Briony Phillips’ Post

Ambition just hits different in sustainability. The next promotion and a bigger pay packet, just don’t cut it. Just like GDP is an over-simplified measure of national success in desperate of an update, it’s well past due that we updated our cultural understanding of what ‘ambition’ is professionally too. Sustainability professionals are often on the bleeding edge of redefining exactly what it means to be ‘ambitious’. We’re asking ourselves the tough questions about what the future needs to look like if it’s going to bring about not just a bigger bank balance, but a better world for us all. And yet, too often, I’ve noticed the question, “Is it OK to want this?” holding amazing people back from doing incredible things. It’s what makes me want to shout from the rooftops, that YES it does count as ambitious to want: 💪 To be free to challenge the status quo, without editing your voice 💪 Ownership of decisions about where you focus your work and therefore the impact it has 💪 To finish work at a time that means you can be with family, friends, your community and nature 💪 To work in an environment where people share your values - for people, purpose and planet over profit 💪 To work hands-on, on a local scale where you can see and feel the impact you’re making 💪 To collaborate rather than compete with the people in your industry 💪 To slow down and work at a pace that allows us to think creatively, listen to ourselves and travel consciously 💪 To be able to talk openly about your wellbeing, global injustice and climate without fearing losing professional opportunities By being ambitious about creating those things in your own work, you are paving the way for others to follow. That absolutely IS part of the work of creating a society that’s truly shaped up to tackle the challenges we face. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. So, what do you reckon? What needs to be included in an updated definition of ‘ambition’ in this critical decade? -- I help sustainability specialists figure out ‘where next?’ in their careers... so they can have more impact and joy. 🙌 If that sounds like something you want, come join me for the next Sustainability Leadership Boost webinar on 18th April where I’ll be diving into tools and techniques to help you do just that! 👇 https://lnkd.in/emY3MDis

🔎 Reflections: OnePointFive (opf.degree)’s Sustainability Accelerator Program, Week 1 – How’s it going? 😍 Juggling between working full time and attending classes has been challenging but I wouldn’t trade it for the world! 💡 Here's what I've picked up: While the barriers to Net Zero cannot be debated – a massive pool of standards, corporate guidelines, initiatives and frameworks to work around, capitalism is a powerful driver for climate action but needs to be supported by policy and regulations. 🧝♀️ In come the sustainability consultants - While in-house sustainability teams are critical for long-term action, they may not bring the influence needed for urgent action. And let’s face it, we cannot afford to wait. External consultants provide a solution. Here’s how: - fill gaps readily - provide capacity to compensate for limited internal resources - influence and drive action by supporting decision-making for impact - provide strategic guidance for sustainable growth without compromising financial return I also know how important it is for us to amp up our story-telling skills. As Matthias Muehlbauer wonderfully put out, you need to quietly tuck away advocacy back into your toolkit when initiating a client journey and instead make it all about your client. Make them believe they are uniquely positioned to take this journey. Plotting a net-zero roadmap with the client portrayed as a superhero can prove to be a nudge in the right direction. Key learnings from Week 1 (some interesting takeaways have been summarized in the presentation below): - The science behind climate change - SBTI’s standard-setting process - Evolution of reporting standards & frameworks - The role of CDP in steering companies towards net-zero - SBT and sustainability disclosures due diligence of Levi Strauss & Co We wrapped up the week with an amazing discussion between Zakiah Kassam and Matthias. Her perseverance and dedication to healing the planet were truly inspiring. I've met some great individuals and it's relieving to know that I'm not alone and that we are all figuring our way into this promising space. Thank you, OnePointFive and Matthias!

