Be Counterintuitive, Seek Joy, Build Climate Influence

This is not your traditional business game. Pursuing climate influence is bigger than that, and with much higher stakes. But, it actually demands that you shrink your thinking and focus on joy. Yep - I said joy.

There’s a reason my long career in marketing and communications led me to sustainability / climate action and brought me in the direction of using online presence to develop it. I’m fascinated by how to reach people with ideas they resist, and how countering traditional business approaches to such a conundrum is the gold.

This pursuit thoroughly drives me. 

Seeking joy in this work always begins by questioning assumptions.

• I use this mindset with my strategic media relations approaches. 
• I use this mindset when I advise tech clients on storytelling.
• I use this mindset when I develop podcast ideas and seek out guests.
• I use this mindset when I develop conference panels.
• I use this mindset when I present my own ideas as a podcast guest or other form of interview.

We definitely live in a time where going along with the flow, with a few small tweaks here and there, is the standard. I’d argue that that’s where we self-limit the joy and purpose we all have bubbling up inside of us. And, that’s the piece that is waiting to set us loudly apart from competitors or competing narratives.

Whenever a client comes to me with a traditional sense of how we might build their leadership platform, engage with media, or think about storytelling content, they express delight at my counterintuitive nudges. Though that seed may have been dormant, they needed a nudge to really build their will and GO FOR IT. 

I share all of this to deliver a call-to-action in this both terrifying (climate and democracy) and exciting (climate action solutions and power-to-the-people) time: 

Listen to your joy. Embrace the rarely visited space of counterintuitivity. Think first of what would - in your wildest dreams - happen with your leadership visibility and its climate influence. Aim for THAT, and all that will happen will get you a lot closer to it.

Keep your head down, tend to marketing and communications as a box to check, pursue the same old type of media coverage, aim for the same old speaking gigs, and do the same old thing around massive climate action opportunities like COP28, and you won’t get anywhere near it. 

News To Use

RE: Dr. Shireen Kassam on why healthcare professionals should take the lead on the link between diet and the climate, in a Green Alliance (UK) essay collection.

Although shifting to a plant-based diet is one of the single most impactful actions we can take to improve our ow health and that of the planet , healthcare professionals and institutions still shy away from addressing this with their patients, colleagues and communities.

My context/takeaway: This is why I included several food-focused conversations in my Living Change podcast. In episodes with a celebrity DJ/vegan bar owner, to a corporate President/CFO aiming to lead in food policy shift to a noted sustainable business advisor who’s long emphasized the lever of food systems shift, there is a whole gamut of approaches and story angles. However you can help more people (especially in the global north) see themselves eating much less meat, dairy and eggs, it will be a massive win for the planet. I always argue that “conversion stories” in climate messaging need more emphasis (and I did an online workshop on that in 2021.)

RE: the global health danger of politicians continuing to delay real climate action, via Ajit Niranjan in The Guardian.

The WHO estimates that environmental risk factors make up 25% of the global burden of disease. Strong climate action would also save millions of lives that are lost to other risk factors.

“If you stop burning fossil fuels, one of the most immediate benefits will be the contribution to reduce the 7 million deaths that are occurring due to exposure to air pollution,” said Neira.

On top of that, she said, a shift to more sustainable and healthy diets could save up to 5 million lives a year, while cleaning up the transport sector would save millions more through less sedentary lifestyles and exposure to air pollution.

My context/takeaway: I talk about political will and how to build it a lot here and on my various social platforms (p.s. I’m liking Bluesky these days) . That’s one of the reasons understanding how to find, build and amplify climate influence is so key. Sooo many corporate leaders could, if they’ve built a bit of a social presence, lend their voice and platforms to this moment. As well, the political leaders who ARE acting could be getting louder and building even bolder political capital. At a moment like COP28, and whether you are in Dubai or not, we can leverage social platforms with a BANG. Use your climate influence to “name and fame” the leaders who are heading into COP and ready to act. Vote in more local, city, state and national lawmakers who will act. Climate influence builds on itself and nudges anyone who comes across it to want their own. That’s scalable.

RE: How to stay positive on climate, via The Climate Question podcast on BBC, with this thought from a New Zealand-based listener:

Leaders are driven by us. We are the voters… We have the power with our votes. We must organize.

My context/takeaway: YES! And, the term “carbon politics” was used (like it!) Other topics that resonated: finding your climate tribe, realizing your agency in acting (biking for transportation or eating less meat, dairy and eggs, etc.), and how we can all raise the issues among our friends/family and change the narrative. I highly recommend you give this 30-minute show a listen.

***

Thanks *so much* for reading/sharing/subscribing. Please comment or message me with questions on building climate influence. I may cover your suggested topics in a future issue. In the meantime, feel free to follow me on LinkedIn or BlueSky (I also linger on “X”.)