sabspeaksblog

At the beginning of this journey, I struggled to identify my leadership challenge. This was partly due to the fact that perhaps I was in a transition period within my role moving from a subject matter expert to a position of visibility and leadership; and partly due to the fact that I hadn’t experienced challenges that I could distill into a leadership framework.

However, within months, my challenge was quite clear. How could be seen as not just the ‘sustainability’ expert in the board room and seen as a leader? Both by my peers and by the C-suite.

This was quite important to me as it was critical to the profile of the work we do that we are seen as  contributors to our business. Contributors who can address, remediate and collaborate towards creating value and mitigating risk. This has resonated with me over the last 18 months and I have integrated such aims into both my personal and professional goal setting. I think often we believe that leadership evolves slowly and happens by chance. However,  I don’t see it in that way.

Like most other things in life, leadership has to methodically approached; strategically nurtured and constantly at the forefront of the decisions you make.

During our last peer coaching workshop, a wise colleague mentioned that it was key to identify whether or not my organization wanted to invest in the ‘horse or the jockey’. In laymen terms, referring to whether or not it is my profile which is on the rise – or the increased visibility of the function and the work we do. This deeply insightful question had me reflecting on whether or not there is a separation and if the characteristics of a leader can be separated from the work done in a sustainability context. We espouse ethics, are seen as the independent moral compass of our organization and thus it can be difficult to separate the two.

The evolution of my leadership style and in fact the progress I have been able to make has been through two main elements:

1. The insights and constant questioning learnt through my time at Cambridge

2. The courage to ask for more (both professionally and personally)

By doing this, not only has this given my team higher visibility, but it has opened the door for more strategic collaborations internally and externally. By exhibiting courage, respect towards the work of my colleagues and a genuine desire to learn more about how decisions are made – I have not only been able to personally grow, but am seen as a trusted advisor for many arms of the business. For the first time, we have more requests for collaboration, advice and input than we can manage.

I am so grateful for the journey which has just begun, one of the most exciting chapters of my life is just beginning.

Integrating sustainability within operations, products and ethos of an organisation cannot be achieved without a robust and sophisticated approach to communication and engagement.

One of the biggest challenges faced in markets that have a transient, expatriate population is that it is difficult to make people care about causes and long term benefit. This makes it necessary to evolve communication and engagement styles to the context, one that is culturally and organizationally appropriate.

One approach that has worked well is aligning our cause to organisational priorities or accelerators. I am a firm believer that when there is a shared vision, the cause become not only easier to achieve but deeply embedded. But first there is the hurdle of individual perception and competing priorities.

In the banking sector, perception is key. When priorities, success and returns are measured quarterly, the mindset of most people is firmly entrenched in a factual and limited sphere requiring almost immediate results to keep them engaged.

This mindset coupled with the market context of short termism has provided the perfect mix to trial new methods of sustainability messaging. Using platforms such as videos, working groups and appointing change champions (with real accountability) – we have been able to challenge the existing frames our colleagues have of what sustainability encompasses. Darnton and Kirk (2011) describe ‘frames’ as “the chunks of factual and procedural knowledge in the mind with which we understand situations, ideas and discourses in everyday life” (p.5). By asking colleagues to look at their every day, either at how they consume, make business decisions or engage with the community, we are in the process of creating a strong network of likeminded individuals.

What has proven the most effective at leveraging lasting change has been the individuals who have the credibility/authority championing for reform or those who are systematic about their engagement. According to Rose (2010), understanding the distinction between information (giving out) and communication (getting through) is important in achieving real engagement. Using emotional, tangible and memorable experiences have been the cornerstone of internal and external engagement. A key programme at enabling a change in mindset is our Sustainability Leadership Programme (SLP), where 12 colleagues, clients, suppliers or other key stakeholders partake in a week long immersive programme that takes place in various locations globally.

With the main goal of helping HSBC meet its long-term sustainability strategies, the SLP is a professional development experience for select senior executives, designed to support understanding of the impact of climate change around the world, how it affects businesses and empowering the programme alumni to make sustainable changes throughout their business units.

The 5-day experiential learning journey, including the field programme work with NGO Earthwatch, aims to deeply engage senior business leaders in sustainability and climate change issues by working with scientists in the field and through facilitated and peer led learning sessions. When stakeholders return from this experience, they truly understand sustainability – the barriers, the opportunities and are empowered to impact their sphere of influence – which is the true definition of successful communication.

