July 9, 2024 • 27 mins
In this episode we explore the critical topic of Sustainability. The initial inspiration to explore more about this topic in the organisational context came from Dr Jane Goodall’s powerful keynote at the World Economic Forum in Davos, emphasizing the urgent need for leaders to prioritize future generations and address the intertwined issues of human suffering and climate change.
Jen Gearing, founder of Rejenerate, joins the podcast to help unpack the themes of Sustainability and shares insights into how organisations can be a ‘force for good’ and make impactful changes. We explore the holistic nature of sustainability, encompassing economic, social, and environmental aspects, discuss what B Corps are and why sustainable practices are becoming a priority for organisations today.
Join us as we learn how to start small and build momentum towards a sustainable future. Whether you're an emerging leader, a senior executive, or an individual consumer, this episode offers actionable advice and inspiration to help you make a difference. Let's all do our bit for the people, community, and the planet, and get ready to take action for a better future.
Links:
Rejenerate - https://www.rejenerate.co/
Lessons from Dr Jane Goodall from World Economic Forum - https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/04/lessons-from-jane-goodall-climate-crisis/
B Corp - https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Social Enterprise would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land
where the podcast has been recorded and pay respects to the elders past and present.
We also want to celebrate the ongoing culture connections and the storytelling
practices that is very much part of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders tradition.
(00:21):
Welcome to Social Enterprise.
Music.
(00:46):
We'll be right back. Hi listeners, in this episode, I'm delighted to be joined
by a guest speaker who is passionate and an expert in the field of sustainability.
Before I introduce her, I wanted to share where the inspiration for this episode came from.
Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum had their annual meeting in Davos,
and one of the guest speakers was Dr. Jane Goodall.
(01:07):
For those not familiar with her and her work, she is a world-renowned and respected
primatologist and conservationist, and is still very active in her advocacy
for the environment, animal welfare, and human rights, even well into her 90s.
Her keynote messages from this annual meeting was released, and since I first
saw and heard her message, it really struck a chord with me to think differently
(01:30):
around sustainability.
She made a bold statement where she firmly believes that no one should be appointed
to decision-making positions if they are prioritising future generations.
She talks about the need to think about this holistically, for example,
the impact of warfare on biodiversity, which is very topical right now with
the war on Gaza and the war between Russia and Ukraine.
(01:52):
We all have a role to address human suffering and climate change.
Her message, however, is not all doom and gloom.
She feels that there is hope with the younger generations could start changing
the current state, and we all need to do our bit by starting to make small changes.
As she's observed in nature, it has the resilience to survive and regenerate
(02:14):
even in the smallest changes.
Now, when I try to translate this statement to the organisational context,
It might sound dramatic, but sustainability needs to be a core priority and
core capability for all senior leaders and board members.
Many organizations may have net zero targets and are conscious around sustainability
(02:34):
more broadly, but a lot of these targets have been set well into the future,
and I'm not convinced that everyone understands the critical importance of it.
Frankly, if we don't look after our environment and make some changes to try
and preserve and protect what we have for our future generations,
there simply will be no future left.
(02:56):
I can honestly and humbly say that the topic of sustainability is not an area
I have much expertise in.
So for today's episode, I've invited Jen to help educate and unpack the themes
around sustainability that we should all be thinking about as leaders,
but also as individual consumers as the everyday decisions we make is having an impact.
(03:18):
Jen Gearing is based out of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland,
Australia, and is the founder of Rejenerate.
She's a consultant that helps organisations of all sizes navigate sustainable change.
She partners with her clients to drive impactful environmental,
social and governance initiatives and guide organisations to be B Corp certified.
(03:39):
I'm looking forward to deep diving into her work and insights in this episode.
Jen, it's so great to have you on Social Enterprise.
To kick us off, can you tell us what sustainability actually means and what
it means to you? Yeah, for sure.
Sustainability is around something, being here for the long term.
(04:01):
Now, whether that is a business or whether it's just our pace,
our day-to-day pace of of how we operate, sustainability is about being here
for the long term and not doing harm to anyone.
So that's really what it means to me.
Rejenerate is a fairly new business of yours and it eventuated from a recent
(04:24):
career change that you've made to follow your passion and leveraging the experience
that you had in the corporate world as an experience change professional.
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey, how you started Rejenerate
and what your main vision and mission is for you and Rejenerate?
