Jim Hanna has held corporate sustainability roles with Xanterra and Starbucks and is currently at Microsoft and working with Fractal CSOs. He is a great guy with a ton of useful insights. However, one area that he focuses on relentlessly is making the business case. While for many, that is a complex process, he nails it with simple questions: What keeps your leaders up at night, and what are they incentivized on? If you can find a way to connect sustainability to those things, you are 90% of the way there.

Great conversation.

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56% of people beleive that capitalism does more harm than good. 70% of Americans would not help a neighbor of a different political party.

What is the role of business in an increasingly polarized world? Climate, DEI, and nature are critically important issues, but so too are the institutions that support human flourishing and getting those right, and given the trusted role business has, it needs to become more comfortable in helping advance pluralism, shared value and values, advancing integrity and a balanced multi-purpose capitalism that seeks to serve shareholders, the state and stakeholders.

In this rich discussion, Jill and I touch on these issues! We discuss my path into and within the space, the edges of sustainability, what drives change most successfully, and the role of values, identity, and purpose, how companies might think about steps to take to safeguard capitalism and democracy such as questioning if they will advertise on social media platforms whose business model is based on driving revenue through division and polarization, and a lot more.

Enjoy, and if you like what you hear, please subscribe and like the podcast.

Many thanks!

Jeff

A rich discussion with Lena Pripp-Kovac, former Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) for Ikea. I love the idea she presents of the CSO as an interpreter. Lena said, “During my journey in sustainability, it has become clear that one of the key roles in leading change is that of being an interpreter. I am fortunate and thankful for the many amazing people who have shared their experiences to better understand challenges from different perspectives. While translators focus on creating understanding between languages, the interpreter focuses on insight into contextual meaning, including strategic, practical and cultural purpose.”

Enjoy!