Episode 14. Mike Hower on Connecting with People in the Sustainability Space, Finding Your Unique Contribution, and Managing Your Energy as a Sustainability Professional

Happy New Year!

As we kick off 2024, I wanted to share the final Sustainability Skill Set episode of last year with you. It’s a good one.

Episode 14. Mike Hower on Connecting with People in the Sustainability Space, Finding Your Unique Contribution, and Managing Your Energy as a Sustainability Professional

In this episode, I had a fantastic conversation with Mike Hower, a sustainability communication leader who has spent his career helping companies craft narratives around their social and environmental performance.

From Senior Editor at Greenbiz, to Communication Strategist at Edelman, Mike has experience working on sustainability communications as a journalist, within companies, and as a consultant.

He recently started his own company, Hower Impact, to continue this work as a fractional executive and leadership coach.

Mike also holds regular sustainability career advice “connection sections”. So, he had plenty of relevant thoughts to share during our conversation related to what he’s seen and heard about the challenges sustainability professionals face.

Personally, I am inspired by Mike’s entrepreneurial spirit. I learned a lot and I enjoyed his candor.

I think you will too.

Here’s what I found most interesting:

Insight #1: Six important approaches for networking successfully in the sustainability space.

Effective networking is a critical tool for sustainability professionals, as we lean on each other to keep up with this face-paced field and stimulate collective action.

This is one of the things I love most about working in the sustainability space.

In our recent discussion, Mike Hower shared his favorite networking tips:

1. Tap into your general excitement to meet people who are passionate about similar things to you. Ask: What are you working on? Why are you doing this? How can we help each other? Be curious and genuinely interested in their responses.

2. Find a reason to connect beyond just, “Can you help me?” If you have a specific question, or request support on a specific project, you are far more likely to get engagement.

3. If you are not already, get online and use LinkedIn! People are far more open to connecting virtually now than before. You don’t need a fancy strategy. Just engage with the content of people you find interesting and participate in discussions. People will notice if you show up consistently.

4. Ideally, network from a place of not needing anything. People can tell when you’re trying to get something from them. Just try to add value to the interaction, whether by offing to help, contributing useful information, or simply bringing a contagious good mood.

5. Be humble. Remember that people are busy. Don’t take it personally if someone does not have time to connect with you. Find someone that will.

6. We are all on the same team. We all have a common purpose. Not all careers are like this…That’s not to say competition doesn’t exist, but try to keep the bigger picture in mind and connect with people from a place of collaboration.

Insight #2: Sustainability often feels more like entrepreneurship than a career.

Business is all about solving problems.

Entrepreneurship is about NEW solutions to problems. And boy don’t we need new solutions for sustainability…

There is often no path to follow, just a vision for what the future should look like and an inclination to help get us there.

Focus on a problem you are passionate about solving.

Have you experienced a similar feeling?

Insight #3: We need creative sustainability communicators.

Sustainability is a hard story to tell.

Progress in sustainability will not follow the common storyline where there is a clear hero, a clear villain, and a clear victory.

There will be no ‘moment’ when we win. Remember, the clock doesn’t stop when we reach 2050.

The game goes on. Sustainability is forever.

This is why we need creative and persuasive communicators to generate motivation and maintain momentum.

If we break sustainability into bite-size chunks, we can achieve measurable wins along the way.

Insight #4: There are a million different ways to work on sustainability.

Make your contribution to sustainability as unique as you are.

Mike Hower recommends, when charting your sustainability career path, being honest with yourself: What are you trying to achieve with your career and what are the skills you need to acquire?

Not everyone needs to become a chief sustainability officer. We need people working on sustainability in all capacities and all levels of organizations.

For some people, data is their thing. Others will become engineers at climate tech companies, while others will work at those same companies in sales.

There are limitless ways to help.

Get to know yourself and what motivates you, and don't be afraid to fail.

Insight #5: Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to solve the world’s sustainability problems.

Sustainability professionals are often skeptical idealists, or realistic optimists. We believe we can make the world better, and we can!

But let’s just take a moment to recognize that it’s really hard to work in sustainability. In addition to the regular challenges of a job (scheduling, company politics, managing relationships, unclear expectations, etc.) you have to be constantly learning to stay on top of everything.

You are often climbing uphill.

Most difficult of all, you are often measuring yourself against different goalposts. You’re not only trying to progress in your career but also trying to have a broader impact.

This is also why sustainability work so incredibly rewarding.

We have the opportunity to go to work each day and contribute to something meaningful, something we care deeply about.

Just don’t put all the pressure of the world on yourself. Even the richest people on the planet are throwing billions of dollars at this and haven’t solved it.

Progress takes time. It takes all of us making one person or one organization better, one step at a time.

Listen to the full episode to learn more.

Wishing you the best,

Louis DeMaso

P.S. Feel free to hit that reply button anytime. I would love to hear from you.