Laurel Patterson is the Head of the SDG Integration for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)’s Global Policy Network. SDG Integration works with stakeholders across the globe to design, implement, and support integrated solutions to help them respond to complex development challenges and accelerate progress towards the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Laurel has held several positions at the UNDP including Senior Global Policy Advisor, leading integrated policy development for SDG implementation in fragile and conflict-affected settings, Deputy Director of the UN System Affairs Group leading on UN reform, and several field based positions including Chief of Planning in Somalia.   

In this episode, Laurel talks about the importance of the SDGs as the world’s first systems-based agenda that addresses today’s complex global challenges and why it is important for leaders to understand how their businesses can participate and contribute to these highly interconnected and interdependent goals. She describes the SDGs as a way to better understand the living, dynamic and moving systems that interact, evolve, and show up differently for people around the world. Laurel talks about how leaders can leverage the SDGs as a way to connect with more stakeholders around the world, meet them where they are, build bridges with them, establish new coalitions, identify opportunities for creating value, and collectively re-imagine today’s systems vs. more traditional approaches to solving today’s challenges which tend to focus on where things are broken and try to fix them. 

We discuss how, in order to be effective, we all must stay curious and courageously inquire ‘in the moment’; asking new and different sets of questions to open up spaces for generative listening, for less judgement and more humanity, and for ‘sensing’ the emerging patterns and dynamic shifts that are occurring all around us. And, most importantly, we must start by ‘bending the beam of observation back on ourselves’ to better understand what motivations are driving us and what blind spots are holding us back from achieving new possibilities, both individually and collectively, in order to find the knowledge that we need and develop the courage and the mindsets to shift systems.    

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT LAUREL AND HER WORK WITH SDG INTEGRATION: Please visit www.sdgintegration.undp.org  

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT US: Please visit www.sustainabilitymindshift.com and follow us on social media #SustainabilityMindshift

Göran Gennvi is Founder and CEO of the Nature Academy Learning Lab, based out of Stockholm Sweden, which guides management teams in the process of transformation. His programs provide leaders with a chance to retreat, reflect, and engage in learning and dialogue for more effective and sustainable decision making; using nature as an experiential learning teacher and classroom for faster and deeper learning. They are based on more than 30 years of experience and research primarily from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Society for Organizational Learning, as well as Indigenous wisdom; and they combine modern management theory with systems thinking that is grounded in ecological principles, as well as organizational and human development methodologies.

In this episode, Göran talks about how he utilizes lessons from nature and indigenous wisdom to help leaders cultivate their ‘inner selves’ in order to be more authentic and open to diverse perspectives, to collaborate well with others, to talk about complexity without reduction, and to speak their truths. Göran explains how the wisdom that exists in nature and from our ancestors is abundantly available for leaders (and everyone) today, and the best way to access that wisdom is to  immerse oneself experientially in nature and indigenous practices. We discuss how individual and organizational transformation starts with ‘inner development’ and requires that one steps out of the ‘noise’ and to reconnect with themselves and their inner nature so that they can do the inner work necessary for sustainable and regenerative change.  

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT GÖRAN: Please visit https://www.gorangennvi.eu/nature-academy/ 

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT US: Please visit www.sustainabilitymindshift.com and follow us on social media #SustainabilityMindshift

Zoë Arden is an independent leadership communications expert who specializes in leadership, stakeholder engagement and storytelling. She is also a fellow at Cambridge University’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). Zoë is passionate about enabling individuals with the capability to lead courageously, to maximize their positive influence and impact, and to create stories that drive change. Through her work, Zoe helps organizations craft compelling purpose-centered learning programs.

In this episode, as we wrap up Cohort 1, we explore the power of stories to help people make sense of the world and as bridges to unite diverse sets of stakeholder perspectives and worldviews. Zoë describes what she calls the “5 elements of a story” which is a (r)evolution in storytelling from story-listening to story-being. We also discuss how stories play an important role in the in-between moments, those micro-moments that are critical for spreading influence and setting the stage for positive impact. Zoë explains how people can use stories to see things with fresh eyes, connect through our hearts, think about the role we can play, and enable a willingness to act in helping solve today’s greatest challenges.

