The Atlantic recently published an interview with me that included some good questions on trends and innovation in sustainability. Here’s an excerpt:

What’s something that most people just don’t understand about your area of expertise?

How thinking big about the connections of cultural trends, consumer behavior research, and other-things-that-don’t-seem-to-relate-at-all can give meaning and help build momentum for even the smallest individual sustainable business steps. For example, the sustainability efforts of, say, a brewery in Kansas can become a more compelling story when tied to local agriculture and responsible water use.

What’s an emerging trend that you think will shake up the sustainability world?

A new focus on developing relational traits — like communications skills and empathy — in business leaders. Pay as much attention to these as we do to the usual linear trait suspects and you’ll see the leadership paradigm shift before your very eyes. (I was just researching this for a thesis, so it’s fresh in my mind.)

***

If you haven’t come across them before, the entire series of The Atlantic Conversations is inspiring.  There are a lot of very cool people out there doing meaningful, sustainability-forwarding work.  It was an honor to be included.

And now, for a short rant…

I had an interesting conversation today with a friend who is a big thinker on sustainability.  We were bemoaning the fact that sustainability is a topic that can look incredibly boring in the short run, and we (as media and/or sustainable business proponents) are missing a huge opportunity to celebrate and encourage the radical new thinking, boring as it may seem on paper, that is so needed in this movement.  How do we make sustainability sexy, in all its phases and shapes, from compliance to employee engagement to fleet fuel efficiency?  And, this means it has to be sexy enough for the media to want to cover it and sexy enough for younger generations to see sustainability as a very exciting engineering, math and science-oriented career path.  A tall order.

As someone who writes about sustainable business, I am surely guilty of  being attracted to stories about huge new innovations or emerging audiences, for example.  There is something in our culture’s 24/7 news cycle that has jaded us enough that we don’t see some of the foundational work quietly occurring in many industries.  But, the boring stuff really IS moving sustainability in substantial ways, and will eventually serve as models and case studies for all (but perhaps only in hindsight).

Here’s what my friend and I were thinking: if sustainability is about systems, and seeing the long term rather than jumping for the sexiest short-term “green” thing a company or brand can do (or that can be seen in quarterly reports), why don’t we operate more systemically in the way we talk and promote sustainable business?  It is a huge risk and a 180 degree shift from our culture’s modus operandi of delivering and eating up sexy, immediate, celebrity-driven “bits.”  But, sustainability doesn’t happen on the 24/7 news cycle or in always astounding ways.

So, what is always sexy about sustainability and the steps businesses take to move in that direction?  That whoever is leading these charges is taking huge, huge risks to limit themselves to the boring work, with their eyes on a bigger, far in the future, and very exciting prize.  It’s almost an extreme sport to step off the cliff of how things have always been done in a business or ignore the traditional view of what makes for big news coverage, and say.. “you know.. we need to be more deliberate,” or “I see a very exciting long-term result if we start with this small step.”

The thing is, systems thinking involves a future-orientation, and I mean so far in the future that we might not be able to claim “we did it” or be on the cover of The New York Times because we did it.  That is what we have to give up in order to really make a difference in this realm.

But, risk-taking IS sexy.  Think fast cars, steep ski slopes, and extreme skateboarding.

So, how about focusing on the ways never-before-taken risk can lead businesses down whole new paths, into incredible collaborations and toward unanticipated innovation for the good of industries and communities overall? This less-newsworthy stuff has to happen. It is the groundwork.

If we want future generations to look back on the incredible sustainability shift that simply must take place, and be proud of us for helping in that, we have to make boring sexy.

First published in The HuffingtonPost, November 18, 2011.

Quick.  What do you think of when you hear the term “cause marketing”?  If I were to venture a guess, I’d say your mind went right to the color pink and breast cancer.  (It has been only a few weeks since the pink month of October, after all).  While that is just one of many worthy causes, there are plenty of others that also address our world’s significant and continually emerging social and environmental issues.  And smart businesses should be hot on the trail, supporting the causes that most fit their corporate missions and partnering with non-profits.

