THE STATE OF THE CSO: an evolving profile
After much sweat equity, we are pleased to present our study and paper on the quickly-changing profile of CSO.
Enjoy! Eryn@Footprint
Co-written and published by: Eryn Emerich/Footprint Talent + William Paddock/WAP Sustainability Consulting
Valentine’s Day Lunch & Learn Webinar: Hiring in Sustainability
Join me and my good friend, Stephanie Armistead of Green Business Works, tomorrow (yes, Valentine’s Day for you lovers out there) for a free lunchtime webinar on Hiring Trends in Sustainability.
Should be a rich discussion, and you can sign up here: http://greenbusinessworks.net/webinar-series
See (hear) you tomorrow!
Valentine’s Homage: how interviewing is like dating
The business of recruiting and executive search is often likened to matchmaking, and fraught with melodramatic language about courtship and marriage analogies. In the same vein, a friend/candidate of ours and I were laughing over dinner last night, musing about how the interview process could be related to dating. Not to be crude, but we started to get into what in interviews would be tantamount to first base, s
econd base, and so on…
It was funny at the time. Guess you had to be there. 
XO, #deepthoughtsbyFootprint
Meet our Spring Marketing Intern, Marian!
We are pleased to introduce the newest member of our Footprint Team, Marian Mendenhall
!
Marian is a social media and strategic marketing whiz, and will be the engine behind much of our new outreach and content delivery, so look for some very cool and engaging communique from her/us in the near term.
Want to guest blog and/or be included somewhere in our editorial calendar? Email her with your pitch, idea, or lead: marian@footprinttalent.com
Welcome, Marian! Eryn
Welcome to the New Year, Footprint Friends (ecard)!
Welcome to the Footprint Talent Community
Hello and thank you for following @Footprinttalent on Twitter! We welcome you, and look forward to getting to know you. Here are a few quick ways you can engage with us, and make the most of our burgeoning relationship:
- Hiring sustainability or corporate responsibility professionals for your team/department? In the market for new team members in 2012? Schedule time to discuss with Eryn and gain (free) initial insight on the most appropriate profiling, team structure, compensation range, etc: www.tungle.me/erynemerich
- Would-be candidate prospects: send us your resume (with “resume” in subject line) and a brief explanation of sustainability roles/positions that are of interest to you, and we will be happy to keep you on our radar should an opportunity arise that makes sense to explore: eryn.emerich@footprinttalent.com
- In the market for a new or refreshed green career? Allow us to recommend our favorite coach, Carol McClelland of Green Career Central. You can reach her directly here.
- Follow us on LinkedIn.
- Follow us on Facebook.
Speak soon! Eryn + the Footprint team
Footprint’s 1st Environmental Leader Column…
…went live yesterday: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2011/03/31/towards-a-common-language-csr-vs-environmental-sustainability-as-a-corporate-function/#comment-310756
We’re just a *bit* excited…enjoy, and we welcome your feedback! Eryn@Footprint
He or she is no longer the most ‘environmental’ team member [EHS, env. engineer, env. counsel], but now more likely the smartest strategist in the room who can also lead and influence. Charisma and political capital of the executive sponsor is hugely important, for better or worse. We find that technical and ‘scientific’ sustainability competency [i.e. being an LCA expert] is becoming less important, and viewed as a function that can be brought on in a contract or consulting capacity.
Compensation is all over the place, but we have found that companies are willing to pay somewhere in the 20-30% above-market range for even very junior sustainability leaders. Classic supply and demand, we suppose.”
Introducing The Life-Affirming Niche
This month’s guest blogger is Barry Patterson. Barry has almost 20 years of experience in the realm of sustainability. In addition to client work, Barry has been working arduously on his personal passion – The Life-Affirming Niche concept.
The life-affirming niche is a different way to think about sustainability and how to move forward into the future. It’s a new approach to how companies, communities, and individuals can create and deliver value based on a new perception of abundance and regeneration rather than limits and exploitation.
The life-affirming niche concept is designed to help us transition away from methods and mental models that are destructive and limiting. The concept strives to move us into new ways of working and living and ultimately make a positive contribution to the health and well-being of both humanity and the planet.
Early in my sustainability journey (early 90′s), I helped a professor build a solar-powered commuter car. My work on that project helped me realize that there is much more going on in the world, and many more possibilities than what we see and experience from day to day. Twenty years later, my passion for sustainability work is stronger than ever. I continue to love working at the front end of sustainability innovation, and I’m passionate about helping the people and companies I consult with create what’s next in sustainability and beyond.
However, there has always been something missing. Something I’ve always wanted, but have never been able to find. It’s a universal type of pointer that says – this way is good (and that way be death and dragons). It would be a universal pointer that provides direction for different professions and careers, companies and industries, communities and cultures. Since I wasn’t been able to find it, I had to create it. This is how the Life-Affirming Niche began.
A new way of looking at the world often needs a new word or phrase to bring it into view. By taking the somewhat abstract concept of life-affirming, we can utilize it to help define and create a new, healthier, and higher quality of life that honors all people and the planet.