Rejenerate started as a passion project like many post-COVID. it.
(04:48):
Most of my career has been in corporate and I've been very, very fortunate to
be given lots of opportunities, a lot in the change management and program management space.
So I've dealt with lots of different types of projects, seen lots of different
change across these organizations.
(05:11):
And the thing I love about corporates is that you do get exposed to lots of
those big opportunities and I always put my hand up to really push myself.
When I was living in Malaysia, so I lived in Malaysia for seven years,
I started working for a startup.
(05:33):
I had to unlearn every bit of corporate that I had because every process,
every sort of structure was
not there in a startup nor should it be and that was
the beauty of it but that was a big change for me as
well over the next six years that business
just grew to be something super successful and became a global organization
(05:56):
operating in thirty markets so that startup then morphed into a corporate so
it went through its own change as well with many challenges and and many triumphs.
Moving back to Australia, late last year, I just realized that I wanted to try
(06:19):
something else and that the sustainability work that I had been doing overseas,
I wanted to expand more in Australia.
And I knew as a conscious consumer, I knew a lot about the positive positive
impacts that businesses can make, I knew that I could also have an impact in
(06:39):
helping other small businesses.
So Rejenerate as a side hustle became Rejenerate as my own small business.
It's been a huge learning curve for me as well.
A lot of that formal change training that I had, I've been able to bring into other organisations.
(07:00):
So the vision for Rejenerate is that, all businesses would be seeing themselves
as a force for good and incorporating sustainability into their business model.
My mission is to help as many businesses as I can.
Have sustainability plans in place, and become B Corp certified.
(07:24):
So I do that through a few different programs and services that I offer,
including one-on-one B Corp consulting.
I also do energy resource audits and assessments.
I help businesses actually get started on this sustainability journey.
And I'm working also with two other female founders, and we have created another
(07:49):
small business called the Sustainability Coaching Centre.
And so we then really tailor our coaching so businesses can come out of our
program with an implementation plan, an action plan that they can use back in their own business.
So Rejenerate has been a journey of using my skills in change,
(08:14):
in project management, and in big organizations and applying those learnings
into smaller organizations. And I love it.
I love that. I'm a massive, massive fan.
And, you know, the concept of transferable skills and translating that into
(08:35):
different industries, different types of organizations, as you mentioned,
And I think that's fantastic.
And at the end of the day, change management is all around mindset and behaviour,
which sustainability, I imagine, is exactly that.
Absolutely. Yeah, definitely. And, you know, working in finance and insurance
(08:59):
industries, they can still be sustainable because they've still got big supply chains in particular.
They've still got communities that they're helping and that they're supporting.
And moving that into the smaller business and helping them with that mindset
that they don't need to be huge, they don't need to have a lot of money,
(09:20):
that they can be a business who is a force for good.
That's something that's really exciting and something that I love seeing that
light come on with business owners when they realise that it is something that they can achieve. you.
The other thing I think is really clever is regenerate is you because it's in the name.
(09:40):
So for the listeners out there, Jen's
been very clever and she spells Rejenerate with a J, as in J for Jen.
So I think that's a really clever way to incorporate that.
Yeah, it's a nice little twist on something. And if you regenerate something,
you're also so making it sustainable and keeping it going.
(10:03):
So that's what I'm all about.
As I mentioned, I should say, at the start of the episode, I was incredibly
moved by Jane Goodall's message and her call to action, and that sort of inspired
this episode around sustainability.
And I know that organizations that are socially orientated are starting to prioritize
(10:25):
adopting sustainable practices, but do you have any insight into why this is
becoming more of a priority for organizations now?
There's a lot of research that is
really showing that sustainability in businesses
leads to a lot of benefits and sustainability I think is not only about the
(10:46):
environment and that's I probably didn't explain that clearly enough at the
very start where sustainability is covering in a business sense the economic
the social and the environmental aspects of how they're operating.
So from a social side, businesses are really becoming more sustainable and we're
(11:07):
seeing that there is improved community relations.
There is enhanced employee morale and
there's also a positive brand image that comes about by businesses being sustainable
because consumers are also looking to see what some of their favorite businesses
are doing and as well as having those social benefits they also bring economic benefits by attracting,
(11:31):
conscious consumers even eligibility for some green funding green loans so they're
becoming more common these days as well.