That said, what if there were one cause that could potentially influence long-term disease diagnoses, decrease carbon emissions, produce calmer, more fit individuals and bring people back to a more local perspective in their daily lives (among other things)? What if that same cause had so many angles to it that many companies and non-profits could partner to support it at the same time, with each still reaping the related benefits along the way?  If you read my last piece, you may have guessed where I’m heading: all these things point to the biking\cycling movement.  The Clif Bar & Company’s CLIF BAR 2 Mile Challenge (2MC) program is a shining example of cause marketing around just that.

Admittedly, it was my own recent return to urban living and the wonders  of getting around by bike (speed! convenience!) that prompted me to take note of 2MC, and I’m glad I did.  Launched in 2007, 2MC continues to encourage people to consider riding their bike for trips that are two miles or less from their homes.  It is about inspiring the average person, not the lycra-suited racer, to think about biking a few of their various weekly trips.  Measured in that way, the 2MC site currently notes that some 65,000 car trips were avoided this year by people choosing to ride their bikes instead of driving their cars, which translates to more than 430,000 pounds of CO2 being saved by those bike trips. (See their “get the facts” video for more information).

So, how does all of this connect with non-profit partners?  Well, 2MC participants are encouraged to register on the site, join a “team” (aligned with one of three non-profit partners in the walk/bike arena) and log their miles as a way to accumulate points. Clif Bar & Company (Clif Bar) is committed to supporting bike advocacy at the grass roots level, and while the various organizations they fund may rotate year to year, their plan is to always give a total of $100,000 annually. The whole program, including the blog, Twitter feed and Facebook page, is run like a lean and mean pedaling machine, with one person, Ryan Mayo, at the handlebars.  His charge is to keep people motivated about biking more, and cheer on each additional mile entered into the database.

I could go on and on, because I see so many good things in this mix.  But, I also got the take of expert Megan Strand, the Director of Communications for the Cause Marketing Form.  She considers 2MC a very innovative mash-up between a message-focused campaign (promoting an overall message — in this case a “fight global warming” one) and a digital voting contest (with pre-selected charities). But, it is this point of Strand’s that seems to mean most for how other businesses and nonprofits could effectively partner in the future: “What I like most about it is that it’s asking consumers to participate in a meaningful way TO the cause (e.g. by getting on their bikes) instead of just casting an online vote.”

Key to this entire endeavor is that Clif Bar sees 2MC as a long-term commitment and journey, with no predetermined, final endpoint.  Instead, they researched and developed the program very carefully, but then moved forward knowing it probably wasn’t perfect.  Mayo and his Clif Bar support team trusted that it would organically refine over time — and it has — integrating the voices, experiences and inputs of participants. After all, as Mayo noted, Clif Bar was “practically born on a bike,” and the fun, freedom and climate change message of the 2 Mile Challenge is very much in line with corporate values. Though it began in pre-digital form with a traveling van, the effort is now mainly online.  Still, where 2MC goes from here could take on many shapes.

Of course, there are reasons biking might not work for all people, and there are plenty of circumstances where none but the most extreme cyclists would bike more than four or five months a year.  And, of course, hauling kids to and fro by bike has many complications.  As well, it would be easy for a 2MC participant to enter miles they didn’t ride. I hear you, naysayers!

However, the point of this program, and my writing about it, is not to preach about biking versus all other modes of transportation, or to make it a political issue.  The point is to get a few more people, every week, to give it a go.  Then, some of those people may be inspired to sign on to the idea of the 2 Mile Challenge (whether they actually log on and enter miles or not).  Those people could then be inclined to talk about what they are doing, and so influence neighbors or friends to consider doing it themselves for their next quick errand … and so on.

Each new enthusiast, no matter the clothes they wear or the type of bike they ride, becomes an ambassador.  Each car trip avoided means that much less carbon goes into the atmosphere, and the biking movement overall raises awareness of how fitness might work its way into a person’s daily life. Given how many societal and environmental ills there are to worry about today, it’s exciting to think that the creative collaboration exemplified by Clif Bar’s 2 Mile Challenge program could inspire attitude adjustments that might just lead to longer term behavioral shifts. The ways in which businesses and non-profits could partner to address similar issues are infinite.  And, while biking isn’t the only social cause of this kind, the 2 Mile Challenge certainly makes an inspiring mind and body-moving case study.

