Top three tips for Sustainable career and life!

As Earth Day 2021 arrived this past Thursday, with its optimistic “Restore Our Earth” theme, it prompted me to imagine a world in which we not only restore the planet, but also our workplaces and livelihoods in a new, refreshed and reinvigorated way.

 The first Earth Day, according to EarthDay.org President Kathleen Rogers was on April 22, 1970. It wasn’t too many years after that, that a certain little girl sat transfixed in her kindergarten classroom in Indiana while a person dressed in the then-iconic costume of Woodsy the Owl, delivered an important public service announcement to the assembled children saying, “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute.”

 I was so motivated by the message of conservation and care for the environment that day, that I remember trying to pick up every piece of rubbish I could find - balancing the wobbly assortment in my arms - as I walked home from school with my best friends, Kerry and Cindy. They helped me carry the unwieldy load; the three of us marching down the sidewalk with our quirky collection of paper, can and bottle sculptures. A mini litter-brigade parade.

 Much more impressive than the combined efforts of three little girls, the first Earth Day saw 20 million people take to American streets in solidarity of the effort. This year, demonstrations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement are filling thoroughfares. There’s much that can be written on that critical matter. But for today, I will focus on another important area that needs commitment and change. Let’s talk about sustainability. For both our environment and our lives.

 Michael Kaliski is the CEO and founder Good Planet Innovation. Based in Los Angeles, where he’s worked in entertainment for twenty years, he has an ongoing mission to shift the film, television, and ad industries to healthy, regenerative and mindful practices.

“What we do today will matter to our children and grandchildren tomorrow. Our impacts really make a difference,” he told me over Zoom recently.

Here in Ireland, Sheelin Conlon is the founder of The Kind, a sustainable lifestyle store based in Dublin. She came up with the idea for her business during a three-year stint living and working in Singapore.  

“The choking smoke that floated over from Indonesia during deforestation fires in Indonesia gave me my a-ha moment,” she shared with me, also on a Zoom call, of course. “The world’s demand for palm oil drives the deforestation. I started thinking about all the products that use it and how to help myself and others seek out alternatives.”

Michael and Sheelin. Two individuals from two different parts of the world, united in the desire to improve it. Each running a successful business to help achieve their common goals.

I’m honoured to share their stories – not only of how they are helping our planet – but also how they have learned to strategically communicate to amplify their message. Lessons we all can benefit from.

1)    Talk about your goal

I remember back in the days before lockdown, when I was leading a women’s leadership workshop in-person, I asked participants to share their top business goal with the rest of the room. Two women were happy to share. But the third chose otherwise. “Oh, I’d rather not,” she flatly stated. Don’t be like her. Speak up. Research clearly shows talking about your goals increases your chance of success.

Sheelin returned to Ireland in 2019 and set up her downtown shop in December, just a few months before lockdown. “I now have a really big warehouse,” she joked. But knowing she needed to spread the word in our now virtual world, she took to Instagram.

2)    Adjust the way you talk about your goal

This notion is interesting to me, because even though you may have a certain business or career goal, you may not be connecting with people who can help you if you’re only speaking about it in one way.

For instance, when Sheelin started talking about her products on Insta, she used a filter to make herself look more tan. “I was nervous and self-critical and looking for validation. But the more I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and showed behind the scenes reality, the more support I received. It’s been a transformation.” Sheelin’s flexibility has grown her community to 25,000 followers in just one year.

Likewise, Michael has also evolved his approach. “We had to have a lot of different conversations with a lot of people in the industry. We talked to producers, to agencies, to vendors. Our goal is the same, but we changed our approach. We now have over 80 brands and production companies sign on with us.”

3)    Understand sustainability is a holistic life approach

When you look up “sustainability” online, you’ll expect to find a lot about the environment.  And you do. But you can also discover a more general explanation of the word as “the capacity to endure in a relatively ongoing way across various domains of life.” 

 That broader definition appeals to Michael as he emphasized his working definition of sustainability includes, “justice and equality for all beings like including more diversity and inclusion on screen.”

 Sheelin resonated in the same way. “The Kind is about more than buying less plastic. It’s also about your lifestyle. Self-care and being kind to your mind and work-life balance.”

 As we have managed to endure over the last year with pandemic, lockdown and work from home, I encourage each of us to take stock and codify some of our sustainable adjustments in career, business and life. We can construct our own personal collection of approaches and communications as we march along. In a less-precarious way than I did during that childhood version of myself. 

Fortune 500 executive coach, trainer and speaker, write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie or right here on LinkedIn

@TheGinaLondon