Webinar Recap: A Panel Discussion with Alumni

How do you get a job in sustainability? How do you make a sustainable difference in your work? Scroll down for a recap of this panel discussion.

Leading the Sustainability Transformation (LST) alumni Kari Bliss of Padnos; Kelly Santini of iMFLUX (a Procter & Gamble Company), and Júlio Natalense of Suzano joined WholeWorks CSO Laura Asiala October 12 for a panel discussion. They had some great advice for people pivoting in their careers for greater impact as well as helping organizations get started and accelerating their abilities to integrate sustainability and ESG initiatives throughout an organization.

You can access the recording here.

The conversation starts at the 30 second mark with introductory comments, an overview of the ‘Leading the Sustainability Transformation’ program. The panel discussion starts at 7:50.

Discussion Summary

One piece of advice that the panelists agreed on: professional development is a good investment—and they recommend LST. The program includes online learning modules designed for working professionals as well as personal coaching to ensure participants develop meaningful and implementable project plans by the end of the course. But it’s the online simulation that makes the LST program distinctive. 

“It’s important to understand it’s a live-simulation,” said Júlio. “It’s not static material—standard cases—that you can find on the internet. You work at RNB (the fictional company) with different roles. It develops every week. There are different results every week—for every team—depending on your decisions and the inputs to the simulation. You build the business along the 10-week program (which represents 20 years).”

The simulation is based on a fictional, but realistic, pulp & paper manufacturing site in an emerging market, owned by a publicly traded multi-national company. It is designed to give participants the maximum exposure to multiple sustainability issues: sustainable agriculture; biodiversity; reliable, environmentally-sound, and socially-just supply chains; customers demanding ‘green’ products (without any interest or ability to pay more); circular economy; shareholders who want to see clear ESG goals met but are unwilling to compromise financial return; historically large users of energy (and producers of GHG), water and other natural resources; the importance of stakeholder engagement; and the need for a highly trained, capable, diverse & inclusive workforce, among others. The simulation requires a holistic strategic approach to meet the goals—10 financial; 10 social; and 10 environmental. 

“You don’t get a C-suite level executive to make a large commitment without data and a compelling vision. The course offered both the tools and the practice to do that. I’d never been a ‘Director of Operations’ before. I didn’t know how to think like that. This experience helped put me in their shoes and really experience what they care about. That’s made me more effective.”

“I loved the simulation part!” said Kelly. “I wanted to figure that out; every week, I was eager to review the (triple bottom line) reports to see how many goals we had met. I wanted to meet the 30 goals! I would analyze every week, to see where the team had gone wrong. Now I realize that sometimes the most important thing to do for positive results is to make the same choice consistently over time.”

That’s the power of a simulation—and practice field. Participants set strategies and make decisions over a 20-year time frame, which allows them to see how decisions can compound to create long term results.  

The learning modules, simulation, and project assignments take participants approximately 10 hours per week on average, over 10 weeks. While most of this is done individually, engaging with the team takes about 1-3 hours, organized by the team. It’s an exercise in real collaboration, which is crucial to impacting a whole system. 

“Networking is important. Sustainability is done in collaboration. You never do anything alone in sustainability. Networking and meeting other people and other companies and bringing them together to be part of a solid solution is important,” observed Júlio. 

Insights and lessons from the simulation are immediately applied as participants develop their individual projects. “At the time I was taking the course, I was working on the circular economy for plastics at Dow,” said Julio. “I learned about the more practical and human aspect of sustainability—especially the module for stakeholder engagement and active listening. That helped me a lot to be able to create the conditions for people who pick waste to be integrated into a value chain of a big company—as valued suppliers.”

Next Program Coming Up!

The next LST program runs Jan 30 – Apr 9, 2023. Early access to learning modules (recommended by alumni!) in mid-December with registration by Dec 9. Register here using promotional code GRNBZ to reduce the price to $2,950.00. Final registration is due Jan 20.

About the author:

Laura Asiala, MSOD 

Laura Asiala is the Chief Sustainability Officer of WholeWorks, LLC and the Lead Facilitator for ‘Leading Sustainability Transformation’ (LST) Program—in which experienced professionals and leaders accelerate their ability to integrate ESG issues across their companies, creating value and transforming a traditional business to sustainable, via a realistic team simulation. She also curates and edits ‘WholeWorks Connects,’ a publication amplifying the work of leaders in the field of sustainability, including alumni of WholeWorks programs.  

She has extensive experience in the field of global, sustainable development having served as the Director of Corporate Communications & Citizenship, Dow Corning (Dow, Inc); Vice President of Public Affairs PYXERA Global; Senior Director, Council of the Great Lakes Region; and Editor, Great Lakes Economic Forum: Online.  You can also read her posts on Amplify, an Arthur D. Little Publication, or GreenBiz. She is a recognized influencer and thought leader on corporate social responsibility.  

Laura received her bachelor’s degree from Alma College and holds a Masters of Science degree in Organizational Development from Case Western Reserve University. She is an alum of Leading the Sustainability Professional Certificate Program, powered by WholeWorks. 

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