Interesting. And I love that it is much broader.
At the end of the day, organizations driven and exist with profitability,
but it's good that they're thinking much broader around, as you said, community,
(11:55):
their workers, and that reputation of being sustainable,
correlating with their profitability.
Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. So you assist clients with their, what you mentioned,
B Corp certification, Can you tell us a little bit about the process,
what key criteria that are assessed to become a B Corp?
(12:17):
Sure. I love talking about B Corp. It's something that I discovered back in about 2016.
And as soon as I started to delve more into what it meant, what it stood for,
I knew that it was exactly where I wanted to head myself. self.
So Certified B Corp, leading for-profit companies that are dedicated to using
(12:43):
what we say business as a force for good.
So B Corps are independently verified by B Lab for meeting high standards of
social and environmental performance.
They need to be transparent and they're held to account.
While some certifications do look at a specific product, service,
(13:03):
industry, or practice, you know, such as Fairtrade or FSC in terms of paper products.
B Corp certification assesses the whole company that stands behind it.
So the process to certify is rigorous and it's holistic.
And by that, I mean, we're not just looking at one part of their business.
(13:24):
We're looking at all of them.
And I'll go into that in a minute. And it also requires you to recertify every
three years. So B Corps are continuously working to improve their impact
on people and the planet.
More and more people are recognizing that to address current global challenges
and to protect future generations, we must balance a positive impact on the
(13:49):
people alongside making a profit.
And that's something that I find a lot of people don't quite get is that we
still want to be a business that makes a profit.
And we want to make a huge profit because we have to be commercially viable.
And also, the more money we make as a business, the more we can then give back
(14:11):
to others in our community.
So it's an evolving circle.
Now, the actual process to certify involves completing an assessment as one part of it.
So there are five areas that the business is looking at. So we're looking at
governance, workers, community, customers, and the environment.
(14:37):
So depending on the size of your business, depending on where a business is
located, how many people they have in their business, there could be up to maybe 150 questions.
And each question needs to have evidence in order to gain those points.
So at the moment, the scoring system is each question is worth a certain amount of points.
(15:02):
Once you reach the required minimum of 80 points, then you're eligible to submit.
And that's when the verification process starts, which can be lengthy.
And as I said, needing to make sure that you've got evidence for all of those
questions is super important.
B Corps also need to be transparent in what they're saying.
(15:24):
So they will need to produce their score and the breakdown of scores for each
of those five areas on the B Corp global website.
They also need to be accountable. And by that, I mean there is a legal accountability
in most markets where businesses will be changing their company constitution, for example.
(15:47):
To say that they will be putting people, planet, all stakeholders,
not only shareholders, all stakeholders into the decision-making of that business.
So I work with businesses of various sizes and I'm fortunate to work with businesses
(16:08):
in Australia and Southeast Asia as well.
And they often go and do the assessment themselves, find that they haven't reached
the 80 points and don't know where to go.
So that's a great scenario of where I can step in and help.
(16:28):
So I will be then looking in, I'll do a deep dive into their business and help
them come up with a way that they can work towards meeting those 80 points.
So I also like to frame it that I'm also helping them to implement sustainability
into their business strategy for the long term.
(16:49):
I'm not only here to help them reach their goal of B Corp certification,
which I can absolutely do, but it's about that mindset change as well and helping
them to ingrain sustainability into all of their practices.
So all of their shareholders, sorry, all of their stakeholders can understand
(17:11):
the journey that that business is on. So-
There's a lot of organisations out there and I'm sure there are organisations
that are the leaders in the sustainability space.
But is there an organisation that you can think of that's seen as best practice
(17:33):
in the area of sustainability?
There's lots. There's lots.
I guess there's one that I like because I like their products as well.
And it's not Ben and Jerry's, even though I do like their products.
The one that I think about is Patagonia.
(17:53):
Patagonia has great community programs.
They have great employee benefit and they have a circular repair program within their business.
So Patagonia is the outdoor clothing company and instead of people buying a
(18:16):
jacket and if the zip breaks after a while, they throw it out.
Patagonia has a repair program. So they want you to bring that jacket back.
They will fix it for you and then you can continue to wear that jacket.
They're very conscious about where their materials are sourced from,
very conscious about the supply chain and not only where the materials are coming
(18:40):
from, but what are the employee conditions of those people who are making a
lot of the products as well.
