Introducing the Engage Change Community
For many sustainability professionals, the results of the 2024 presidential election in the United States felt like watching the scene in Avenger’s: Endgame where supervillain Thanos snaps his fingers to eliminate half of all life in the universe. Except instead of a big purple alien turning people into dust, it was a vile orange demagogue being thrust back into power to annihilate our collective progress on environmental and social justice.
During this disappointing and difficult time, I knew that it was more important than ever for sustainability professionals to come together. Quickly creating a LinkedIn post about an open door Zoom call for folks to connect on what had happened, I hoped to have a handful of people sign up. But within 24 hours, my post went viral and more than 500 sustainability professionals had registered for the event. On Friday, November 8, more than 350 people joined the Zoom meeting.
During the convening, we heard from several sustainability leaders, including Heather Clancy of Trellis, Matt Sekol of Microsoft (who also is author of ESG Mindset), Patrick Flynn of Switchboard, Jennifer Allyn of ClimateVoice and Anne Kelly of Ceres. Check out the highlights of these “fire starter” chats on this episode of The Sustainability Communicator podcast.
After these talks, we broke up into dozens of smaller breakout groups to share feelings, thoughts and ideas about how to move forward. The consensus was that we needed to allow ourselves to “feel the feels” but not to dwell. Progress is a pendulum — sometimes we move forward, sometimes we move backward. But we’ve got to keep moving. This isn’t about Democrats or Republicans — it’s about being responsible human beings willing to do whatever it takes to protect our families, our friends, other people that we love, our communities, our country and our planet by addressing clear and present problems like the climate crisis. As sustainability professionals, we have a dual responsibility and opportunity to speak up during the difficult days ahead.
“Progress is a pendulum — sometimes we move forward, sometimes we move backward. But we’ve got to keep moving.”
For me, the sight of this budding coalition of sustainability professionals gave me chills. There were folks of all levels from companies and organizations both large and small — people of many backgrounds and identities coming together in our common cause.
If it was possible to get this many people together in less than a day, I thought, imagine what we could do with more time and greater organization?
A new community for engaging change
Today, I’m excited to announce the launch of Hower Impact’s Engage Change Community. This free-to-join community brings together sustainability professionals to connect and engage on important topics through virtual discussions, in-person meetups, a Slack group and more to advance social and environmental progress in the business community and beyond.
The benefits of joining this group include:
Sharing knowledge and resources on how to help organizations stay focused on sustainability during the turbulence of Trump;
Providing a forum for healthy debate and discussion about policy issues impacting corporate sustainability;
Maintaining morale through meaningful connection;
Matching mentors and mentees to transfer knowledge, skills and insights across generations of sustainability professionals;
Facilitating the creation of geographical hubs of sustainability professionals to self-organize in-person networking events; and,
Channeling the power of sustainability professionals for climate advocacy opportunities.
This group welcomes anyone interested in addressing the climate crisis through the power of business — and who understands the important role government plays in making this possible.
Advancing connection, community and communication
The sustainability community has nourished me throughout my career — from my first Sustainable Brands conference over a decade ago to today’s 24/7 sustainability professional virtual soirée on LinkedIn. While we might work at different companies, be in-house, consultants, investors, journalists, entrepreneurs or solution providers, we share a sole client: Planet Earth and all life on it.
Nearly two years ago, I started Hower Impact to advance sustainable business through the power of story. Over that time, I’ve had the privilege of working with many companies and individual sustainability professionals to improve how they communicate sustainability. I also have tested out a few community-building ideas through Hower Impact’s in-person Impact Hours and virtual Connection Sections.
More than ever, sustainability professionals need stronger connection, open community and better communication — three things I’ve dedicated my life to delivering. Yet sustainability conferences remain overly expensive and out of reach for most, making it difficult to connect and engage in a way that creates widespread change. Meanwhile, many sustainability professionals are losing heart and burning out when we need them most.
After the initial Zoom call, I took my golden retriever, Lincoln, for his afternoon walk to reflect on what had just transpired — and the possibilities of what could come next. Like many in corporate sustainability, I had been working through a series of emotions — from disappointment, sadness and fear to frustration, anger and, finally, resolve.
Accepting that what happened, happened, I focused on my conviction that — as in all of life’s trials — we must learn, adapt and respond with the actions needed to bring about the good we want to see in the world. There is hope in action, and we must keep moving.
If you would like to join the Engage Change Community, please complete the interest form below.
