Everybody can be a sustainability leader | Annick Schmeddes | TEDxGorinchem

[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

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 4,240

Rating: 4.9298244 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Global Issues, Business, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Leadership, Social Entrepreneurship, Sustainability

Id: yJKXQ0JHIvc

Length: 14min 1sec (841 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 05 2020