So it's not just in store, it's very, very deep and far and wide and they really focus a lot on that.
So Patagonia, global organisation, probably one of my favourites.
I love that example that you shared with us on many fronts.
(19:03):
First around, I guess, employee conditions and being a global organisation and.
There's lots of different standards when it comes to employment conditions around the world.
So some countries are more employee orientated in their employment law versus others.
So juggling that, but making it a priority that the conditions are good for employees is great.
(19:29):
But I think the other example that I liked is there's a lot of talk right now
about fast fashion. And especially in the fashion industry, I imagine things become less trendy.
So there's a lot of turnover.
Yes. One minute something's in, the next minute it's out of fashion.
(19:50):
But what I like about that example that you shared, especially in the clothing
industry, is that when a part of the full product becomes faulty, that can be repaired.
I guess it's a little bit like with a car.
So, you know, when you go in for a service on a yearly basis,
(20:11):
for example, you might have an issue with the headlights or the engine or the air conditioning unit.
But when not asked to buy a new car, they look at all the parts and repairing that.
So it's great to see that in the fashion or the clothing industry as well.
Yeah, there's certainly leaders in that space. and that design principle of
(20:35):
they want things to be fixed is very much part of their planning.
Yeah, so it's really good to see. That's great.
So the last question, given this podcast has a career and organisational angle,
can you give us two or three key things that emerging leaders or those in senior
(20:57):
positions should be considering? Okay.
Yeah, I think there's a lot of talk at the moment around greenwashing, green hushing.
I think one thing that's really, really important is to engage your stakeholders
and be transparent about what you're doing.
(21:18):
So stakeholders, employees, customers, suppliers, investors,
and the local community, being Being transparent around sustainability will
build trust and foster collaboration.
It also does show that you're trying. So any emerging leaders or senior leaders
(21:40):
who are thinking that we're not ready to share or we're not ready to start,
I would challenge that and say just start because progress is better than perfection.
And being transparent around what you're doing and providing regular updates will help.
I think another one is integrating sustainability into your core strategy.
(22:04):
So rather than treating sustainability as an add-on department or a separate initiative.
It should be around considering the environmental and social impacts in all
the decision-making processes, setting measurable goal and aligning them with
the company's overall mission and vision.
(22:26):
And by that, some practical examples in the people space are things like setting
KPIs for sustainability initiatives and putting them into manager job description.
Making making someone accountable for
these goals just like a finance manager is
(22:47):
accountable for revenue and expenses then all
managers should also have that responsibility for sustainability and making
sure that when we are choosing suppliers or when we are hiring employees that
we've got that sustainability lens and it's not seen as a separate function.
(23:09):
I love that example about KPIs.
And I guess one of the things that I think about, which might be,
a bit of a challenge or mindset change for organizations is you mentioned KPIs
and performance reviews.
A lot of organizations do performance reviews on a half yearly,
yearly basis, and they set their KPIs at the beginning of the year.
(23:32):
But something like sustainability is an ongoing journey.
So I wonder if it's something that organizations, rather than thinking,
oh, you know, what are we going to be able to achieve in the 12 months?
They need to not make that as a barrier, but as you said, start small,
(23:53):
start somewhere, keep it front in mind. Yeah.
So it becomes more part of the DNA.
Exactly. And that can come around through doing, establishing a baseline.
Baseline so by doing employee engagement surveys for
example and and really deep diving and
understanding what the issues are that's a baseline you
(24:15):
can then work from there on the environment side looking at how much energy
you use that is a baseline and from there you can set reduction targets so that's
where I just I keep you know keep wanting businesses to not be afraid They can
feel overwhelmed at times, but just get started.
And there are businesses who can help with sustainability plans and guidance if needed as well.
(24:42):
I think that that's a great message. I think a lot of the time when people talk about sustainability,
they think that they need to be a change activist, for example,
but we all can do our bit to work on how we we can understand sustainability
better, make better choices, as you said, when it comes to decision making,
(25:03):
especially in the organisation or organisational context and keep it front of mind.
Exactly. Great. Well, Jen, it was fantastic to have you and to help us understand
sustainability a little bit more. Thank you so much.
(25:24):
It's been a pleasure. Loved it. Thank you.
