(… plus, get an invitation to our “Master Class” in Germany, Nov 16-18, as well info on other ISIS Academy workshops)
The junior minister from a small country in Africa, sitting across the dinner table from me in a crowded Asian airport, was surprisingly upbeat. “I come from an NGO background,” he said. “So I actually know how to get things done, with few resources.” Then he described what he was getting done … and I was amazed. By grabbing talented interns, finding strategic openings, and figuring out just how hard he could “shake the tree” without actually falling out himself, change was happening.
But was it happening fast enough? “People are waiting,” he said, referring to the general population, most of whom still lack the most basic services that we in the “developed world” take for granted. “I hope that they are not kept waiting too long.”
Like many people I meet, it was clear that he felt a bit lonely. Not totally alone: there were plenty of others in his government who, like him, were aiming to be models of integrity and effectiveness. And “at least a few” of his staff were there for more than just the steady paycheck, with benefits.
His road to change, however, was clearly uphill, and he felt that moments of true compatriotship on that road were rare. What inspired me was the good humor and positive attitude he seemed to radiate, anyway — despite reciting a long list of serious institutional and human obstacles. He was not naive, at all, and he expressed plenty of irony and frustration. It was clear that he had many hard stories in his past. But it was also clear that he was committed to making a difference, and to bringing as much of the good changes we call “sustainable development” to his country as humanly possible.
Meeting people like him is part of what keeps me going. When I’m faced with an executive who is just a little too cautious to change course (or even downright greedy for a still-higher income) … or an institution whose bureaucratic systems seem designed by the devil himself to prevent good people from doing good things … or power-games where someone’s ego-needs threaten to undermine a the progress of a whole organization … well, it’s easy to get despondent.
But then I remember all the people like the junior minister that I have had the privilege to meet and to work with in my life. Real change agents don’t stop trying to make change. They understand the obstacles, they understand the odds … but they also understand that the only thing that could possibly make hope real is for them, and everyone like them, to keep trying.
The “army of change agents for sustainability” has grown so much in recent years. I am sure we number in the millions now. But that is still, compared the obstacles and opposition we face, a relatively small number.
Which means we need each other. We need to inspire each other, inform each other, help each other, keep building our skills. If one of us stumbles, the others need to pick him or her up.
Ray Anderson, the extraordinary champion of change who died recently (see below), called what we’re doing “climbing Mount Sustainability.” We’re all approaching the summit from different directions — from business, education, government, community work, NGOs, research and more — but it’s the same mountain. And the only way to get to the top is to keep climbing.
No matter what.
Alan AtKisson
P.S. Interested in our upcoming ISIS Academy trainings?
Please scroll down …
New: Master Class in Sustainability and Change
16-18 November, 2011, in Wuppertal, Germany
in partnership with the UNEP / Wuppertal Institute Joint Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production (cscp)
Presented by
Axel Klimek & Alan AtKisson
We are pleased to announce this new, shorter-from Master Class, designed for people with some level of previous experience in sustainability and change who want to quickly upgrade their skills and tools, while also having a chance to reflect and to connect with other people. We have divided our 5-day course into two, stand-alone parts. Part 1 will be offered with our partners at UNEP/Wuppertal Institute this November, and Early Bird registration is open now … please write to us to receive a personal invitation and brochure, and tell us something about your background so we know that the Master Class is a good fit for you.
Here’s the link:
Click to send an email and request info on the Master Class.
Other Upcoming ISIS Academy Training Opportunities
If you live in SE Asia (or would like to go there!), you can learn the ISIS Accelerator tools by attending Sr. Associate Robert Steele’s intensive workshop, on 25-27 November 2011, in Bangkok. For more info and to download the flyer, click here to visit the ISIS Academy website.
For information on upcoming ISIS Academy workshops in the United States, visit www.ISISAcademyUSA.com.
Remembering Ray Anderson, the first sustainable business “mountaineer”
Ray Anderson, in the title of his last book, called himself a “radical industrialist.” The two words neatly summarized his professional identity: he was a hard-nosed businessman who was at the same time obsessed with driving transformative change for sustainability, not just in his own global company (a maker of commercial carpeting), but in the world of business generally.
Since Ray died, on 8 August of this year, there has been an enormous outpouring of appreciation and remembrance about him. Ray was not only admired, he was also much loved: he had a warmth and genuineness that set him apart. If you had never met him or seen him speak live, you can at least get a sense of that love in the memorial website set up by his company, Interface, here: http://raycandersonblog.com/.
I saw Ray several times really disarm a crowd of tough people, not just by charming them with stories of business change, hardship, and triumph … but by getting them to turn to the person next to them and “give them a hug.” Only a top-level CEO with sweet Georgia drawl could probably get away with something like that. It made some people uncomfortable, of course … but it also changed the atmosphere in the conference room.
Hugging aside, Ray’s contributions to the advance of sustainability in busienss were so numerous that I won’t try to list them. I’ll just note that he was not just an effective leader who set high standards and pushed people to meet them; he was also a keen systems thinker, who turned his company’s website into one of the best “primers” on sustainability in business that I, at the time of its launch, had ever seen. (It’s still very good: link.)
Finally, I remember Ray personally as someone with whom I connected very early in my sustainability career (when he was co-chairing the US President’s Council on Sustainable Development, in the mid-1990s). I was new, young, green … but he noticed me and was kind, gracious, and encouraging in response to my fairly naive questions. As time went by, we would run into each other every couple of years at some meeting or conference. We were never close friends, but even the short conference-lunch conversations we sometimes shared were always inspiring, candid, informative, and real. I remain deeply grateful.
- Alan AtKisson
Noted while riding the wave …
“… A man is going off of a very high cliff in his [early, home-made] airplane, with the wings flapping, and the guys flapping the wings and the wind is in his face, and this poor fool thinks he’s flying. But, in fact, he’s in free fall, and he just doesn’t know it yet because the ground is so far away. But, of course, the craft is doomed to crash.
That’s the way our civilization is. The very high cliff represents the virtually unlimited resources we seem to have when we began this journey. The craft isn’t flying because it’s not built according to the laws of aerodynamics, and it’s subject to the law of gravity.”
- Ray Anderson, quoted in the documentary film “The Corporation”
See you next month! Please write to us with any questions, ideas, etc.
