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!

Gabriel Grant is someone whose work you should know about.

Over the past fifteen years, he has provided coaching and training for more than one thousand purpose-led leaders and world-class change agents, including founders and board members, and c-suite executives and directors from more than 150 major brands.

I am fascinated by his thinking on what makes companies tick, especially his ideas around "The Self-determined Organization—Toward a Humanistic Theory of the Firm," which is a book he is working on. I think the idea of applying individual flourishing to organizations is fascinating and critical. His insights into how we in the sustainability space can miss the boat when it comes to internal and external motivation seem spot on to me.

I know you will get a lot from this listen.

In conversation with Jill Dumain of Fractal CSOs.

Jill offers this:

What a fun opportunity to look back on some of the many experiences that I have had that led me to this place. So many people to thank who have mentored and partnered with me with some of the craziest of ideas. But now I can see how all the individual experiences add up to this new position. I feel as though I am in a good position to give back and help others avoid so many of the holes that I stepped in the last 35 years!

Hope you enjoy the conversation and follow us at FractalCSOs for more!

https://fractalcsos.com/

In this episode of Making Waves on Purpose, I am in conversation with Jill Dumain, Lena Pripp Kovac, Chad Dorgan and Jim Hanna, all partners, together with me, Jeff Senne, in Fractal CSOs.

Fractal CSOs is a network of practitioners that coach companies and organizations of all shapes and sizes across various industries to move forward faster and stay on the path, whether you’re just getting started in your sustainability journey or are already well on your way. While no one has seen it all, with over 150 years in the space, we have seen a lot.

This is the first of six podcasts: this one with us all and five more featuring each partner to share their unique insights into our work and the evolving space of corporate sustainability.

One of the hats I wear is as the volunteer Team Guardian for Global Purpose Leaders (GPL). This is a close-knit group of purpose practitioners that work on individual, organizational and societal change.
In this podcast, I speak with Brandon Peele. Brandon has been a driving force in GPL for years and in the purpose space even longer. He has a deep understanding of the space, its practice and its promise. This is a must-listen for those who work to find purpose, make their businesses sustainable or are just curious about purpose.

This is one for a quiet walk with the dog or with a glass of wine in front of the fire (yes, it is getting cold here in Buenos Aires).
Enjoy!

And please, if you like what you hear, LIKE and SUBSCRIBE. More great conversations are to come from other members of GPL.

Kyle Santos joined me in a great conversation on various issues and a focus on something that we in the corporate responsibility space often get wrong - celebrating small wins. Hi rightly points out that given the gravity of what we seek to address, climate change, inequality, ecosystem restoration...small steps often feel not worth celebrating. This is likely to get worse as a result of the ESG backlash and companies going quiet on their progress.

We also touched on measuring versus doing, interesting tensions in the space, and much more.

I am so grateful to Kyle and all my other guests for taking the time to share their insights!