I recently had the privilege to interview noted sustainability author and speaker Bob Willard about his new book The Sustainability Champion’s Guidebook.
By Julie Nierenberg
Sustainability Development Manager at Vibraclean Corporate Housekeeping
Julie: Your book has such an intriguing title! Who are the Sustainability Champions?
Bob: They’re people who promote the idea of sustainability and encourage others to embrace environmental and social strategies in the workplace. They have the courage to make suggestions about what a company might do that it’s not already doing and to lead the effort to do that. They are facilitative leaders who help others do things that are good for the company and for causes they care about, all working towards the same ultimate goal: to help the company be a better corporate citizen.
Sustainability Champions are also really smart about which customers, executives, and silent influencers in the organization are the key ones whose influence will help their influence. “Influencing the influencer” is a legitimate strategy for them to work the “trust chain”, influencing trusted members of someone else’s inner circle to get results.
Julie: How can MBOT members benefit from The Sustainability Champion’s Guidebook?
If someone wants the cheat sheet on how to be an effective leader without having a whole lot of position power, 80% of this book is just raw leadership. I’ve taken that 80% and applied it to the other 20% which is about sustainability. You can pick the advice that is appropriate for your situation. It’s intended to be a reference and a resource with bite-size chunks on how to be an effective leader regardless of whether or not you have the mandate to make things happen.
Julie: Could you explain how companies “capture eco-efficiencies”?
Bob: Yes, you save money by using less and paying less for whatever it is you are using. You use less energy and water and produce less waste - which saves you whatever it’s costing you to handle or get rid of that waste - and you save money on materials for your products and packaging. Capturing eco-efficiencies means that you take advantage of them. Companies realize there is enormous opportunity for them to save money, reduce their environmental footprint, and attract more customers because they are being more responsible.
The timeliness of this discussion has never been better. In the last three to five years the legitimacy of sustainability strategies within companies of any size has become more and more evident. It’s being embraced as a way to survive during the recession and to be positioned in the new economy afterwards. The real trick is to ensure that they see possibilities and options they can tap into without killing themselves and figure out things that are good for the company as well as good for the causes that others really care about.
Julie: Does the size of the company matter when making a sustainable transformation?
Bob: Yes, it does. Smaller organizations are more agile. Once they decide to do something - especially if the senior people make that decision - they can implement that more expediently than large companies can. On the other hand, if the founder or CEO of the small company could care less, you’ll never get off first base on sustainability. You have to get their support sooner or later.
In a large company, you can go a long way within pockets in the organization to accomplish some of the things that you really care about. And if the senior people in the overall organization are clueless on sustainability, you can probably go further in a large company than you can in a smaller company.
To learn more about Bob Willard, speaker and author of resources for Sustainability Champions, please visit his website: sustainabilityadvantage.com
+ Read the full interview The Urgent Need for a Practical Guidebook: Bob Willard Speaks on How to Transform Your Company Sustainably