If we as sustainability practitioners and change agents need to continue to innovate – as attention spans become shorter and more information is thrown peoples way, the real challenge will be to make people continuously feel a connection to each other and to their environment.

 

 

Biofuels as part of the green economy agenda threatens the short and long-term food security of many countries and regions in the developing world.

The United Nations Environment Programme defines a green economy as “one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities”. Despite the many international forums, summits and agreements being held and made to move towards a green economy,  the inclusion of biofuels as a part of the solution ignores ecological realities as well as the social dimensions of food insecurity.

To paint a very realistic picture – the MENA region, particularly Egypt and the gulf countries are experiencing two critical, simultaneous problems: water scarcity and a lack of food security. Water scarcity is defined by less than 1,000 cubic meters of available fresh water per person per year. Food security is defined as a situation where “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” (definition developed at the World Food Summit in Rome in 1996).

Many countries in the Middle East and North Africa suffer from a lack of rain. While Egypt’s coast gets around 200mm of rainfall per year, the figure drops to zero south of Cairo.  The UAE has rainfall of around 10mm per year. In both countries, rainfall is nowhere near enough to make a significant contribution to available freshwater resources or agriculture and food production. At the same time, several Arab and Middle Eastern countries are seeing their fossil groundwater resources being rapidly depleted.

In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the shared aquifer reduced in volume from 500 cubic kilometers to 100 cubic kilometers over a time period of only 30 years, mainly as a result of drawing water for agricultural production. Egypt, in turn, depends on Nile water for almost 99% if its fresh water needs, with 85% of water being allocated to agricultural production. Its own transnational, non-renewable aquifer is also being depleted at alarming rates, putting all farming communities of its vast Western Desert at risk of losing their only water source.

Water scarcity has led to limitations in agricultural production that further threaten food security. Countries on the Arabian Peninsula have been counting on sea water desalination for agricultural and household water needs, with 200 plants placed around the Arabian Gulf. However, this is a costly technology, and it has potential environmental impacts through brine and hot water being released into the sea, as well as vast amounts of energy used and greenhouse gases produced in the process.

With growing populations in all countries of the Middle East – growth rates being the highest in Egypt with a population expected to grow from 90 million to 150 million by 2050 – governments and citizens are already facing the impacts of growing food imports and rising food prices. Many of these countries instead rely  heavily or exclusively on imports from neighbouring countries, the majority being from parts of Asia and Africa in order to meet the growing demands. However, with precious agricultural land being taken away from farmers in these neighbouring countries in order to use the land to produce biofuels – tension is building.  In sub-Saharan Africa, rising food prices, land grabs, and precarious and informal labour conditions are key social threats linked to the emphasis on biofuel production.

The International Food Policy Research Institute reported that in Madagascar, negotiations with Daewoo Logistic Corporation to lease 1.3 million hectares (which represent half of the country’s farming land) for maize and palm oil production played a role in the political conflict that led to overthrow of the government in 2009.

According to the UN Research Institute for Social Development, Sweden-based companies Biomassive and Sekab are already growing crops in Mozambique and Tanzania for biofuel production. Sekab has already planted 20,000 hectares in Tanzania’s coastal region and has plans to expand this to 400,000 hectares. The volume of ethanol from this project is expected to be enough to replace all petrol and diesel used by cars in Sweden and Norway.

Over the course of a year,  the Republic of Korea acquired 690,000 hectares of land in Sudan. European corporations, universities from the United States and pension funds are also amongst those purchasing huge tracts of land in sub-Saharan Africa.

This is a small sample of the transactions that have taken place with many more undocumented in the public sphere. The ethics behind the shift to a low carbon economy must be discussed at all levels to ensure that in our pursuit, we are not creating further social and ecological problems. Food security is a tangible problem and a reality that is faced by millions across the Middle East and Africa and unless there is a consolidated effort to develop a consistent approach to tackling this, the poor, especially the rural poor will have no where to turn.

My  personal challenge is to engage and excite more senior leadership about how to and why to integrate sustainability in their portfolios and departments. Being in the financial sector, there are often constraints on time, work, financial targets and regulation which must always come first – however, although this may be used as a reason, I accept the challenge to change that notion.