I hope you enjoyed, were inspired and able to take something from this episode.
Sustainability is such a critical area we all need to think about and I hope
it's given you food for thought on what you can start doing in this space to
be more proactive around adopting sustainable practices.
(25:45):
Maybe you can inspire others as well. Let's all do our bit for the people,
community and the planet and pass it forward to our future generations. regenerations.
I'll add details of Jen's business Rejenerate, the clip of Dr.
Jane Goodall's message I was inspired by, and more info on B Corp if you want
to continue your learning journey in the show notes.
(26:06):
Thanks for joining, and until next time, stay safe.
Music.
Social Enterprise would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land
where the podcast has been recorded and pay respects to the elders past and present.
We also want to celebrate the ongoing culture connections and the storytelling
practices that is very much part of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders tradition.
(00:21):
Welcome to Social Enterprise.
Music.
(00:46):
We'll be right back. Hi listeners, in this episode, I'm delighted to be joined
by a guest speaker who is passionate and an expert in the field of sustainability.
Before I introduce her, I wanted to share where the inspiration for this episode came from.
Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum had their annual meeting in Davos,
and one of the guest speakers was Dr. Jane Goodall.
(01:07):
For those not familiar with her and her work, she is a world-renowned and respected
primatologist and conservationist, and is still very active in her advocacy
for the environment, animal welfare, and human rights, even well into her 90s.
Her keynote messages from this annual meeting was released, and since I first
saw and heard her message, it really struck a chord with me to think differently
(01:30):
around sustainability.
She made a bold statement where she firmly believes that no one should be appointed
to decision-making positions if they are prioritising future generations.
She talks about the need to think about this holistically, for example,
the impact of warfare on biodiversity, which is very topical right now with
the war on Gaza and the war between Russia and Ukraine.
(01:52):
We all have a role to address human suffering and climate change.
Her message, however, is not all doom and gloom.
She feels that there is hope with the younger generations could start changing
the current state, and we all need to do our bit by starting to make small changes.
As she's observed in nature, it has the resilience to survive and regenerate
(02:14):
even in the smallest changes.
Now, when I try to translate this statement to the organisational context,
It might sound dramatic, but sustainability needs to be a core priority and
core capability for all senior leaders and board members.
Many organizations may have net zero targets and are conscious around sustainability
(02:34):
more broadly, but a lot of these targets have been set well into the future,
and I'm not convinced that everyone understands the critical importance of it.
Frankly, if we don't look after our environment and make some changes to try
and preserve and protect what we have for our future generations,
there simply will be no future left.
(02:56):
I can honestly and humbly say that the topic of sustainability is not an area
I have much expertise in.
So for today's episode, I've invited Jen to help educate and unpack the themes
around sustainability that we should all be thinking about as leaders,
but also as individual consumers as the everyday decisions we make is having an impact.
(03:18):
Jen Gearing is based out of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland,
Australia, and is the founder of Rejenerate.
She's a consultant that helps organisations of all sizes navigate sustainable change.
She partners with her clients to drive impactful environmental,
social and governance initiatives and guide organisations to be B Corp certified.
(03:39):
I'm looking forward to deep diving into her work and insights in this episode.
Jen, it's so great to have you on Social Enterprise.
To kick us off, can you tell us what sustainability actually means and what
it means to you? Yeah, for sure.
Sustainability is around something, being here for the long term.
(04:01):
Now, whether that is a business or whether it's just our pace,
our day-to-day pace of of how we operate, sustainability is about being here
for the long term and not doing harm to anyone.
So that's really what it means to me.
Rejenerate is a fairly new business of yours and it eventuated from a recent
(04:24):
career change that you've made to follow your passion and leveraging the experience
that you had in the corporate world as an experience change professional.
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey, how you started Rejenerate
and what your main vision and mission is for you and Rejenerate?
Rejenerate started as a passion project like many post-COVID. it.
(04:48):
Most of my career has been in corporate and I've been very, very fortunate to
be given lots of opportunities, a lot in the change management and program management space.
So I've dealt with lots of different types of projects, seen lots of different
change across these organizations.
(05:11):
And the thing I love about corporates is that you do get exposed to lots of
those big opportunities and I always put my hand up to really push myself.
When I was living in Malaysia, so I lived in Malaysia for seven years,
I started working for a startup.
