How to Get Started: Step 1

Kevin Foley • March 31, 2019

This is the 3rd article in our three-part “Intro to Sustainability Series” and will explain how to get started on your sustainability journey.

If you have not read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we suggest you go back and read them. They will give you a solid understanding of what sustainability is and why it is important for organizations like yours.

The Most Important Step

The first and most important step you can take when setting out on your sustainability journey is to create a “Sustainability Program Roadmap.” A sustainability program roadmap is a single document that contains all the essential elements needed to design, launch and grow your sustainability program. A well designed roadmap will help you navigate your journey and guide you safely to your final destination.

However, before you begin building a roadmap, it is important to have a basic understanding of a few essential characteristics of your organization and its operations.

Before Getting Started

In order to create a meaningful roadmap should first have a clear understanding of the following:

How your business uses resources (water, electricity, natural gas, etc.)
Your organization’s overall mission and values
Your organization’s financial structure and tax appetite
The capabilities of the personnel within your organization

If you do not have a basic understanding of these elements, we suggest you do some data gathering. Knowing this information will be essential to creating a roadmap that is both practical and effective.

Creating Your Roadmap

In order to help you on your journey, we've developed a sustainability roadmap guidebook. The guidebook will help your business develop clarity and structure around its sustainability efforts. The guide will define exactly what a roadmap is, who it is for, why it is important, and how to create it. It will also detail exactly what content must go into a sustainability roadmap.

To learn more about the sustainability roadmap guidebook, please contact us.

Call to Action

Achieving any major goal, whether in life or business, requires thoughtful planning and disciplined execution. Your roadmap will help you with the planning and inform the execution. Planning is essential to ensuring your actions have a massive impact. You must exercise patience and discipline, just like a chess player plotting his or her next move.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future is literally in our hands to mold as we like. Tomorrow is now.” Use your roadmap as the starting point in your efforts to mold the future of your organization. It is the starting point for leveraging your resources, increasing profitability and gaining a competitive advantage.

We hope you enjoyed the article. Please let us know if you have any questions or would like help getting started.

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What The Lion King Teaches Us About Sustainability

By Kevin Foley • August 31, 2019

On a hot summer’s day (almost 110°F...) a few weeks back, after a fuse blew in our 1940’s-era apartment making use of the AC impossible....my wife and I went to the movies. Specifically, we went to a matinee of the new “photorealistic” computer animated remake of Disney’s The Lion King. The original was released in 1994 when I was six years old and was one of my favorite movies growing up. To this day, whenever I hear a Lion King theme song (and especially, the Circle of Life ) I am filled with nostalgia and wonderment. As an adult watching the new remake nearly 25 years later, I was equally captivated. As most who have seen the original Lion King can attest, it is chock full of invaluable life lessons. It effectively illustrates examples of leadership, courage, forgiveness, justice, faith and purpose, to name just a few. Like the original film from 1994, the remake did an excellent job of capturing and illustrating all of these lessons. This time around, one lesson that really stuck out to me, which I hadn’t caught in years past, was that of sustainability. As a 31 year old who has dedicated my entire professional career to sustainability, I am constantly on the lookout for little gems of sustainability wisdom. Whether or not I intend to, I view just about everything through that lens…including Disney remakes of old classics. In this new version of The Lion King, I found one of these gems that I am always looking for. As a quick aside, if you have not seen the Lion King (original or remake), some of what lies ahead could spoil some of the movie for you. If you fall into that category, proceed with caution. While in the movie theater, I didn’t have a pen and paper with me, and the lights weren’t on...so I was unable to take any notes or write down any quotes related to the gems of sustainability wisdom I witnessed. Since I was still thinking about the movie weeks later, I decided to go back and watch the original movie at home, so that I could take notes, pause and rewind as needed, and see if my observations about this classic movie truly held their own.

Sustainability and The Supply Chain

By Kevin Foley • July 31, 2019

This month’s blog article takes a look at the supply chain and the role sustainability plays within that system. The conversation is guided by 8 specific questions and is presented in a simple Q & A format. The questions were provided by my colleague, Brody, at Performance Operations .

Wilderness Medicine Lessons to Help Your Business Thrive

By Kevin Foley • June 30, 2019

Earlier this month I completed an 80-hour wilderness medicine training course. It was filled with dozens of lectures, quarts of fake blood and no shortage of hands-on practice - both as a rescuer and a victim. There were approximately 22 students and two seasoned instructors. My classmates came from many different backgrounds, and included backcountry trip leaders and guides, search and rescue volunteers, nursing students, park rangers, and even one sustainability manager & consultant (guess who that was?). The 80 hour course was split evenly between in-class lecture and hands-on practice.

The Certified B Corporation: A Definition and Brief History of How It All Started?

By Kevin Foley • May 27, 2019

This article will give you a basic understanding of what a Certified B Corporation is and how it developed into what it is today.

Sustainability Champion: What It Is and Why You Need One

By Kevin Foley • April 30, 2019

In the previous blog articles, we discussed what sustainability is , why it is important for your business , and how to get started . What we have not yet covered is who should be responsible for spearheading the sustainability program at your organization. The purpose of this article is to provide clarity on who that person is, why they are important and what skills they should possess.