9 Ways to Become a Climate Positive Leader

Posted on by Diana Chaplin

For most of us, climate change looms large, threatening to overturn every aspect of how we do business. But as a leader, you know that within every challenge lies opportunity — and climate change is no exception.

With an eye towards innovation and partnerships, you can harness this moment and establish your company as a climate-positive leader, moving gracefully through uncharted waters to contribute towards a world you’ll be proud of. 

Conventional thinking won’t do, regardless of your industry. Here’s an example: 

As an environmental nonprofit that plants trees around the world, it’s evident that what One Tree Planted does directly supports a healthier and more sustainable planet. But nonprofits aren’t that different from any other business when it comes to what’s required for leadership and success. If we operated like most other environmental nonprofits, we’d be struggling to fundraise and lamenting global forest loss. Instead, we’re an incubator of ideas that get tested before reaching perfection status. We focus on what’s possible instead of what isn’t. And we foster collaboration that gets trees in the ground much faster than many governments can. 

The problems of today won’t be solved by the same thinking that got us here in the first place, so forget what you or your company have done in the past and forge a new path forward.

Balance the needs of your business with those of the climate. 

So how can you embrace and influence the tide of change instead of being swept away? Simple: adapt your strategy one part of the business at a time. Staff, supply chains, infrastructure, customers, and messaging are all ripe for assessment and a shake-up in favor of making each more sustainable. And if Covid-19 has impacted your business as many have, you may already be in a place of profound evaluation. As you rebuild your business after this disruption, focus on creating new systems with the environment in mind.  

Here are 9 ways to lead for climate:

Connect Sustainably

Work with your electricity suppliers to shift toward more sustainable sources of power and eventually get 100% from renewables. Having a power source that doesn’t pollute will be a great foundation upon which the rest of the business grows.

Collaborate Wisely

When necessary, pool resources with your competitors to develop innovative solutions to industry-wide environmental concerns. In 2018, PepsiCo, Danone, Nestle Waters, and Origin Materials formed the NaturAll Bottle Alliance to speed up the development of sustainable packaging. 

Be Transparent

Set ambitious, measurable goals and share your progress transparently. This will build brand trust and demonstrate to stakeholders that you’re taking climate change seriously. 

Hold Yourself Accountable

Some transitions might be uncomfortable, risky, or costly, but remember why you’re doing this and avoid cutting corners. Ensure that your promises, announcements, decisions, and allocation of resources are all in alignment. 

Stay Committed and Flexible

Don’t try to do it all at once. Stay fluid, build upon each success, and learn from each failure. Allow the momentum to grow organically, carefully monitoring progress, and adjusting as needed. This should be a long-term priority, not a single campaign.

Develop Competency

How much do you know about your company’s impact on the environment? Are you familiar with the UN’s Sustainable Development goals? What about learning lessons from other leaders or businesses who are a step or two ahead? Take the time to understand and equip yourself with the knowledge that will help you make reliable decisions. 

Track Your Progress

Implement quality data-gathering technologies to track and measure your progress so that you can share results with confidence and consistency. That way, you can inspire others to follow suit, but also have the information you’ll need to shift your resources towards the most effective strategies. 

Get Internal Buy-In

Ensure that you’re communicating the mission or new direction clearly to the people who help run your business. The more internal buy-in you have, the more success and unity you’ll see across different teams. And having internal champions will ensure that strategies and great ideas come from every level of management or employees. 

Tell Your Story

Once you’ve got the internal cohesion, you can integrate all of this into your outgoing communications, branding, and PR to show your commitment. And the story here isn’t just that you’re a leader or business that cares about climate change, the story is what you’re doing about it – the impact you’re making, how it helps, and why it matters.

And one last thing, you don’t have to be too serious about all this either. Harnessing our collective power to create the global transformation we need to address climate change should be inspiring and energizing, not stifling and stressful. No matter how challenging it gets, we will figure this out — and things will look much better on the other side. Now is the time.

9 Ways to Become a Climate Positive Leader

Posted on by Diana Chaplin

For most of us, climate change looms large, threatening to overturn every aspect of how we do business. But as a leader, you know that within every challenge lies opportunity — and climate change is no exception.

With an eye towards innovation and partnerships, you can harness this moment and establish your company as a climate-positive leader, moving gracefully through uncharted waters to contribute towards a world you’ll be proud of. 