(05:33):
I had to unlearn every bit of corporate that I had because every process,
every sort of structure was
not there in a startup nor should it be and that was
the beauty of it but that was a big change for me as
well over the next six years that business
just grew to be something super successful and became a global organization
(05:56):
operating in thirty markets so that startup then morphed into a corporate so
it went through its own change as well with many challenges and and many triumphs.
Moving back to Australia, late last year, I just realized that I wanted to try
(06:19):
something else and that the sustainability work that I had been doing overseas,
I wanted to expand more in Australia.
And I knew as a conscious consumer, I knew a lot about the positive positive
impacts that businesses can make, I knew that I could also have an impact in
(06:39):
helping other small businesses.
So Rejenerate as a side hustle became Rejenerate as my own small business.
It's been a huge learning curve for me as well.
A lot of that formal change training that I had, I've been able to bring into other organisations.
(07:00):
So the vision for Rejenerate is that, all businesses would be seeing themselves
as a force for good and incorporating sustainability into their business model.
My mission is to help as many businesses as I can.
Have sustainability plans in place, and become B Corp certified.
(07:24):
So I do that through a few different programs and services that I offer,
including one-on-one B Corp consulting.
I also do energy resource audits and assessments.
I help businesses actually get started on this sustainability journey.
And I'm working also with two other female founders, and we have created another
(07:49):
small business called the Sustainability Coaching Centre.
And so we then really tailor our coaching so businesses can come out of our
program with an implementation plan, an action plan that they can use back in their own business.
So Rejenerate has been a journey of using my skills in change,
(08:14):
in project management, and in big organizations and applying those learnings
into smaller organizations. And I love it.
I love that. I'm a massive, massive fan.
And, you know, the concept of transferable skills and translating that into
(08:35):
different industries, different types of organizations, as you mentioned,
And I think that's fantastic.
And at the end of the day, change management is all around mindset and behaviour,
which sustainability, I imagine, is exactly that.
Absolutely. Yeah, definitely. And, you know, working in finance and insurance
(08:59):
industries, they can still be sustainable because they've still got big supply chains in particular.
They've still got communities that they're helping and that they're supporting.
And moving that into the smaller business and helping them with that mindset
that they don't need to be huge, they don't need to have a lot of money,
(09:20):
that they can be a business who is a force for good.
That's something that's really exciting and something that I love seeing that
light come on with business owners when they realise that it is something that they can achieve. you.
The other thing I think is really clever is regenerate is you because it's in the name.
(09:40):
So for the listeners out there, Jen's
been very clever and she spells Rejenerate with a J, as in J for Jen.
So I think that's a really clever way to incorporate that.
Yeah, it's a nice little twist on something. And if you regenerate something,
you're also so making it sustainable and keeping it going.
(10:03):
So that's what I'm all about.
As I mentioned, I should say, at the start of the episode, I was incredibly
moved by Jane Goodall's message and her call to action, and that sort of inspired
this episode around sustainability.
And I know that organizations that are socially orientated are starting to prioritize
(10:25):
adopting sustainable practices, but do you have any insight into why this is
becoming more of a priority for organizations now?
There's a lot of research that is
really showing that sustainability in businesses
leads to a lot of benefits and sustainability I think is not only about the
(10:46):
environment and that's I probably didn't explain that clearly enough at the
very start where sustainability is covering in a business sense the economic
the social and the environmental aspects of how they're operating.
So from a social side, businesses are really becoming more sustainable and we're
(11:07):
seeing that there is improved community relations.
There is enhanced employee morale and
there's also a positive brand image that comes about by businesses being sustainable
because consumers are also looking to see what some of their favorite businesses
are doing and as well as having those social benefits they also bring economic benefits by attracting,
(11:31):
conscious consumers even eligibility for some green funding green loans so they're
becoming more common these days as well.
Interesting. And I love that it is much broader.
At the end of the day, organizations driven and exist with profitability,
but it's good that they're thinking much broader around, as you said, community,
(11:55):
their workers, and that reputation of being sustainable,
correlating with their profitability.
Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. So you assist clients with their, what you mentioned,
B Corp certification, Can you tell us a little bit about the process,
what key criteria that are assessed to become a B Corp?
(12:17):
Sure. I love talking about B Corp. It's something that I discovered back in about 2016.
