One of the main reasons that I took this course was that I thought it would be applicable to my future job as an ESG researcher for an investment management firm. This course has broadened my perspective on what sustainability is, and how different companies can incorporate it into their business model. Its easy to look at environmental repercussions, but one must also understand the social, cultural and economical impacts as part of a holistic sustainable solution.
- “Better” is relative. When it comes to sustainability, it comes down to the industry as well as the product. At first glance, its easy to pigeonhole a product based on its elements (such as material used, or impact on environment), but its crucial to truly evaluate the product within its industry to best understand its impacts. Throughout our project, at every step, we had to reevaluate the consequences of our actions, and put ourselves in our consumers shoes. At the end of our project, as we reevaluated our LP analysis, it was exciting to see how our changes could truly impact a large public company.
- Actively listen: Feedback can be a double edged sword. It can be beneficial in the creative process, but also hard to incorporate. As a team, we spent hours crafting our product based on our HMW’s, and it was difficult to hear classmates question our product and service. Ultimately, it was useful as they helped us to refine our idea, and truly put ourselves in the consumers shoes. The key to this step is truly listening, and not trying to defend the idea, but to actively encourage responses. From this process, I learned that we didn’t necessarily have to take their feedback and incorporate it into the product, but we did have to consider it, and why it may or may not fit into our current vision. While input and outside feedback can be useful, we are the ones who conducted the industry and company research, and we are the ones who have to pitch our idea with conviction.
- Engage in your surroundings and be aware: One of the coolest parts of this class was the opportunity to learn about products and movements that I was previously unaware of (such as loop and imperfect produce). Its easy to be complacent in the products we purchase. This class forced me to question the ethical nature of my choices, and how to improve them. It is possible to be environmentally friendly and profitable. The transition to sustainable choices is doable, but the consumer must buy into it. An article published by Sustania talks about how we should focus on solutions versus products. They list numerous innovative ideas that are feasible and practical. I believe that there is often a misconception that sustainable = expensive. This is not always the case, and we need to change that mindset to sustainable = lasting and doable.
- Practice what you preach! For the last semester, we have looked at making companies more sustainable (for us, by eliminating waste and rewarding good behaviors). We must keep this momentum going by incorporating some of these sustainable actions into our daily lives.
- You don’t have to come up with something revolutionary, you just have to create something thats better than before. A lot of the tedtalks that I have been listening to focus on improvement. That is key. Most ideas are not revolutionary, but improve upon what was previously there. I believe that we have to change the entrepreneurship mindset of “I have to create something new” to “i’m going to make this better.” For example, take our rewards program. Southwest currently has a robust program, rewarding customers for dollars spent. We could make this program better, by rewarding customers for actions done. Sustainability is about doing things that will help both in the present, as well as in the long run.
- Practical is overrated. One of the most challenging parts of this project was pushing ourselves to think outside the box. My finance courses have been historically quantitative, so design thinking has been relatively new for me. The process pushed us to think of “absurd alternatives” which helped design are more useful and applicable product for our company.