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT ZOË: Please visit www.zoearden.com  

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT US: Please visit www.sustainabilitymindshift.com and follow us on social media #SustainabilityMindshift

Samantha Svoboda is the creator of The Green Business Lab, a business sustainability simulation game that engages participants, draws on real-world examples of success, and measures performance in terms of a Triple-Bottom-Line, or, People, Profit, Planet (3Ps).

Previously, Samantha worked in academia at the University of Michigan and Georgetown University, teaching business sustainability. She also worked for several simulation companies leading workshops and simulations in sustainable business, leadership, and business acumen.  Samantha loves teaching and coaching. One of her favorite things is seeing sustainability concepts click for people and watching the spark of enlightenment and insight that transforms people’s engagement, focus, and creativity.

In this episode, we explore the genesis of The Green Business Lab and why Samantha was driven to create one of the world’s first business sustainability simulations. We talk about how her simulation is different from a traditional business simulation in that one of the key learning objectives is to help participants understand the need for balanced approaches to leadership and management that take environmental, social, and economic factors into consideration. We discuss how her simulation is designed to meet participants where they are in order to engage in deeper learning. We also discuss how its hands-on approach helps participants speak from their hearts, employ values-based decision making, build trust through transparency, and how it helps them practice and develop the shared perspective and mindsets that are necessary to collaborate and move forward; taking into consideration valuable perspectives and contributions from all stakeholders in order to find common ground.

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT SAMANTHA: Please visit www.greenbusinesslab.com  

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT US: Please visit www.sustainabilitymindshift.com and follow us on social media #SustainabilityMindshift

Kurt Harrison is Co-Head of the Global Sustainability Practice at Russell Reynolds Associates - a leading executive search and leadership advisory firm with 46 offices in 26 countries around the world. He is also Partner and Managing Director of the firm's Financial Services sector in the Americas where he provides his clients with executive assessment and succession planning advice, as well as customized solutions for their senior leadership needs. Kurt is an active writer and content contributor for the firm on sustainability, ESG, and sustainable leadership.

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT KURT AND RUSSELL REYNOLDS ASSOCIATES: Please visit www.russellreynolds.com  

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT US: Please visit www.sustainabilitymindshift.com and follow us on social media #SustainabilityMindshift

Isabel Rimanoczy is a world-leading expert and pioneer in the Sustainability Mindset, a concept she developed and has been studying for over 15 years in her quest to understand what inspires some business leaders to become *change accelerators*, to act in 'Business-As-UNusual' ways, and to champion corporate initiatives that have net positive impacts on the environment and the community.

Isabel is the author of fifteen books, including her most recent book entitled, “The Sustainability Mindset Principles: A guide to developing a mindset for a better world” and is preparing to launch the world’s first Sustainability Mindset Indicator which is a personal development tool designed to assess where we are in our own sustainable mindset journey.   

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT ISABEL: Please visit www.IsabelRimanoczy.net; for more information or a free demo of the Sustainability Mindset Indicator go to www.smindicator.com  

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT US: Please visit www.sustainabilitymindshift.com and follow us on social media #SustainabilityMindshift

Giles Hutchins is a leading pioneer in regenerative leadership and business. In this episode, we speak with Giles about how business leaders can create the conditions for a healthy, resilient and regenerative world AND set their organizations up for long-term success by leveraging principles of regeneration. We discuss how leaders can sense into their own life’s purpose, to become more fully conscious, and transform their companies into vibrant future-fit living organizations. We also explore Giles’ own ‘inner’ journey of transformation from an international management consultant and global sustainability executive to his current practice as a keynote speaker, advisor and executive coach at the forefront of the [r]evolution in organizational and leadership consciousness and development.

Giles is co-founding partner of Regenerators and Biomimicry for Creative Innovation, Chair of the Future Fit Leadership Academy, and advisor to a number of forward thinking institutions. He is also the author of several books including The Nature of Business (2012), The Illusion of Separation (2014), Future Fit (2016) and Regenerative Leadership (2019). Over the last 25 years, Giles has been an international Management Consultant and Head of Practice with KPMG, and also Global Sustainability Director for Atos, a technology multinational with over 100,000 employees worldwide.  

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT GILES: Please visit: www.gileshutchins.com or follow his blog at www.thenatureofbusiness.org  

FOR MORE INFO ABOUT US: Please visit www.sustainabilitymindshift.com and follow us on social media #SustainabilityMindshift