Conventional thinking won’t do, regardless of your industry. Here’s an example: 

As an environmental nonprofit that plants trees around the world, it’s evident that what One Tree Planted does directly supports a healthier and more sustainable planet. But nonprofits aren’t that different from any other business when it comes to what’s required for leadership and success. If we operated like most other environmental nonprofits, we’d be struggling to fundraise and lamenting global forest loss. Instead, we’re an incubator of ideas that get tested before reaching perfection status. We focus on what’s possible instead of what isn’t. And we foster collaboration that gets trees in the ground much faster than many governments can. 

The problems of today won’t be solved by the same thinking that got us here in the first place, so forget what you or your company have done in the past and forge a new path forward.

Balance the needs of your business with those of the climate. 

So how can you embrace and influence the tide of change instead of being swept away? Simple: adapt your strategy one part of the business at a time. Staff, supply chains, infrastructure, customers, and messaging are all ripe for assessment and a shake-up in favor of making each more sustainable. And if Covid-19 has impacted your business as many have, you may already be in a place of profound evaluation. As you rebuild your business after this disruption, focus on creating new systems with the environment in mind.  

Here are 9 ways to lead for climate:

Connect Sustainably

Work with your electricity suppliers to shift toward more sustainable sources of power and eventually get 100% from renewables. Having a power source that doesn’t pollute will be a great foundation upon which the rest of the business grows.

Collaborate Wisely

When necessary, pool resources with your competitors to develop innovative solutions to industry-wide environmental concerns. In 2018, PepsiCo, Danone, Nestle Waters, and Origin Materials formed the NaturAll Bottle Alliance to speed up the development of sustainable packaging. 

Be Transparent

Set ambitious, measurable goals and share your progress transparently. This will build brand trust and demonstrate to stakeholders that you’re taking climate change seriously. 

Hold Yourself Accountable

Some transitions might be uncomfortable, risky, or costly, but remember why you’re doing this and avoid cutting corners. Ensure that your promises, announcements, decisions, and allocation of resources are all in alignment. 

Stay Committed and Flexible

Don’t try to do it all at once. Stay fluid, build upon each success, and learn from each failure. Allow the momentum to grow organically, carefully monitoring progress, and adjusting as needed. This should be a long-term priority, not a single campaign.

Develop Competency

How much do you know about your company’s impact on the environment? Are you familiar with the UN’s Sustainable Development goals? What about learning lessons from other leaders or businesses who are a step or two ahead? Take the time to understand and equip yourself with the knowledge that will help you make reliable decisions. 

Track Your Progress

Implement quality data-gathering technologies to track and measure your progress so that you can share results with confidence and consistency. That way, you can inspire others to follow suit, but also have the information you’ll need to shift your resources towards the most effective strategies. 

Get Internal Buy-In

Ensure that you’re communicating the mission or new direction clearly to the people who help run your business. The more internal buy-in you have, the more success and unity you’ll see across different teams. And having internal champions will ensure that strategies and great ideas come from every level of management or employees. 

Tell Your Story

Once you’ve got the internal cohesion, you can integrate all of this into your outgoing communications, branding, and PR to show your commitment. And the story here isn’t just that you’re a leader or business that cares about climate change, the story is what you’re doing about it – the impact you’re making, how it helps, and why it matters.

And one last thing, you don’t have to be too serious about all this either. Harnessing our collective power to create the global transformation we need to address climate change should be inspiring and energizing, not stifling and stressful. No matter how challenging it gets, we will figure this out — and things will look much better on the other side. Now is the time.

How to Lead with Sensitivity During Trying Times

Posted on by Diana Chaplin

Editors Note: Real Leaders is making its archive of magazines freely available to all visitors to our website as part of our contribution to the Covid-19 pandemic. We believe you’ll emerge stronger and wiser when this crisis passes, and we hope our stories will keep you entertained and inspired while we sit out this challenging time. Sign up here and you’ll be instantly redirected to our archive.

Coronavirus has affected us all, from small business owners who have been forced to shut their doors, to individuals that have postponed major life events, to companies that have completely shifted or cancelled major plans — we’re all feeling it. But we’re in this together. And now more than ever, it’s important to ensure that leaders move forward with sensitivity.

What that looks like can vary depending on your industry and circumstances. But let’s look at One Tree Planted, an environmental nonprofit, as an example. 