Life-affirming as a phrase, and as a concept, brings to my mind restoration and regeneration. It is restorative in that it points toward restoring the natural world, because if all we’re doing is sustaining what we’ve already destroyed, we’re going to be in sad shape. Life-affirming is regenerative in that it’s based on a model of abundance, a model of creating and distributing more than you need, and serving more than you have to, rather than on a model of limits and not enough to go around.
In looking at a niche, we have a brilliant model at our doorstep – the myriad of organisms that make-up the robust ecosystems which surround us. Ecosystems with the most diversity of niches are also the most dynamic and resilient – a proven model well worth following.
Individually, our niche is that place where our talents, skills, personality, strengths, etc. – collectively our authenticity & function – come together in a place and in a way where we can thrive as individuals. How your authenticity & function fit into the greater whole is how and where you develop your niche. And “you” could mean you as an individual, your company, or your community. Companies and organizations have specific market niches where they can thrive by creating life-affirming products, services, and products of service. Communities have a collection of unique life-affirming factors that when brought together create authenticity of place. Whatever the area of focus, the associated unique factors provide fertile soil for creating a life-affirming niche.
The ever evolving definition of life-affirming niche: that ‘place’ where authenticity and intention come together in new ways to benefit all of life, and in doing so illuminate new approaches to value creation.
With a life-affirming niche, the ends and the means are one and the same. So we ask, how can we move our companies, organizations, communities – and ourselves – forward in ways where the ends and the means become congruent and life-affirming? What’s wonderful is that this is already happening all over the world. And what has already been done, can be done, again and again.
As a strategy for growth, the life affirming niche engages our creativity and helps it thrive by bringing a new type of value into our value systems, be they personal, organizational, market-based, and/or community-based. And it covers both the intrinsic and extrinsic aspects. By actively serving humanity we receive some of our greatest intrinsic rewards. Acts of service enhance our connections to each other, to our work associates, and to our communities.
What’s interesting is that in taking the life-affirming niche approach, people become empowered to begin living more consciously and intentionally. This happens because the first steps in creating a life-affirming niche, are to become aware of, and then to take responsibility for, how our living and being affects all of life. Once we are aware and take responsibility, we can then move into action, creating forms of value that have a net positive impact on all of life. This in turn creates a positive feedback loop that becomes an upward spiral of increasing awareness and consciousness. (Awareness ® Responsibility ® Action ® Evaluation ® New Awareness ® Repeat)
I’ve been giving talks on the life-affirming niche for a year and a half now, and during this time period the concept has grown and developed considerably. What has continued to amplify, however, is that sustainability has created an entry point into a new era that is being defined by three R’s of the twenty-first century: Restoration, Regeneration, and Resilience. In this new era, hundreds (possibly thousands) of life-affirming niches will be created and developed, and most will fall within one of these three overall categories.
While there are an unlimited number of niches that could be created, certain characteristics have continued to rise to the top. The commonalities these characteristics hold are in principle and through pathways (practices). Integrating both into a common approach allows for a duality of intent, which in turn allows for more resonance and relevance to the big picture.
The result is 20 Life-Affirming Niche Principles & Pathways. Many of the Principles emphasize the fulfillment of our highest aspirations and expression as human beings. The Pathways are highly specific to addressing the most significant sustainability challenges the world faces today. The coherence between the principles and pathways is found through the lens of the life-affirming niche.
Dozens of profiles, case studies, and descriptions will be posted over the coming weeks and months. I will do my best to make them useful and relevant to your life, your work, your company, organization, and community. The three profiles live now are:
- Servant Leadership Profile: The McCurry’s of Highland Craftsmen http://www.barrypatterson.com/blog/lan-9-servant-leadership-profile-the-mccurrys-of-highland-craftsmen/
- Bring Nature Inside Profile: Kamal Meattle http://www.barrypatterson.com/blog/lan-10-bring-nature-inside-kamal-meattle-profile/
- Redesign Your Product and Industry to be Life-Affirming. Profile: Tom Rioux of Earthpaint http://www.barrypatterson.com/life-affirming-niche/lan-8-redesign-your-product-and-industry-to-be-life-affirming-tom-rioux-earthpaint-profile/
I hope you subscribe to the blog and post your thoughts and comments so that we can grow and evolve the life-affirming niche together.
Footprint is Hiring: Seeking EVP Sales + Marketing {NYC} for Sustainable Architectural Product Maker
Friends, we’ve just been retained to fill for a very cool client of ours in greater NYC. We’d welcome your interest or recommendation of qualified candidates, and here are our high-level requirements for consideration:
Mandate: our client seeks a visionary who can drive revenue, profitability and a global growth initiative – and committed to the triple bottom line
- Currently a senior sales leader [moreso than brand/marketing] from the interior finishes space [fixtures, lighting, hard or soft flooring, hard surfaces such as Corian or Caesarstone], or sustainable durables product, or boutique commercial furnishings line
- Sales audience: architectural and design space [A + D]
- Currently living within 50 miles of NYC
Many thanks, and message me directly for more information: eryn.emerich@footprinttalent.com
Eryn@Footprint
