I listened to a speech the other day by Steve Waterhouse. I talked about him in another blog post as he obviously made an impact on me. He talked about it being the time of the specialist. Until he said this, I hadn’t really thought about it, but I really believe it to be true.
Times have changed and companies are scared to take risks. They want tried and true practices that work—nothing new or revolutionary. They also want to see that you are a specialist in their area or industry. Now you can take this a little far by asking someone to be a marketing specialist in routers (for computers) or something similar. Anyone who has expertise in marketing in the IT industry would have enough knowledge to be successful.
I’ve worked in a number of industries related to green and health so I could say I have a specialty in healthcare, building, travel and hospitality, retail and manufacturing. I have a very specialized knowledge in the green and health connection and helping companies understand it and make the most of it to reach LOHAS consumers. Those are the areas where I focus the most. So what is your specialty? Where is your area of focus?
I do believe the time of the generalist is over. To survive in this economy, you must specialize and show that you have working knowledge of a company’s area of expertise.
Colette Chandler
Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends
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Becoming a green or sustainability change agent is really about understanding (strategically) how to navigate change and actively lead it. All blame and finger pointing has to be eliminated and sole focus needs to be put on leading the sustainability change.
What is essential is to “walk the walk and talk the talk.” I talk and write about this often because as the green movement continues to gain momentum, many on the sidelines want to join in so they come in as a “me too” player. “Yep, we are a green company too.” Adding little bits of green language and messaging to their website when no really initiatives are in place to drive change.
When companies decide to become sustainable/green, they take the bear the responsibility of showing their vendors, stakeholders, customers and employees how they took can become part of the solution and become more sustainable. They come up with solutions and teach others how to participate, by explaining the “whys” of the sustainability efforts. We all have to remember that sustainability does not come fast or quick to most companies. It is a process because gaining stakeholder buy in takes time. Many may not understand the need for doing it now or why it is so important. To make a change lasting, buy-in is critical. It’s why I often start with education and training with stakeholders and key management as a beginning phase of most sustainability programs I put in place for companies. Without it, any sustainability strategy will not really fly.
Now becoming a green change agent really takes companies from where they are on the sustainability scale to potentially off the scale or chart. They almost create a scale or chart of their own and potentially start a new scale or chart that is then used as the next standard. Most any company can start on the road to becoming a green change agent. I think there is room for many more to step up to the plate.
Colette Chandler
Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends
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I took a small hiatus from blogging. I do apologize to all of my loyal readers for my absence. Dealing with some personal matters kept me away longer than anticipated.
I’m back and in full swing and devoted this first in January to becoming a green change agent.
When I decided to write on this topic, I conducted some searches on google to see what others thought about just being a “change agent.” Of course, a lot of different thoughts on the subject so I decided to focus on my own. Being a change agent means you are focused on progress and doing what you can to move things forward. So many of us, especially in this economy, live in the past or wallow in situations we cannot control.
I just listened to a workshop at an all day seminar I attended last Sunday by a very insightful man, Steve Waterhouse. His words were that the economy will continue to get challenging and the bottom will fall out again and with that comes problems. And problems need solutions that many of us can provide.
I really love his perspective. It puts you more in the driver’s seat as a change agent than as a victim. What he is talking about is being a solution provider and one that drives changes to happen. I’ll take it one step further and say that change agents know what needs to be changed, why they need to be changed and what action needs to be taken. A good change agent gathers the facts, looks at the pros and cons of every possible solution, then finds the right people to help lead the change and follow through after the change has taken place.
When you add green to the mix, you are talking about leading any sustainability efforts/changes within a company or corporation. I see more people will to be a change agent who is more of a generalist versus a specialist such as a green change agent and we really are living in a specialist’s world today.
Let’s look at this further in my next blog post. What does it take to become a green change agent.
Colette Chandler
Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends
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