NO MORE LIPSTICK! On my penultimate working day of 2024, I've decided on my pledge for 2025: "no more lipstick on the pig!". As sustainability professionals, most of us spend a lot of time, if we're truly honest, tinkering around the edges, helping businesses and governments do marginally better. But we don't have time for business as usual any more. With #mandatorydisclosure set to dominate the next year or two, it's all the more important that we, as a profession, do more to ask the hard questions, call out the bulls**t, and (noting that we need to make a living) do more to say no to those clients, colleagues and leaders that use us as a fig leaf for their refusal to commit to the real transformation that's needed. It won't be possible to make that change overnight, but if each of us commits to upping the ante whenever we can, 2025 might just be the inflection point we so desperately need. My No.1 priority is to spend as much time as I can applying my sustainability and growth expertise to supporting those early stage businesses that are seeking to disrupt the unsustainable status quo. What's yours? #nomorelipstick #venturecapital #startups #disrupter #greenwashing #transformation #smallbusiness #climatetech #sustainablefinance
Nice sentiments Rich however you and Mary & Joe Blog doing it isn’t going to change the system. The paradigm shift we need to create a regenerative future needs the right rules and incentives and disincentives and KPIs to force and encourage and reward those willing to make the changes. Boards needs those rules and so do politicians. Most are risk averse. And then there are the geopolitical tensions that make it more complex. Yes I agree that companies need support to get their mandatory reporting for climate sorted and will need help with this. Soon we hope nature will follow - I think more than anything companies and organisations need people with smart strategic nouse and deep experience to help them navigate through this very complex time as we shift towards a better understanding of planetary boundaries. You and many others are primed to be those insightful leaders with practical and pragmatic input that has integrity. Here’s to the next step on your journey.
Leanne O.
5d
Thank you for sharing Richard. Have you read Josh Bornstein's thoughts on ESG in his new book Working for the Brand? https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/working-for-the-brand-9781761381041
David Ritter
6d
Great reflections Rich, best wishes for your endeavours in 2025
Mike Mason
3d
My priority is BEING one of those disruptive businesses. The problem for a lot of businesses is simply that they are doing the wrong thing. Visit any toy shop or clothes shop or sports shoe shop or SUV car dealership and behind them is an entire supply chain making things we don’t need and consuming resources that we do need. We have too many ‘advisors and consultants’ and not enough creators and doers.
yes, I've wrestled this year with that Q if we are just doing BAU. I'd like to up the ante on climate, on B Corp and ethical banking in 25.
Love this call for NO MORE LIPSTICK - and it takes a great deal of personal development to hold the space you are describing moving into. Ed Gillespie's article in 2012, The Omerta of Consultancy, identified the need for bolder consulting, but as you point out, "noting we need to earn a living" is no small spanner in the works of being bold and honest. Linking the two, we in the 'social sciences' have been learning how to engage people in the journey and hold the space for 'shocking, disturbing and grief inducing information" that enables processing and then moving into different action because we know understand the 'reality'. WE need to develop those skills and ways of being - it is a presence with people. And this change - this personal change - is the source of all systemic change. We cannot separate individual, strcurtural and cultural changes - they each mongle with the other and need to be considered together. That is what systemic change actually is. I am so impressed b y your intention for 2025 and i wish you all the very best with it. Thank you for your post. https://edgillespie.medium.com/the-omert%C3%A0-of-consultancy-bf26b116e3e0
Great post Richard - similar sentiments have been rolling around my mind these past few months, especially following a LinkedIn post by Rebecca Prince-Ruiz OAM pointing out a completely inaccurate and misleading article published in a WA newspaper. It was honestly eye watering. Piggy's mascara running everywhere. It's not all on us as individuals to solve, but for those in the ESG space, we do hold a special power (and hence, responsibility) to hold what is accurate and not to account, especially given the increased interest and imperative to be 'sustainable' and yet how complex it can be to implement. See you in 2025!
Scott Losee
6d
Possibly not a helpful comment from me, Rich, but would you consider rolling turds in glitter?
But what if it's sustainable lipstick....? I agree Richard. We are now halfway through the critical decade. Incrementalism and gently gently won't cut anymore. Let's work with all the organisations that are now quantifying their carbon impacts and climate risks to address them, rather than merely report them!!
Sustainability | Impact | Business Growth | Connector | NED
3dInteresting to note the exceptionally high level of engagement with this post. Suggests that there are a fair few sustainability professionals out there that want to push the boundaries a bit more next year. Here's hoping that comes to pass.