And as soon as I started to delve more into what it meant, what it stood for,
I knew that it was exactly where I wanted to head myself. self.
So Certified B Corp, leading for-profit companies that are dedicated to using
(12:43):
what we say business as a force for good.
So B Corps are independently verified by B Lab for meeting high standards of
social and environmental performance.
They need to be transparent and they're held to account.
While some certifications do look at a specific product, service,
(13:03):
industry, or practice, you know, such as Fairtrade or FSC in terms of paper products.
B Corp certification assesses the whole company that stands behind it.
So the process to certify is rigorous and it's holistic.
And by that, I mean, we're not just looking at one part of their business.
(13:24):
We're looking at all of them.
And I'll go into that in a minute. And it also requires you to recertify every
three years. So B Corps are continuously working to improve their impact
on people and the planet.
More and more people are recognizing that to address current global challenges
and to protect future generations, we must balance a positive impact on the
(13:49):
people alongside making a profit.
And that's something that I find a lot of people don't quite get is that we
still want to be a business that makes a profit.
And we want to make a huge profit because we have to be commercially viable.
And also, the more money we make as a business, the more we can then give back
(14:11):
to others in our community.
So it's an evolving circle.
Now, the actual process to certify involves completing an assessment as one part of it.
So there are five areas that the business is looking at. So we're looking at
governance, workers, community, customers, and the environment.
(14:37):
So depending on the size of your business, depending on where a business is
located, how many people they have in their business, there could be up to maybe 150 questions.
And each question needs to have evidence in order to gain those points.
So at the moment, the scoring system is each question is worth a certain amount of points.
(15:02):
Once you reach the required minimum of 80 points, then you're eligible to submit.
And that's when the verification process starts, which can be lengthy.
And as I said, needing to make sure that you've got evidence for all of those
questions is super important.
B Corps also need to be transparent in what they're saying.
(15:24):
So they will need to produce their score and the breakdown of scores for each
of those five areas on the B Corp global website.
They also need to be accountable. And by that, I mean there is a legal accountability
in most markets where businesses will be changing their company constitution, for example.
(15:47):
To say that they will be putting people, planet, all stakeholders,
not only shareholders, all stakeholders into the decision-making of that business.
So I work with businesses of various sizes and I'm fortunate to work with businesses
(16:08):
in Australia and Southeast Asia as well.
And they often go and do the assessment themselves, find that they haven't reached
the 80 points and don't know where to go.
So that's a great scenario of where I can step in and help.
(16:28):
So I will be then looking in, I'll do a deep dive into their business and help
them come up with a way that they can work towards meeting those 80 points.
So I also like to frame it that I'm also helping them to implement sustainability
into their business strategy for the long term.
(16:49):
I'm not only here to help them reach their goal of B Corp certification,
which I can absolutely do, but it's about that mindset change as well and helping
them to ingrain sustainability into all of their practices.
So all of their shareholders, sorry, all of their stakeholders can understand
(17:11):
the journey that that business is on. So-
There's a lot of organisations out there and I'm sure there are organisations
that are the leaders in the sustainability space.
But is there an organisation that you can think of that's seen as best practice
(17:33):
in the area of sustainability?
There's lots. There's lots.
I guess there's one that I like because I like their products as well.
And it's not Ben and Jerry's, even though I do like their products.
The one that I think about is Patagonia.
(17:53):
Patagonia has great community programs.
They have great employee benefit and they have a circular repair program within their business.
So Patagonia is the outdoor clothing company and instead of people buying a
(18:16):
jacket and if the zip breaks after a while, they throw it out.
Patagonia has a repair program. So they want you to bring that jacket back.
They will fix it for you and then you can continue to wear that jacket.
They're very conscious about where their materials are sourced from,
very conscious about the supply chain and not only where the materials are coming
(18:40):
from, but what are the employee conditions of those people who are making a
lot of the products as well.
So it's not just in store, it's very, very deep and far and wide and they really focus a lot on that.
So Patagonia, global organisation, probably one of my favourites.
I love that example that you shared with us on many fronts.
(19:03):
First around, I guess, employee conditions and being a global organisation and.
There's lots of different standards when it comes to employment conditions around the world.
So some countries are more employee orientated in their employment law versus others.
So juggling that, but making it a priority that the conditions are good for employees is great.
