Everybody can be a sustainability leader | Annick Schmeddes | TEDxGorinchem

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? Can it be maybe the Pope? Or is it someone on a Greenpeace boat? Or is it Al Gore? Or is it Bojan Slot, getting all the plastic soup out of the ocean? Or is it Greta Thunberg, organizing school strikes? Or is it even our own Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, from the Netherlands? 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 a CEO of a multinational. I am not a man in a suit with gray hair, or a bit of gray. 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 Trouw 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 microcredit cooperative 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 the return back to their organizations. So 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, our 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 citizen. 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 future challenges, possibilities and challenges for people and planet 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 the 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 a 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, and 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're 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 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 IT person? Sustainable organizations need them all, 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 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 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.