I just read the great Grist piece by Andrew Zaleski: Go, Fight… Green? His point about the work needed in order to green professional sports is: how much can we really expect the Bud-drinking, Cracker Jack-eating crowds to care about the environment (or the fact that a stadium is becoming more energy efficient and composting food waste, for example)?  One of the obstacles he mentions comes via a study by OgilvyEarth, which found that 82 percent of responders viewed “going green” as girly. Yikes.

What those involved in greening sports venues are hoping (and getting help from The Green Sports Alliance to do) is that greener consumer behavior might come to be seen as less “Seattle treehugger” and more social norm by these simple nudges that encourage composting, recycling or a similar attitude change.  I could go on and on because I find this challenge so intriguing, but instead let’s just say I spy an opportunity through my gender lens.

If going green is seen as “girly,” why not look to the “girls” who are pro sports fans?  It is not that the percentage of women in those ranks comes close to meeting that number for men, but that the women who ARE fans have a lot of influence over how their households are run, and how their families live their lives.  Women are raising tomorrow’s sports fans, so why not get their help shaping their kids to be the future’s more compost-loving and recycling aware “butts” in stadium seats?

Sustainability is a movement, not something that we’ll see the mass population embrace over night.  If those of us working for change can stand the fact that there will be no immediate and visibly huge shift in consumer behavior in our lifetimes (let’s face it), we should lay some good groundwork for future generations.   In that way, you and I and the sports venues/teams looking to go green might not want to obsess about converting today’s sports fans from their fear of “girly green,” but focus on engaging with those “green girls” who can influence fans to come.

I’m excited to share that I have just launched a regular column on women and sustainable business for the SustainableBusinessForum.  The introductory piece is simply a call to study up on women.  I don’t suggest this solely because women are likely to be a crucial consumer market for your company, but because understanding how they think, make decisions and connect will give you a real advantage in organizational change, product development, marketing, stakeholder engagement, and so much more.

My intention with this column is to introduce concepts, ideas and networks you’ve never noticed before as you wisely develop your sustainable businesses.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

Sustainability and women are inextricably linked.  This is not because of soft inclusive reasons, but for hard inclusive business reasons.  If interconnecting systems of operations, production, shipping, community involvement, environmental responsibility, and more are what we seek, the wider the variety of brains and human traits involved in corporate decision-making, the better. While we have a long tradition of rewarding linear and independent thinking, sustainability will demand a new priority on the relational and interdependent.

The toughest nut to crack in business sustainability change is the most intriguing to me.  That nut centers around the idea of a corporation leaving its status-seeking, go it alone, competitive ways and instead embracing teamwork, collaboration, partnerships, co-creation, coopetition, or whatever term best fits.  Whether internal “teams” or external/cross-competitive or cross-industry partnerships, the egos need to step aside.  In order to really translate into sustainable vision and practices, this new way of doing things must be an equal opportunity change.

I was reminded of this while reading Eric Lowitt’s great new book, The Future of Value (here’s the 800CEORead review).   In his closing chapter, he reminds readers that sustainability actors are not limited to visionary thinkers.  His examples include both Travelocity and eBay Green, where the “movement” began with a few employees getting together and asking hard questions of their bosses.  In general, Lowitt sees stakeholders emerging as the initiators of the sustainability imperative – and that includes employees, as well as investors, supply chain vendors, NGOs, and so on.

Lowitt believes “that what makes sustainability different lies in a change for whom businesses must create value in order to continue to operate.” Where investors and employees were the core beneficiaries previously, “sustainability elevates the role of stakeholders whose interests were earlier considered tangential to business” – society and the Earth writ-large.

I love that Lowitt sees society’s engagement with business at the partner level.  Every stakeholder should have an equal say.

Pursuing sustainability is no top-down (and we’re done) pursuit.  Because sustainability must be fully integrated, there should be encouragement/empowerment of  participation from all corporation’s interconnecting systems and stakeholders.  Visionary leaders are great, but they’ve got to be good at team-building and empowering people to launch off on their own and build more teams.  There is some compelling food for thought on this topic in a currently active GreenBiz LinkedIn group conversation about whether their can be a single charismatic sustainability leader.