I'm excited to share my new Harvard Business Review article with coauthors Jason Jay and Hong Linh Nguyen about a topic I'm passionate about: sustainability. 💡 The big idea: Many companies don’t use enough strategic discipline when it comes to sustainability, and spread themselves too thin across too many material issues—12 on average, according to our research. Materiality analyses are designed for reporting, not strategic thinking. Trying to do it all can mean not doing enough on the critical issues where your firm can make a real difference—not just in your own operations, but also in your value chain, your industry, and the larger policy ecosystem. 🔑 The key to sustainability strategy is the same as corporate strategy: disciplined focus. Our article suggests a framework of four lenses to help companies identify the most critical sustainability issues: 1️⃣ Business value: What affects the bottom line? 2️⃣ Stakeholder influence: What are people trying to tell us? 3️⃣ Science and technology: What do the data tell us about our current & future impact? 4️⃣ Purpose: What do we stand for as a company? Issues that appear in all four lenses are the ones most worthy of significant investment. This approach helps companies balance external pressures with internal leadership, and data-driven insights with stakeholder perceptions. As an example, Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) can focus its sustainability strategy on just three key priorities—a significant reduction from the 21 issues initially identified in their materiality report. ❓ What are your thoughts? How can your company use this framework to focus its sustainability efforts and create real impact? Thanks to Eben Harrell and Eileen Roche Ahuja for their advocacy and editing at HBR, and to the MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium (MCSC) companies for the many conversations that sparked these ideas. A shout out to a few of the many colleagues who have shaped my thinking on sustainability and strategy over two decades: Deborah Ancona on sensemaking & “going out before in,” and for her abiding mentorship, Rebecca Henderson on reimagining capitalism, John Sterman, Nelson Repenning, and Roberto Rigobon for being sustainability leaders and teachers extraordinaire. Peter Senge for all our work with the Society for Organizational Learning North America Sustainability Consortium. Otto Scharmer for your leadership in creating the new economy. Meg Regan, MBA, CPC for supporting our teaching. William Isaacs on just about everything. Sandy Nessing and Melissa Tominack at American Electric Power on sustainability strategy and stakeholder engagement, Peter Roeber, MBA on distributed leadership and systems thinking, Richard Wilner on all things corporate sustainability & having fun while doing it. George Serafeim on purpose, Donald Sull on simple rules and strategic priorities, Tom Curren on strategy and top team alignment. And Jason Jay for your steadfast friendship and partnership for two decades.

Over the past year, I have spoken to many sustainability professionals around the world. One thing seems to come through in all of them. That there is a big lack of courage, authenticity and action in sustainability work. So many people just want to meet the minimum requirements and legal clauses, but don't really dare to build something new. It seems that often this is either because the organisation is not ready for it, or because the own work on sustainability is just "work". There is no real desire to change the world. Unfortunately, this is not enough. We desperately need bold risk-takers as leaders of the sustainability actors. Those who don't just talk about growth, but about how to make the whole business strategy more responsible. People who don't just work with their friends and like everything that comes their way, but people who dare to innovate and disagree, because opportunism doesn't fit the job. Those who don't just hold events or write books for each other, we need to work across professional and geographical boundaries. Finally, yes, there are also many who do incredible work, super-professionals who dare. The world cannot be changed, that is what every sensible person knows. But then there are those who do not know and they will change the world.

Lisa is 41 years old and has been in her role as Head of Sustainability for two years. This is her first job in sustainability. She has transferred laterally in a multi-national organisation because she kept hearing from their customers and investors that they wanted more science-based targets and reports on what the organisation was doing for sustainability. So she took it to management and said, “Look, we really need someone to take a lead on sustainability in Europe […] I’m happy to do it but I need a bit of background.” They created her a two-day a week role that reports directly to the European President and she signed up for the Cambridge University course for Sustainability Professionals. In this sense, Lisa is relatively new and the organisation is relatively immature in its commitment to embedding sustainability into its practices and procedures. Most of her work so far she described as “a nightmare to pull together all the scope 1 and 2 data.” While she admitted feeling at times like she didn’t know what she should be doing, and was frustrated by verbal support with limited resources to move forward these initiatives, Lisa also brought strengths and confidence from previous work in management roles. One skill that this highlights – and one in which we heard less from younger professionals in similar roles - is that Lisa had confidence speaking to the President and reminding him over and over about sustainability. Lisa said, she would “remind him that he agreed to this work” and let him know that “I need his support, and his way in to help, if I’m not getting what I need from people.” From past experience she knew that "when you’re speaking with someone significantly more senior you don’t assume that they remember everything you told them last time, you constantly have to reiterate the reason we are doing this is... because these are the regulatory pressures... These are the pressures from customers... These are the pressures from investors... And these are some of the mandatory European deadlines.” What are your strategies to not taking set backs personally in your role? Hit reply, I’d love to hear your insights! Sign up for our newsletter if you want to hear more of these stories: https://lnkd.in/gUugxgwS

