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