Finally,  Tiffany Shlain’s new film, CONNECTED, which I saw this past weekend, also relates to this equal opportunity change concept.  When her dynamic, clever, entertaining overview of the history of technology and interconnectedness ends, she points out that, though – as members of society – we have fought for our independence in the past, we now need to fight for our interdependence.  With reference to her father Leonard Shlain’s research on left and right brain hemispheres, she suggests that we have long since leaned too heavily on our left brain and its linear ways, to the detriment of our ability to relate and interconnect.  Today, technology is taking us to a place where we can leverage our right brains more and see how one small decision or idea in Seattle, for example, can improve or influence an idea for universal good in an emerging country (and vice versa).  We have a history of independent priorities that have pushed us farther apart, but technology is helping raise awareness of how interdependent our world has got to be now – when faced with such huge environmental and societal problems.

As equal opportunity change, sustainability demands minds and voices from all sectors and segments, individuals and organizations, operating in an interdependent way.  The wider the range of people and backgrounds at the problem-solving table, the more likely environmental and social equity will stay in the business equation along the way.

Sustainability action is best served with this new emphasis on collaboration, teamwork and cross-sector, cross-industry, cross-competitor, interdependent partnerships.  The wise leader will do his or her job by being smart enough to engage and motivate all sorts of people and organizations in the direction of sustainable innovation.

Our culture is changing.  No longer are people in the same job for 30 years.  Some people do just fine without a college degree and others end up in careers that have had nothing to do with any previous education.  Life and work were never linear, even though cultural expectations of such were laid on thick.

So, if we are not forever beholden to the first career track we take or some random topic we studied years ago, what does that mean for the sustainability movement?  I took a clue from a great line in a recent article on the University of British Columbia’s  “living lab” on sustainability. In his Corporate Knights piece, Jens Ourom writes that the UBC is: “revamping its curricula to allow students in each and every faculty to pursue a minor in sustainability.”

I’ve heard from a number of corporate sustainability leaders, as well, that this would be their suggestion for today’s university students.  In order to become tomorrow’s sustainability-minded business leaders, it may not be necessary for students to head for the so-labeled “sustainability program.” Instead, they should think about continuing to pursue their existing interests in accounting, engineering, social science, computer science, psychology, and so on, but be taught – within that curriculum – about how their field contributes to a sustainable society. In other words, your major is still your major, but your minor is how to see that through a sustainability lens.

That’s why I think this UBC approach (and other campuses around the world are likely at least thinking of doing something similar) is worth a bit more thought, and not just for universities and students.  Businesses, too, can make sure that the sustainability angle of a particular job function is a part of training or employee engagement efforts, for example.

The way I see it, the more that people, as students or in their work, see how their particular focus or “function” can contribute to the sustainability efforts of their institution or corporation, the more they WILL contribute.   By designing study tracks and career paths that all include a minor in sustainability, we can lay that ground work.

A newly released report from the Weinreb Group on how sustainability reached the C-Suite has been getting much coverage and starting great conversations this week. Of the ten key findings in “The CSO (Chief Sustainability Officer) Back Story,” three, in particular, caught my eye – from the standpoint of observing a shift in the kinds of skills or attributes that business leaders need to rise to the top in sustainability.  Those were (with my paraphrase of The Weinreb Group’s definition):

“Secret Sauce” – The CSOs studied were good at leading new initiatives and cross-functional teams, and understood how to translate external factors into internal opportunities.

“Strong External Affairs Background” – A significant number of those studied held an external facing role prior to being named CSO.

“Not Many MBAs” – The educational backgrounds of the CSOs studied were diverse. Most had Master’s level education, but there were only 4 MBAs.

Even before sustainability leadership was a concept, organizational leadership  experts/scholars (such as: Warren Bennis, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Linda Carli & Alice Eagly) were noting a shift in emphasis away from the more agentic, directive and hierarchical approaches toward a more relational, collaborative and communications-savvy approach.