Typically, we’d be focused on organizing dozens of volunteer events right now for Earth Month, or promoting reforestation projects that need financial support. But the social environment has shifted, and that calls for an entirely different strategy.

Our founder and Chief Environmental Evangelist, Matt Hill, aimed for a new approach that the team implemented quickly. A video campaign that shows who we are, acknowledges the current situation, and has a final message of safety, rather than asking for anything during this challenging time. This, coupled with simple and home-friendly sustainability ideas throughout Earth Month has created an inviting and positive message aligned with a new normal we’re all trying to navigate.  

And while we experienced cancellations of high-value campaigns and a drop in donations, we also reached out to many partners to ask how they’re doing and offering creative ways that our partnership plans could be revised. Rather than dwelling on the loss, we saw an opportunity to connect and refocus on what is important now. 

So how can a leader embrace the idea of sensitivity both internally and externally during these turbulent times? It’s simple, just be real.  

Show Your Human Side

This is a time to be genuine, compassionate, and down-to-earth. People are sharing photos of their home offices, trying to balance work while homeschooling kids, and using digital media to share behind-the-scenes or unpolished glimpses into businesses more than ever. And that’s a good thing. Use this time to show the people behind your business and talk about how you as a leader are weathering this storm. Convey your humanity with an essence of calm that will help put others at ease. It may be a bit more raw and vulnerable than you’re used to, but the response might surprise you.  

Share Your Brand Message in a New Way

Evaluate how your business is communicating in light of what your customers or employees are experiencing in daily life, and create content to connect with that. This could help strengthen your business identity. If you have solid core values, consider a way to revisit those to share your unique message in a new way. This could be through a video series, a charity partnership, a heartfelt email or social media campaign. Revisit your central brand message and create something new that will resonate now during this unique time. If you can bring your customers along, or help them make a positive impact thanks to your business, all the better – because it turns out that 88% of consumers want you to help them make a difference.

Lean on Your Team and Community

Good ideas flow both ways, and leadership should never really be a purely top-down approach. Ask your team, colleagues, mentors, or leadership groups for recommendations on how your business can harness this moment. As a leader, you can decide which ideas have legs, but the task of coming up with a brilliant new strategy doesn’t need to be your responsibility alone. 

Leadership wouldn’t be a skill if it was easy, and adaptability is what will carry you through the hard times. Take this opportunity to elevate your business with wisdom, compassion, and creativity. 

How to Lead with Sensitivity During Trying Times

Posted on by Diana Chaplin

Editors Note: Real Leaders is making its archive of magazines freely available to all visitors to our website as part of our contribution to the Covid-19 pandemic. We believe you’ll emerge stronger and wiser when this crisis passes, and we hope our stories will keep you entertained and inspired while we sit out this challenging time. Sign up here and you’ll be instantly redirected to our archive.

Coronavirus has affected us all, from small business owners who have been forced to shut their doors, to individuals that have postponed major life events, to companies that have completely shifted or cancelled major plans — we’re all feeling it. But we’re in this together. And now more than ever, it’s important to ensure that leaders move forward with sensitivity.

What that looks like can vary depending on your industry and circumstances. But let’s look at One Tree Planted, an environmental nonprofit, as an example. 

Typically, we’d be focused on organizing dozens of volunteer events right now for Earth Month, or promoting reforestation projects that need financial support. But the social environment has shifted, and that calls for an entirely different strategy.

Our founder and Chief Environmental Evangelist, Matt Hill, aimed for a new approach that the team implemented quickly. A video campaign that shows who we are, acknowledges the current situation, and has a final message of safety, rather than asking for anything during this challenging time. This, coupled with simple and home-friendly sustainability ideas throughout Earth Month has created an inviting and positive message aligned with a new normal we’re all trying to navigate.  

And while we experienced cancellations of high-value campaigns and a drop in donations, we also reached out to many partners to ask how they’re doing and offering creative ways that our partnership plans could be revised. Rather than dwelling on the loss, we saw an opportunity to connect and refocus on what is important now. 

So how can a leader embrace the idea of sensitivity both internally and externally during these turbulent times? It’s simple, just be real.  

