The recent blog post on Edie looks at New Year’s resolutions for 2019. I agree with most of their suggestions except the last one - ‘make your role obsolete’. This topic, the idea that success for a sustainability practitioner is doing ourselves out of a job, is something I often find myself talking about particularly with young professionals just starting out.
Often the conversation goes along the lines of is success or the end goal writing yourself out of a job? The quick answer is no. I believe there will always be a need for dedicated sustainability expertise - technical experts who bring clarity and depth of knowledge on complex social and environmental issues.
In fact, in the future, I think sustainability roles could become even more niche. I can see a world where companies hire experts on specific issues such as human rights, plastics, modern slavery, child protection, supply chain and so on. It might be however that more virtual teams or freelancers that are called upon regularly becomes the norm, particularly as the gig economy takes off and millennials look to work in different ways.
I think and hope that sustainability roles will become much more transformative, with the lens of sustainability driving innovation and shaping product design. When I look back on my own career this rings true. Over the last ten years I’ve gone from obsessing around corporate reporting on sustainability to now delivering transformational projects that directly affect the product story or customer experience.
I’d also like to think that cross sector collaboration will play an even bigger part and teams like Public Affairs will play an increasingly important role. I recently heard someone talk about ‘teaming’ as a concept - pulling in experts for projects or working in ways when you know exactly what it is you bring to the table. There are days when my team do this - to create positive change you have to work with the business and in the business, calling on other experts to get the job done.
Regardless of what the future holds, today it’s an exciting profession to be in. Sustainability is firmly on the map, at the boardroom table and in the news. From companies putting sustainability issues at the heart of their advertising campaigns over the Christmas period, to rethinking product design to eliminate single-use plastic these are just a couple of proof points. Some days, when I reflect on my coffee queue conversations or look at my inbox, I feel like as a profession we are running the show and shaping the world as we go. Now that’s pretty cool.
What do you think the future holds for the profession?
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