(19:29):
But I think the other example that I liked is there's a lot of talk right now
about fast fashion. And especially in the fashion industry, I imagine things become less trendy.
So there's a lot of turnover.
Yes. One minute something's in, the next minute it's out of fashion.
(19:50):
But what I like about that example that you shared, especially in the clothing
industry, is that when a part of the full product becomes faulty, that can be repaired.
I guess it's a little bit like with a car.
So, you know, when you go in for a service on a yearly basis,
(20:11):
for example, you might have an issue with the headlights or the engine or the air conditioning unit.
But when not asked to buy a new car, they look at all the parts and repairing that.
So it's great to see that in the fashion or the clothing industry as well.
Yeah, there's certainly leaders in that space. and that design principle of
(20:35):
they want things to be fixed is very much part of their planning.
Yeah, so it's really good to see. That's great.
So the last question, given this podcast has a career and organisational angle,
can you give us two or three key things that emerging leaders or those in senior
(20:57):
positions should be considering? Okay.
Yeah, I think there's a lot of talk at the moment around greenwashing, green hushing.
I think one thing that's really, really important is to engage your stakeholders
and be transparent about what you're doing.
(21:18):
So stakeholders, employees, customers, suppliers, investors,
and the local community, being Being transparent around sustainability will
build trust and foster collaboration.
It also does show that you're trying. So any emerging leaders or senior leaders
(21:40):
who are thinking that we're not ready to share or we're not ready to start,
I would challenge that and say just start because progress is better than perfection.
And being transparent around what you're doing and providing regular updates will help.
I think another one is integrating sustainability into your core strategy.
(22:04):
So rather than treating sustainability as an add-on department or a separate initiative.
It should be around considering the environmental and social impacts in all
the decision-making processes, setting measurable goal and aligning them with
the company's overall mission and vision.
(22:26):
And by that, some practical examples in the people space are things like setting
KPIs for sustainability initiatives and putting them into manager job description.
Making making someone accountable for
these goals just like a finance manager is
(22:47):
accountable for revenue and expenses then all
managers should also have that responsibility for sustainability and making
sure that when we are choosing suppliers or when we are hiring employees that
we've got that sustainability lens and it's not seen as a separate function.
(23:09):
I love that example about KPIs.
And I guess one of the things that I think about, which might be,
a bit of a challenge or mindset change for organizations is you mentioned KPIs
and performance reviews.
A lot of organizations do performance reviews on a half yearly,
yearly basis, and they set their KPIs at the beginning of the year.
(23:32):
But something like sustainability is an ongoing journey.
So I wonder if it's something that organizations, rather than thinking,
oh, you know, what are we going to be able to achieve in the 12 months?
They need to not make that as a barrier, but as you said, start small,
(23:53):
start somewhere, keep it front in mind. Yeah.
So it becomes more part of the DNA.
Exactly. And that can come around through doing, establishing a baseline.
Baseline so by doing employee engagement surveys for
example and and really deep diving and
understanding what the issues are that's a baseline you
(24:15):
can then work from there on the environment side looking at how much energy
you use that is a baseline and from there you can set reduction targets so that's
where I just I keep you know keep wanting businesses to not be afraid They can
feel overwhelmed at times, but just get started.
And there are businesses who can help with sustainability plans and guidance if needed as well.
(24:42):
I think that that's a great message. I think a lot of the time when people talk about sustainability,
they think that they need to be a change activist, for example,
but we all can do our bit to work on how we we can understand sustainability
better, make better choices, as you said, when it comes to decision making,
(25:03):
especially in the organisation or organisational context and keep it front of mind.
Exactly. Great. Well, Jen, it was fantastic to have you and to help us understand
sustainability a little bit more. Thank you so much.
(25:24):
It's been a pleasure. Loved it. Thank you.
I hope you enjoyed, were inspired and able to take something from this episode.
Sustainability is such a critical area we all need to think about and I hope
it's given you food for thought on what you can start doing in this space to
be more proactive around adopting sustainable practices.
(25:45):
Maybe you can inspire others as well. Let's all do our bit for the people,
community and the planet and pass it forward to our future generations. regenerations.
I'll add details of Jen's business Rejenerate, the clip of Dr.
Jane Goodall's message I was inspired by, and more info on B Corp if you want
to continue your learning journey in the show notes.
(26:06):
Thanks for joining, and until next time, stay safe.
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