I see holistic, relational thinking and the need for excellent communications skills reflected in the three Weinreb Group findings I’ve highlighted in this post, and in the case studies included in their report (such as: SAP, AT&T and UPS).  The secret absolutely does lie in an ability to lead through collaboration in multidisciplinary/cross-functional groups and to keep connecting what is going on externally to internal opportunities (and vice versa).  The fact that an external facing background may be important strikes me as evidence that organizations definitely do need to emphasize communications skills as they seek and nurture future sustainability leaders.  And, interrelated with both of those is this perhaps counter-intuitive finding that having an MBA is not an absolute CSO requirement.  Instead, leaders can come from a wide variety of education level and study focus areas.  It is in the individual’s unique combination of educational background, previous corporate position or other job experience, and his/her ability to connect internal and external dots that I see something new and noteworthy.

Sustainability is forcing the issue of where leadership had too-slowly been headed already.  The traditional leader, with his or her more directive, top-down, take-charge style, is not the type of leader who can handle the need for collaboration, holistic perspectives and long-term orientation that sustainability-focused corporations now face.

Research like that from the Weinreb Group is crucial.  With these findings, corporations should be able to better identify and develop their future leaders.  Furthermore, between the lines of this report (I highly recommend you read the full document) lies an even greater point, which is that there should be a whole new emphasis on previously under-prioritized holistic leadership skills and relational abilities in leadership talent.

If influencing a mass of citizens toward sustainable behavior is anywhere within your mission, start with women.

I often write about sustainability hidden in plain sight, in terms of what a person or company may already be doing that could be or help drive further sustainability.  In the same way, women are the best sustainability “marketers” hidden in plain sight.  If you want to convince your city to bike or walk more, get to know its women.  As well, if you want to sell more fuel-efficient cars or energy efficient appliances, start by engaging with women.

You may not see their faces when you first think about those topics, and they may not be the ones your ad campaigns directly target, but in most cases, women are the ones to reach for the purposes of their influence on the broader market.  And, all of what we know about marketing “things” to women can now be put to incredible use in encouraging sustainable behavior and practices.  And this is what drives my work today.

Though my writing and consulting career was founded in ten plus years of women’s market research and understanding (I co-authored the book Don’t Think Pink), my focus in more recent years has been on sustainable business and human behavior.  I am driven to better understand how to inspire and engage more people (of whatever gender) to think, live and do business through a lens of sustainability.  What my combined women’s market and sustainable business knowledge tells me is that women hold the key.

But, this is not about having women-only events or about slapping a pink ribbon with an Energy Smart sticker on a refrigerator.  Instead, it may be more about launching a business reminder campaign similar to the “Buy Local First” effort, called: Think Women First.

Why?  Because, women will connect you to what’s important, they’ll let you know which key words to use, what tone to take, which of their values your product or cause needs to reach, and – the bonus – you’ll start to understand how to better connect with men and children on the same topics.  As I have long emphasized in my marketing to women articles and presentations: understand and serve women well, and you will reach everyone better.

This doesn’t mean that women and men exist in separate, polarized camps.  Like all things sustainable, you can’t say, “let’s tackle the women’s side” this year and then address the men’s market next year, because they are connected.  Getting to know women, first, however, will speed your way into the hearts and minds of everyone else.

And, this isn’t just about reaching consumers, either! It’s also about changing organizational culture and leadership. In my recent research on corporate sustainability leadership, a similar relationship emerged, where relational traits, those long considered “softer” or more “feminine” take the lead. In other words, a business or organizational leader’s relational traits contribute to their success in doing their jobs, building teams and integrating sustainability throughout.  It is not one (relational) way of thinking as opposed to the other (linear). Instead: Think Relational First.  When leaders start there, their linear and pragmatic thinking then knows where to go and how to best be applied.

Am I passionate? Yes. In recent weeks, I’ve started to see so much potential for “Thinking Women/Relational First,” it’s crazy.  What excites me most are the mass consumer influencing possibilities.  My favorites include: 1) biking (get more women on bikes to get more people on bikes, then with more people on bikes, you see a decrease in obesity and carbon emissions); 2) the greening of sports (if you want more people to recycle/compost at the stadium, make sure you are talking to women first, then you may just get more people recycling/composting at home); and 3) college campuses (get women engaged with sustainability there, get a lot more future professionals and citizens who have sustainability embedded in their ways of living and working).

