[0:08]How many of you would consider yourselves an activist? Can you raise your hands? A couple, not too many. How many of you would consider yourselves an expert? Again, okay, a few more. Right. Now, how many of you would like to make the world a better place? Yeah, much better. Great. Now, suddenly it's everybody. Well, I have good news for you because you don't have to be an expert or an activist to make the world a better place. Now, by now, we've heard a lot about the SDGs, and all of us sitting here know what they are. And we also know that they're not just some lofty promises made by the United Nations. They're an integral part of our daily lives. Now, if you're not yet convinced, let me show you.
[1:17]This is Saturday's newspaper, and every single headline is about the SDGs. There's one about the number of tests that school children have to do, and they literally ask the question, is this good education? SDG four. There are two headlines about migration, which touches on a whole range of SDGs. From no poverty, SDG one, decent work and economic growth, SDG eight. Peace, justice, and strong institutions, SDG sixteen. And at the top here, there's even a story about how to battle your winter dip.
[2:07]Might not seem like it has much to do with sustainable development, but the winter dip means mental health. Good health and wellbeing. SDG three. Now, what I find really comforting about all of these stories, is that they touch on the everyday lives of normal people like you and me. And you can do this with any newspaper on any day, you'll see the SDGs are everywhere. And especially on a day like today, when we hear so many inspiring stories, to me it helps to make the SDGs smaller and a little bit closer. And what I'd like to share with you today are three steps that have helped me to bring the SDGs into my daily life. And those steps are listen, act, and listen again. First of all, listen. Really listen to yourself and to others. Now, for some of us, it's harder to listen to ourselves. For some of us, it's harder to listen to other people. And there's somebody in the front row giving a bit of a guilty laugh, so I am pretty sure that uh that struck a bone. The second is act. Come up with a plan that fits who you are, but also the world around you. And finally, listen again. Check if your plan is working, and make changes if you need to. When I was growing up, I knew one thing for sure, and that's that I wanted to make a difference in capital letters. But I just didn't know how. And so I tried to be an activist. I wrote fiery speeches and I got in heated debates, but it just wasn't me. Then I tried to be an expert. I started a PhD. I stopped a PhD. That just wasn't me either. And so now I'm a sustainability consultant, which means sometimes I get to be a bit of an activist and sometimes I get to be a bit of an expert. But most of the time, I get to be me and make a difference in my own way. Now, what do these steps have to do with that? Well, let me share some experiences which helped me to make them a part of my life. I mentioned I quit a PhD. Well, I started it when I was twenty-four, a PhD in Economics. And my family was really proud, my friends were thrilled. But on a day-to-day basis, I really, really was miserable. And it took a lot of courage to actually pull myself together and make the decision to stop. I felt like I was letting a lot of people down. But when I did quit, a weight lifted off my shoulders, and I was so much happier. And that experience taught me to listen to myself. Now, believe it or not, being a consultant actually taught me to listen to other people. A lot of people don't like consultants because they think that they're always trying to sell something, which, well, it may be true at least some of the time. But what I've noticed is that many consultants, myself included, tend to focus on the act part. The solution, without really taking time to understand what's going on. And I've learned that if I take the time to understand the situation, then the selling part feels completely different. Not only is the plan, the solution much better, but people are more open to it as well. So listen first, and then act. And believe it or not, a free tip, this works really well in uh in personal relationships as well. First listen, then act, also something that I've learned the hard way. And then finally, listen again. It took me a number of jobs to figure out my way of making a difference. I've worked in the public sector, in the private sector, for large corporations, for small start-ups, in five jobs on four continents before the age of thirty. Now, if you're a millennial, this is normal, but at the time it wasn't. I cannot call myself a millennial anymore. But I learned to learn from what didn't work. And to adjust accordingly. So by now, you may be wondering, what on earth does this have to do with sustainable development and the SDGs? It's this. You can use these steps as a guideline for making sustainable choices. Who do you listen to?
[7:43]What if the people that you listen to are not just your family and friends, but are the people in your community? The people who are growing the beans to make your coffee. The people who'll be around in thirty to forty years time. What if you really take the time to understand what's important to them, and the way that your choices impact on their lives.
[8:18]Then you'll make different choices from now on. You might choose to buy fair trade chocolate, you might choose to compensate your air travel. I've mentioned I use these steps at home, especially the chocolate part. Um, but it also works. And when people ask me what we what I do, I tell them I'm a relationship therapist. They all look a little bit confused. I help companies work on having a healthy, long-term relationship with the world around them. Using listen, act, and listen again. Well, of course, I have to translate it into a bit more consultant speak, so I usually say, stakeholders, strategy, impact, which sounds very fancy, but it's actually the same. Now, companies listen by collecting data, and they act by formulating and implementing a strategy. To achieve the SDGs, we all need a new strategy. We need to do things differently. We need to innovate. And the interesting thing is that companies, when it comes to innovation, are learning to listen better. If you think back to Henry Ford when he brought the Model T Ford onto the market, it was available in one color, black. And when the new model came onto the market, the adverts simply said, buy it. It's a better car. So the innovation then was really technology driven, and the customer came later. Nowadays, if you look at innovation, it's really different. So the cycle from idea to prototype to feedback, it goes much faster, and listening is an integral part of the innovation process. As a result, car manufacturers, especially of electric cars, have learned that people were using their uh their car batteries to store the solar energy, the excess solar energy in their homes. And as a result, car manufacturers started to make batteries for use for storing energy inside the home as well. And of course, as we all know, you can take that energy and stick it into any color car you want. Now, of course, I'm not saying that all innovations are necessarily sustainable. Absolutely not. But I am saying that if you bring listening into the innovation process, then not only will innovations be more sustainable, they'll be better, and they'll bring us closer to the SDGs as well. Likewise, in our personal lives, we're all touching on the SDGs in some way. But our impact can be bigger, better, and more positive if we listen, act, and listen again. Ask yourselves the questions. What's important to me and those around me, now and in the future?
[12:24]What am I doing today to make those important things happen? Is it working? And if not, what am I going to change? Remember, you don't have to be an expert or an activist to make the world a better place.
