Everybody can be a sustainability leader

[Applause]

good evening

have you noticed lately that more and

more people

are talking about sustainability

and have you noticed that more and more

organizations are

working on sustainability

and maybe did you notice that you got

inspired

by other sustainability leaders more and

more

tonight i will invite you all

to step up as sustainability leaders

yourself

the secret is to have lots of cups of

coffee

however timed wisely

first of all sustainability leader what

are we talking about

two words that might need some

explanation

sustainability according to me we’re

talking about the sustainable

development goals

up from no hunger up to solving the

climate crisis

leader more interesting

what is a sustainability leader

according to you

uh can it be maybe the pope

or is it someone on a greenpeace boat

or is it al gore

or is it boyan slot getting all the

plastic soup out of the ocean

or is it greta thonberg organizing

school strikes

or is it even our own prime minister

margareta

from the netherlands

and and what do you think would make

them a leader

is it the power that they represent or

the title

they use and they bear or is it the

actions that they do

is it the followers that they organize

is it the courage

that they show or is it the fact that

they’re standing for their beliefs

of course this is something for you to

think about right

what does inspire you what would make

you

a sustainability leader what would you

need to step up yourself

and to my surprise i have been chosen as

a sustainability leader myself

yeah me

does a leader look like this to you

by the way this isn’t a wisely timed cup

of coffee right

why did i become a leader i am not uh

a ceo of a multinational i am not a man

in a suit

with gray hair or a bit of grey

i i don’t drive a tesla in fact i don’t

have a car i go by train

still i can prove it in 2017

i was elected by dutch national

newspaper trau

as the number 50 in the top 100

sustainability leaders

yeah i was surprised as well

what did i do to deserve this

i just followed my passion and i had

lots of cups of coffee

let me explain a bit more right 15 years

ago

multinationals became aware that

sustainability was more than a

responsibility for only

governments and ngos and they became

aware

that they had an impact in the local

societies they were working on

so at that time sustainability was

called

corporate citizenship and companies

became aware that they were acting as

citizens

in the local societies they were

operating and they were based

so management and hr departments

organized leadership trainings for their

own professionals

and their high potentials in order to be

able to

create a vision on corporate citizenship

and that’s where i come in because i was

a program manager

of such a leadership program and

those leadership programs were really

life-changing events for the

participants

for instance we sent supply chain

managers

from big multinationals to for instance

west india

to work on a supply chain of a

handicraft cooperative

with 300 illiterate women improving

their supply chain and their income

or we sent bankers to a micro

credit co-operative in the philippines

with an impact on 50

000 farmers and improving their

financial management system

these professionals were trained in

their challenges and creating new

business-driven solutions

on people and planet they were

training in becoming sustainability

leaders

and the organization i worked for was

actually

very successful in doing so

however what we didn’t think about

well and we didn’t design in the program

is their return back to their

organizations

so the the professionals participated

went out there and then back

they were only allowed to share their

photos during lunch break

and after that it was

back to business as usual

and this was extremely painful

because once you have learned and you

have tasted

to work on creating sustainability

impact

smart and effectively you can’t go back

it’s a bit like the matrix the red and

the blue pill right

once you’ve taken one you can’t go back

you can’t see another

reality anymore

so what happened is that these former

participants are alumni so you will

started to invite me to have cups of

coffee

because they were looking for a new

position in the field of sustainability

and they were asking my advice but i

said hey

no i refused to have those cups of

coffee i said no you have to learn

you have to stay and you have to be the

leader for change the leader for

corporate citizens

you have to stay put in the organization

but this doesn’t work well when the

ambitions of yourself and the company

are not matching anymore does it

so they left their companies anyway

so we failed actually in our program

so as this grew more and more

i started having those cups of coffee

because i knew

these professionals were really smart

highly skilled

and they were lost in finding their way

and they were looking for insights

coaching

and advice and because i got so stressed

from seeing this growing pool of wasted

talents

who also wanted to improve my world

i started my own social enterprise

and i also got very stressed from too

much caffeine from all those coffees

right

and with this social enterprise we

are asking and training now

professionals to step

up as sustainability leaders

and i would like to share how you can do

that

first of course you have to grow

grow as a sustainability leader within

your organization

because with your engagement in finding

and looking for

new and uh future challenges

uh possibilities and challenges for

people and planet

uh in the future but also with your

understanding of the current business

processes

you are actually the best driver for

change

you are the one who can build a bridge

between the future reality

and the current reality right

however when you see there is no match

at all between

the sustainability ambitions and

possibilities within the company

and your own and you feel all hope is

lost for your employer

and you also feel that you really need

to find a new path

then of course it’s time to choose

what to you is sustainability what are

you

thinking about what are your

ideas with sustainability is it about

renewable energy

or is it a fair trade

or is it reducing the plastic soup right

because it’s really broad

and if you don’t know what drives you

it will be very difficult to find a

possibility

in such an organization which is working

on such a strategy

so it will be very difficult to take

leadership as well

so take your time in finding out your

drives

in the field of sustainability

but how how to do so

well suppose you thinking about

renewable energy then you need to do

research research at all these

organizations who are working in that

field

and how they differ in their approaches

and to think what you would like to

prefer

for instance you might think

that a rooftop revolution so filling all

rooftops with solar panels

is a very impactful organization

you might feel different you might feel

that

we need to build more local economy and

reduce our international

chains and our carbon footprint

and you might think differently again

you might want to add

tax on the fossil fuels so to

in order to be able to change the

economic system and create a new level

playing field

these are all very different approaches

and it’s important to understand these

differences

in order to be able to choose

and it’s not my opinion that matters

it’s about you it’s your opinion

your vision you’re creating a motivation

in order to be

able to find a new job

this time it’s too early to have cups of

coffee

this is important because at this moment

you

are still actually looking around so go

to visit network events right go inspire

go learn enjoy by the way visiting

network events

but be aware that you’re still learning

you’re still learning about

possible leadership possible leadership

possibilities for you

so you’re not able to sell yourself yet

because first you have to define a match

a match between actually your background

so

it’s your experience your network your

resume

and of course with jobs that are present

at those organizations

what does a marketeer need to know and

do in order to be able to work there

or a team manager or a logistical person

or i.t

person sustainable organizations need

them

but you need to define a logical fit

a pitch that fits that’s up to you

and once you have done all that

then it will be a time to have those

cups of coffee

because then you will really enjoy the

network experiences

and you will enjoy in presenting

yourself

as a sustainability leader as a

professional

taking the lead in knowing how to create

sustainability impact

at those organizations and you will be

able to find such a position

and to grow as a sustainable leader

and we need more sustainable leaders so

i wish you the best in

getting there and doing so and to

and to thank you as well for joining

then

the movement in making the world a

better place

and i wish you all the best and of

course

i hope to see you for a lovely cup of

coffee

thank you

you