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| Young people doing it for themselves |
I’m
collaborating on a leadership development workshop for recent graduates who are
looking for their first job in sustainability. It took me twenty years to realise I
wanted to work sustainability. Now, twenty years later, I’m piloting a workshop
to help recent graduates find a quicker route into a sustainability career.
How
a little philosophy can help you work in sustainability
I
have a hunch that there are a lot of graduates like me, who took degrees in
subjects like Fine Art, Philosophy, and French, and want to work in
sustainability. And like me, when I was their age, they don’t know what kind of
green jobs there are, where to look for them, or how to get through the
recruitment process.
Mid-career,
multi-lingual and multi-talented: the new global leaders
What
if young people on Facebook knew how to create their own professional networks?
What would happen if they used their power to help each other to grow and
develop, the same way folks who are on Linkedin do? I was having a coffee with one
of my students recently. Julia is mid-career, multi-lingual, and
multi-talented. She is part of the Linkedin generation: people who can do
business in at least three languages, and are accustomed to changing the
company they work for, and the country where they live, about every three years.
She met a bunch of guys on a sustainability leadership programme, and they
stayed in touch. Why? Well, first of all, they like each other. They have
become close friends, and they have fun together. The glue that keeps them
together is one part shared values, and two parts a common desire to make a
difference to world. They understand the need to live and work more
sustainably, and they are excited about the opportunities, locally and globally, to change the way we do
things.
Networks
are good for individuals and organisations
They
also help each other with their careers. The Linkedin generation do business together. The fact
that they know each, and trust each other, is making it easier for corporations
to talk to corporations. Nadia and her network are working together to measure
and reduce corporate carbon footprints, locally and globally. None of this
would be happening to the same degree, if Nadia and her friends had not met on a
leadership programme, and formed a network that works for them at both a personal
and professional level. If all networks worked like this, might we all become
better connected, more creative, happy and contented?
Can’t
young people get jobs through Facebook?
Why
can't the pre-Linkedin generation have the same opportunities to motivate
and support each other? That’s
what Facebook is for, I hear you say. Yes, and no. Facebook works very well as a
means to share photos and stay connected with friends and family all over the
world. It’s good for launching projects, promoting causes. I still think there
is a need for something that allows you to do more than ‘Like’ what your friend had
for breakfast. And I detect a kind of snobbery about Facebook, which means it may not be the best place to look for a job. Quite the opposite in fact. Employers
use Facebook to eliminate job applicants.
The
power of collaboration
This
is why I am collaborating with friends on a leadership workshop for recent graduates. It’s a collaborative event because I believe it is important to walk the talk. I want to show the participants how a highly motivated team working together can create a transformational learning experience.
We want to share what we have learned from working in different
areas of sustainability. We want to showcase different pathways to a
sustainability career, and demonstrate how to build a self-sustaining network
that will benefit participants, personally and professionally. Above all, we want the
participants to leave ‘Pathways to a Sustainability Career’ feeling confident
about their choice of career, and with an increased awareness of how to
network and support each other in the future.