So, this is not a women’s story or a women’s issue, and I will have no pink come into contact with this post.  Instead, this is solid sustainable business wisdom that comes from someone who knows, and I am here to help.  What could “Think Women/Relational First” (but not only) do for your business?

Photo by Robert J. Pennington, courtesy RhizomeImages.com

Originally published in The Huffington Post, September 13, 2011

What if your thought leadership got you very little recognition today but contributed to an incredibly significant cultural shift that made a positive difference for generations to come? It is an interesting question at a time when business leadership should be poised to jumpstart the sustainability movement, but could a preference for “show” keep the desperately needed “shift” from happening?

A Businessrespect.net article about Upward Spiral, the Howard Schultz/Starbucks effort to stand against partisan divisions in Congress, explores this topic. The writer makes the point that the well-intentioned, Schultz-spearheaded campaign may be too quickly looking like a campaign for Schultz himself, and that could make the greater cause less successful.

To quote the article:

Entirely pragmatically — quiet influence is far more powerful. It means that once people have been influenced, ways can be found for them to rationalise the shift to their supporters by claiming authorship of their new position. It means that things can change, because the authors of change don’t feel they have to get the credit.

Therein lies the lesson: no matter how worthwhile the cause, businesses must be careful about the way the message is crafted and communicated, and be clear on whether their intention is a true perspective shift or a quick show in the public eye. Especially for the sustainable business evolution, the goal is for innovative thinking to be taken seriously and to inspire and empower others to continue working together for the change.

The legacy of Ray C. Anderson, founder of Interface Inc., presents a good example of the shift approach. Only recently passed away, this “radical industrialist” and sustainability pioneer first changed his own ways and then inspired other business leaders and large corporations to do the same. Though Anderson did get media recognition and gain a name for his crucial role in the business sustainability cause later in his own process, that attention was the result of the many steps he took and the steady influence he wielded all along the way.

What does this mean for sustainability thought leadership overall? Can slow, steady and relatively under-the-radar steps toward perspective shift win the race, or do we need Twitter-worthy cover stories and press conferences held by big-name business leaders to reach mass sustainability influence? At this moment in time, I believe we need to focus on the shift over the show.

Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, is another example of someone who, like Anderson, has made a huge difference in the broader sustainable business shift. Though his name is very familiar within the climbing/outdoor industry and to those closely watching the development of the sustainable economy, Chouinard’s less recognized work in helping develop cooperative business exchanges will likely matter more in the long run. Take the Organic Exchange as one example. Now called the Textile Exchange, Patagonia and Chouinard helped found this group in 2001, and its membership today includes big-name brands and retailers, as well as supply chain companies, reflecting a quiet shift of the entire organic cotton industry toward more sustainable manufacturing processes.

Additionally, I’ve recently learned of some other exciting, industry-shifting work being done in a slow, steady and under-the-radar way. Consider either the Sustainable Endowment Institute or the Green Sports Alliance, and you will be amazed by the thought leadership and “greening” strides that have been made in just the past five years. In the case of these particular nonprofits, the participating individuals are not getting the glory of media coverage and fame, but they are instead collaborating and forming innovative partnerships for the longer-term goals of sustainability in their fields. With the help of organizations like these, college campuses and sports stadium operations are now focusing on more sustainably constructed buildings, more energy-efficient facilities and grander recycling goals. When one campus can claim a better Green Report Card grade, another steps up. When one baseball team cites 80-percent recycling rates in their MLB Green Track report , the competitive spirit drives other teams to follow.

Ray Anderson took the quiet “shift” approach to sustainable business change, and Yvon Chouinard and these two organizations are now doing the same. Their work has the potential to influence masses of people and make history, if not today’s news. So what if the individuals within any of these new, sustainability-focused collaborations don’t get the credit? The point is that their collective contributions will have an impact beyond what any 15 seconds of fame could ever offer.