The issue of corporate sustainability is one that grows in importance every day, especially for business leaders. I have been aware of it for a long time, but experienced a real breakthrough in 2019. An event featuring Mark Hawkins (CFO of Salesforce), Suzanne DiBianca (currently Salesforce Chief Impact Officer), and Patrick Flynn (Salesforce VP of Sustainability), provided a framework to make sustainability actionable within companies like mine.
In 2019, Orion increased our dedication to sustainability by committing to the 1% Pledge and beginning the implementation of our strategic focus on sustainability. Additionally, I became a champion within the NYC chapter of YPO to educate my peers and encourage action around implementing a corporate culture of sustainability. This momentum led to a wonderful Climate Week event that September.
As the CEO of Orion Global Solutions, and leader in YPO, I helped to organize the Climate Action Reception. It featured Arianna Huffington, CEO of Thrive Global; Paul Polman, co-founder of Imagine, and fourteen-year-old activist, Alexandria Villaseñor. The reception was hosted by three Salesforce corporate leaders: Marc Hawkins, President and CFO; Suzanne DiBianca, Executive VP & Chief Impact Officer; Michael Hartman, SVP Financial Services & Healthcare/Life Sciences; and Eric Eyken-Sluyters, SVP Retail & Consumer Goods.
Chairing this event inspired me to be even more committed to sustainability. It became a call of duty, and I continued to champion a series of YPO conversations in 2020. We discussed the challenges and the opportunities; we led by example. Still, I wanted to help more of my YPO & CEO peers to be inspired to take action; so they in turn foster a corporate culture of sustainability and can activate more leaders.
While in-person plans for 2020 had to be postponed due to Covid-19, I tapped into the leadership at Salesforce to host an intimate roundtable on January 14, 2021 to discuss “Leadership Strategies to Create a Sustainable Future.” Along with Suzanne DiBianca and Patrick Flynn, I moderated a discussion with eleven other corporate leaders via Zoom.
Months in the making, the team at Salesforce and I were well prepared with questions that would spark conversation such as, “Where do you see the opportunity to implement sustainability in your business?” and “Where are you seeing success?” One of the most important questions the roundtable discussed was “What are your challenges?” Participants came to the event at all different stages of understanding and engagement with the topic of sustainability, which fostered an incredible discussion. Here are some of the key take-aways we created on how to approach the issue:
1. Keep it simple
2. Make it actionable
3. Make it measurable, and
4. Reach out to your peers
The conversation also revolved around how to create a culture of sustainability. “Making it a community must be a personal priority of the leaders.” We spoke about how an early indicator of success is finding internal champions who are eager to volunteer to spread the word throughout the organization and become leaders who proactively develop and communicate sustainability initiatives. We also discussed that one of the biggest challenges is becoming aware that being aware is not enough: We have to take action.
A cartoonist also helped to illustrate our conversation; see what she drew!
In 2020, Salesforce announced the launch of their new platform, “Sustainability Cloud” which was developed based on their own internal needs to act and manage their carbon footprint. I am proud to say that Orion’s leadership team was able to participate in Salesforce’s first in-person training event for Sustainability Cloud, and we also became one of the first Sustainability Cloud customers! In addition to Orion’s corporate web presence, we created an additional website as a sustainability resource, Corporate Earth Balance. The website offers information and advice creating a sustainability plan and links to other research sources. It’s a great starting point for leaders seeking to make a greater impact.
The combination of my passion, our own sustainability initiatives, and through the support from Salesforce, Orion is now one of the top Sustainability Cloud partners in North America. This has enabled me to continue to educate other leaders about the importance of understanding the impact of their actions. More importantly, it’s allowed my team to implement a viable tool for several international consumer goods organizations who are highly motivated to measure and monitor their carbon footprint. We’ve facilitated their ability to have “a 360-degree view of their environmental impact.”
The January YPO/Salesforce roundtable was part in an ongoing series of sustainability events we are planning for 2021 and beyond. I am looking forward to moderating more events and introducing more YPO members to the economic and environmental benefits of sustainability through stories and videos.
The valuable questions that we all must answer are: “How can we move beyond a ‘pet project’ and truly foster a corporate culture of sustainability?” and “How can we weave it into our corporate DNA?”