Sustainability to Attract Talent, Employees, and Investors — Chris Caldwell
Sustainability may be the greatest challenge of our generation. At its heart, sustainability is designed to improve life for everyone involved. It is also a great wealth creation opportunity that implies profitability. But how much time and effort are you investing in mastering sustainability?
Using the experience he has obtained as a corporate lawyer, an investment banker, and a team leader, today’s guest, Chris Caldwell, has spent the last decade acting as CEO of United Renewables and its sister companies, leading all aspects of the businesses including providing strategic direction, fundraising and day-to-day management of operations.
In his sustainability-focused efforts, Chris is working not only to build renewables but also to increase the logical momentum necessary to make real change. He describes sustainability as the long-term strategies that will allow humans to survive and thrive well into the future.
Chris highlights the importance of stopping the showstoppers that lack any focus on sustainability. He also examines the relationships that sustainability enhances, from employees and suppliers to investors, regulators, and customers. There might have been a time that businesses didn’t know any better regarding practices surrounding sustainability, but those days are long gone. Today, there are few excuses for not focusing on enhanced sustainable practices.
Forty-two percent of the incoming generation of employees value purpose over profit. They are looking for companies that align with their values and offer more than just a place to earn a paycheck for the next 30 years. Do your company offerings address this?
Chris highlights the story of Dick’s Sporting Goods changing their approach to guns in order to increase customer loyalty with sustainability. In any competitive market, companies have to strategically pick their customers and work to serve them, because there is very little chance that they can effectively serve everyone. From BP to Tesla, electric vans and wind manufacturers, and the jewelry market to Patagonia, there are examples of increased sustainability in every sector of every market. The companies that are going to benefit from the profits of sustainability are the ones that are willing to dedicate their time and resources to increasing sustainability now.
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