Over the past few weeks, I've had some insightful conversations with Impaktly customers about fully embedding sustainability into business strategy. By focusing on creating new services and products that help customers address their sustainability challenges, we make sustainability not only the responsible choice for the planet but also a smart move for business. This is what Hanken & SSE Executive Education's and Impaktly's new Decoding Sustainability programme is about! Some of my thoughts below 👇 https://lnkd.in/dynwb-Wa

I've been diving into Deloitte’s 2024 CxO Sustainability Report, which surveyed over 2,100 executives across 27 countries about their changing views on sustainability. What I found is incredibly encouraging! Here are some standout stats: 💰 85% of CxOs have increased their sustainability investments over the past year, up from 75% in 2023. 🧑💼 70% of executives expect climate change to significantly impact their business strategies in the next three years, rising from 61% last year. 🔥 And here’s the best part: 92% of CxOs believe they can grow while reducing greenhouse gas emissions! It’s clear that sustainability is becoming a key focus for businesses, and many are recognizing the opportunities it presents. This excites me deeply! For years, I’ve been advocating that businesses can be both profitable and sustainable. It’s fantastic to see so many CxOs embracing this potential. I’d love to hear your thoughts! Has your business made noticeable strides toward more sustainable practices? Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/efJfrHwM

What comes in 5’s, gets your people talking about sustainability, and informs and delights? If you’re planning your sustainability events for 2025, or want to finish this year on an energetic high, we might have something for you. Our 𝗟𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 & 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 in a nutshell: • 5 x popular topics that attract the greenies and non-greenies too (scroll the carousel to view) • Designed to mix and match, or have them all. • 60 mins on Teams or Zooms. We can deliver certain sessions in person too. We’re proud to have run the 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 with companies including Virgin Media O2, Clarke Willmott, Immediate Media, GoCardless, Gamma and many more. And 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆 for companies of all shapes and sizes. Here’s some of the things they say: “𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 10 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 10!!” Michelle Whitehead - Sustainability Lead. Immediate Media ‘𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘰𝘯 𝘡𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘺.’ Dana Haidan, Chief Sustainability Officer Virgin Media O2. We’re confident your people will enjoy them too. Like to know more? DM me and I’ll send the details over to you _____________________________________________________________ I’m co-founder of Couch to Carbon Zero. We make smart climate action easy for busy people. We work with organisations to engage their workforces on sustainability and to make it aspirational and fun. If you like the sound of that…follow or DM me Or visit our website to find out how we could help you (see link in my profile)

Missing support and leadership in the C-Level management is my top 1 red flag. No numbers, references and proofs will help you, if the C-Level management is not on board, is not personally involved and engaged and personally leading the sustainability transformation in an organisation or a project.

Its a lonely & uphill task for Sustainability/ESG leaders: very small teams, little support from within the organization and even less appreciation. Despite the growing importance globally & definitely in India, of Sustainability/ESG, the understanding of the importance and inevitability of adherence is slowly, very slowly, dawning on organizations and department leaders. Sustainability/ESG is the fulcrum of an organization and will very soon be treated as one!!