Show Your Human Side

This is a time to be genuine, compassionate, and down-to-earth. People are sharing photos of their home offices, trying to balance work while homeschooling kids, and using digital media to share behind-the-scenes or unpolished glimpses into businesses more than ever. And that’s a good thing. Use this time to show the people behind your business and talk about how you as a leader are weathering this storm. Convey your humanity with an essence of calm that will help put others at ease. It may be a bit more raw and vulnerable than you’re used to, but the response might surprise you.  

Share Your Brand Message in a New Way

Evaluate how your business is communicating in light of what your customers or employees are experiencing in daily life, and create content to connect with that. This could help strengthen your business identity. If you have solid core values, consider a way to revisit those to share your unique message in a new way. This could be through a video series, a charity partnership, a heartfelt email or social media campaign. Revisit your central brand message and create something new that will resonate now during this unique time. If you can bring your customers along, or help them make a positive impact thanks to your business, all the better – because it turns out that 88% of consumers want you to help them make a difference.

Lean on Your Team and Community

Good ideas flow both ways, and leadership should never really be a purely top-down approach. Ask your team, colleagues, mentors, or leadership groups for recommendations on how your business can harness this moment. As a leader, you can decide which ideas have legs, but the task of coming up with a brilliant new strategy doesn’t need to be your responsibility alone. 

Leadership wouldn’t be a skill if it was easy, and adaptability is what will carry you through the hard times. Take this opportunity to elevate your business with wisdom, compassion, and creativity. 

Saving the Environment One Tree at a Time

Posted on by Amadea Tanner

Global deforestation may be a growing concern, but reforestation efforts are tackling the root of the problem. 

“People don’t realize how important trees are,” says Matt Hill, Founder and CEO of One Tree Planted, a Vermont-based non-profit that supports reforestation campaigns across the globe. Trees are a major food source, and make up the key ingredients in 25% of all medicines. They filter our water and clean the air we breathe. They are the habitat for 80% of the world’s terrestrial wildlife, and the source of jobs for over 1.6 billion people. And yet, every 2 seconds humanity destroys enough trees to fill a football field, and 28,000 species of trees are expected to become extinct in the next 25 years if our current deforestation rates continue.

Business is a huge source of deforestation that has largely contributed to the depletion of 80% of our Earth’s forests. Felling trees has the additional impact of contributing 20% of our global greenhouse gas emissions, because trees release all the carbon they’ve absorbed once they’ve been burned or cut down. 

Fortunately, the damage we’ve done can be remedied by replacing the resources we’ve consumed; planting trees to replenish forests and protect the organisms that live there. This is where One Tree Planted comes in. 

“There’s a lot of businesses out there looking to do more for sustainability initiatives, they just don’t know how to do it,” Matt explains. “I wanted to give businesses easy metrics to understand how they can help the environment.” And it couldn’t be easier: One Tree Planted guarantees that one dollar plants one tree. From there, they branch out to watersheds and organizations to kickstart planting projects worldwide that might not otherwise receive the necessary funding. 

There’s no end of creative ways for a company to ensure they’re making a difference. Adidas ran a social media campaign #adidastreefortree for International Yoga Day. Unilever is planting 250,000 trees in the Amazon for its new “plant-powered” energy drink. Livestrong is focusing its efforts in Kenya. And House of Marley donates a set amount each quarter and have to date planted over 160,000 trees. Big companies making an impact inspire others to do the same. Matt elaborates, “Companies are happy to say, ‘We’re a part of this.’”

According to a recent study published in Science by the Institute of Integrative Biology in Zurich, Switzerland, the solution to climate change is to plant one trillion trees. One Tree Planted is intent upon helping us reach that goal. But this isn’t just a plausible stepping stone to purifying our air, planting and replenishing trees is necessary for protecting our planet’s richest and most vulnerable ecosystems. 

One Tree Planted ensures that all participating businesses understand the lasting impact each of their dollars has, by keeping businesses along for the journey in how they’re making a difference. It takes 5-7 years for a tree to mature enough to make the kind of impact we’re relying on, and those who partner with One Tree Planted are kept informed with progress reports every step of the way. Partners are highly encouraged to take a hands-on approach to these sustainability efforts, like L’Oreal Canada, which gets its employees to a tree planting event each year.

