden at my daughter’s school. Seeing this garden grow from seed, seeing the pollinators thrive in the habitat, and seeing how much the kids were inspired by what they were seeing, gives me a lot of hope for the future. Sometimes it is about just building something and then sitting back and letting things happen passively.