Although there have been great strides made in the sustainability agenda around Operations, HR, and Communications, I feel there is a certain level of skepticism amongst senior leaders as the whole concept is not deeply understood. Part of this disconnect is due to belief that to be sustainable requires forsaking profit or more importantly, involves a cost.

My personal feeling is that this is the last generation of management for whom sustainability is not business as usual. The next generation of leaders would have not only studied the concept at secondary or tertiary levels – but they will actively promote the agenda because it makes good economic, commercial and social sense. But until then, to achieve the changes needed in the organisation and the region, I have to deal with polite skepticism.

I have identified this as my challenge as it allows me to take a fascinating look at the psyche of a leader – and more importantly how to be viewed as one because let’s face it, leaders listen to other leaders. The notion of a leader is somewhat subjective, you may be viewed as an influencer by your peers or the organisation, but amongst senior leaders you may not be considered as one of them. Therefore to continue my journey, I would like to take my observations and apply it to my development plan over the course of the year to illustrate how they can be turned into formal learning.

 

Growing up in Australia, I often remember reading books and watching television shows where products such as Twinkies and Oreos were mentioned/consumed by characters to our absolute fascination. We were spellbound by these products – what were they? They surely must taste amazing, much better than Vegemite and lamingtons.

That fascination continued until Oreo’s were available in Australia, when we realised, they were just chocolate biscuits after all.

This example really stands out in my mind as perfect example of consumption aspirations – we will want what is perhaps not available to us either through economic or geographical barriers. We will lust after it, dream of the day it will be ours – only to realise at some point that:

a) we already have some variation of it  

or

b)it was over hyped and we really perhaps didn’t need it.

With the advent of industrial might, globalisation and the internet, there is no limit to what we can have and how much we can consume. Parlayed with easy credit, you have the perfect fodder for personal implosion. We have seen over consumption can lead to financial strain, family and relationship degradation and there are even reality tv shows such as Hoarders around this every growing theme. When did it get so out of control and even aspirational to have more than we need?

That new lipstick will not give you confidence. Nor will that new pair of shoes take away your sadness. Despite knowing such realities, we do succumb to the messages which state that the perception the world has of us is based on mainly material objects. Perhaps this link between what we purchase in order to feel positive about ourselves,  the a key barrier to sustainable consumption.

In my opinion, consumption based on only your needs is what should be termed as truly sustainable as it also taps into a more fundamental shift in behaviour. A product or two, even with the right labelling and gimmicks cannot make your lifestyle sustainable if your consumption (in terms of volume/quantity) is out of control.  If we began to communicate as a society the real cost of a product, from it’s carbon and water footprint to the workers that were part of it’s supply chain, we may be able to encourage responsible decision making. I’m not saying that we live in such scarcity that all our yearly waste fits into a mason jar  – although that is a great lesson in what is possible. But it’s about identifying what will honestly be used by you and your family enough to justify the purchase of the item. This can stem from food items (global food waste is at alarming rates and an estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food goes to waste every year) and even clothing (much of which once thrown away takes decades to decompose). 

I also believe that information forms an integral part of making that behaviour change.  Although we are an information driven society, it is alarming how much critical information is actually withheld from us, information that could change the way we view our social construct, each other and ourselves. For those who want to be informed of terms such as green, ethical, organic and fair – to find accurate information can be arduous due to the many sources and definitions out there. Reading the label of what you buy is fine, if the content listed is accurate enough reflect reality of the environments and communities it has passed through. After all, that ‘organic’ logo on your coconut water that has been flown in from Hawaii doesn’t describe the lifecycle of the product.

To address the larger global issues including climate change, food security and water scarcity, the consumption habits of the general population must evolve from the current trend of amassing too much. A concerted and conscious effort by labelling organisations, government agencies and manufacturers on aligning definitions and reporting is just as critical as developing the personal insight between need and want.

The concept of blogging is still very new to me (yes, I am behind the times).

An avid writer and reader from an early age – the written word has alway fascinated me.

However, the notion that my thoughts, which I protect fiercely, may be read, judged and discussed by others is somewhat unnerving. And so my journey begins.

Be kind, people.