But planting trees is not as simple as putting saplings in the ground. Matt explains, “We need types of trees that are going to be more resilient and better fitted to the future.” Reforestation is most impactful when it introduces species that will adapt better to the current state of the ecosystem. In British Columbia, the Douglas Firs that perished in the recent fires are being replaced by Aspens and Cottonwoods, which were virtually immune to the flames. In Florida, tree species are being selected that will better withstand hurricanes. The goal is that these new forests will grow strong and tall and stay that way. 

One Tree Planted currently has 4,000 business partners, and is now challenging more businesses to make an impact with the North American Million Tree Challenge. 500 companies each plant 2,000 trees in California to help the state recover from the worst fire season in its history. It will take many more efforts like this one to reap the benefits that come with one trillion trees planted, but every dollar gets us one tree closer. As Matt says, “Some people hug trees, we plant them.” 

Saving the Environment One Tree at a Time

Posted on by Amadea Tanner

Global deforestation may be a growing concern, but reforestation efforts are tackling the root of the problem. 

“People don’t realize how important trees are,” says Matt Hill, Founder and CEO of One Tree Planted, a Vermont-based non-profit that supports reforestation campaigns across the globe. Trees are a major food source, and make up the key ingredients in 25% of all medicines. They filter our water and clean the air we breathe. They are the habitat for 80% of the world’s terrestrial wildlife, and the source of jobs for over 1.6 billion people. And yet, every 2 seconds humanity destroys enough trees to fill a football field, and 28,000 species of trees are expected to become extinct in the next 25 years if our current deforestation rates continue.

Business is a huge source of deforestation that has largely contributed to the depletion of 80% of our Earth’s forests. Felling trees has the additional impact of contributing 20% of our global greenhouse gas emissions, because trees release all the carbon they’ve absorbed once they’ve been burned or cut down. 

Fortunately, the damage we’ve done can be remedied by replacing the resources we’ve consumed; planting trees to replenish forests and protect the organisms that live there. This is where One Tree Planted comes in. 

“There’s a lot of businesses out there looking to do more for sustainability initiatives, they just don’t know how to do it,” Matt explains. “I wanted to give businesses easy metrics to understand how they can help the environment.” And it couldn’t be easier: One Tree Planted guarantees that one dollar plants one tree. From there, they branch out to watersheds and organizations to kickstart planting projects worldwide that might not otherwise receive the necessary funding. 

There’s no end of creative ways for a company to ensure they’re making a difference. Adidas ran a social media campaign #adidastreefortree for International Yoga Day. Unilever is planting 250,000 trees in the Amazon for its new “plant-powered” energy drink. Livestrong is focusing its efforts in Kenya. And House of Marley donates a set amount each quarter and have to date planted over 160,000 trees. Big companies making an impact inspire others to do the same. Matt elaborates, “Companies are happy to say, ‘We’re a part of this.’”

According to a recent study published in Science by the Institute of Integrative Biology in Zurich, Switzerland, the solution to climate change is to plant one trillion trees. One Tree Planted is intent upon helping us reach that goal. But this isn’t just a plausible stepping stone to purifying our air, planting and replenishing trees is necessary for protecting our planet’s richest and most vulnerable ecosystems. 

One Tree Planted ensures that all participating businesses understand the lasting impact each of their dollars has, by keeping businesses along for the journey in how they’re making a difference. It takes 5-7 years for a tree to mature enough to make the kind of impact we’re relying on, and those who partner with One Tree Planted are kept informed with progress reports every step of the way. Partners are highly encouraged to take a hands-on approach to these sustainability efforts, like L’Oreal Canada, which gets its employees to a tree planting event each year.

But planting trees is not as simple as putting saplings in the ground. Matt explains, “We need types of trees that are going to be more resilient and better fitted to the future.” Reforestation is most impactful when it introduces species that will adapt better to the current state of the ecosystem. In British Columbia, the Douglas Firs that perished in the recent fires are being replaced by Aspens and Cottonwoods, which were virtually immune to the flames. In Florida, tree species are being selected that will better withstand hurricanes. The goal is that these new forests will grow strong and tall and stay that way. 

One Tree Planted currently has 4,000 business partners, and is now challenging more businesses to make an impact with the North American Million Tree Challenge. 500 companies each plant 2,000 trees in California to help the state recover from the worst fire season in its history. It will take many more efforts like this one to reap the benefits that come with one trillion trees planted, but every dollar gets us one tree closer. As Matt says, “Some people hug trees, we plant them.” 

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