These days, everybody’s talking about “thought leaders.” Even me; I’ve been called one—and worse. Well, I’m guessing you might value having a thought partner.
Tell the truth: How much of your time do you spend thinking? Not just designing, executing, managing, engaging, persuading, measuring, reporting, but thinking—deeply— about what’s so and what’s needed and what’s next. I’ll bet that it’s nowhere near enough. But thinking may be your most important job.
Because in fact what you’re doing, as a sustainability leader, is inventing a future—for your company and for the world. This is something human beings do. We speak new worlds into being—whether Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” or Ray Anderson’s “Mission Zero,” JFK’s call for the moon landing or the rapidly trending Living Building Challenge. Only then can we step into those new possibilities and bring them about.
When do you think? With whom?
Here’s what I think about thinking: Sometimes it’s best done alone, whether at a blank whiteboard or a walk in the woods, so be sure to give yourself—and protect—time to do that. Sometimes it’s best done with a trusted, experienced, wise, insightful, foresightful thinking partner who can help you both find and refine the thoughts that you may not be able to get to yourself.
That’s why I’m inviting five people—or companies—to engage me as your thought partner in exploring and designing the next phase of sustainability for your organization. Twelve month commitment, with fees to be determined together. No application forms this time; just write or call, and describe either your starting point or your sense of where you’ll want to go. I’ll select up to five of you—the ones who offer the juiciest possibility of a remarkable conversation, and the willingness to invest in it—and we’ll see what emerges.
[Thank you Jean Russell planting the seed.]