Tensie whelan biography channel

Tensie Whelan (NYU ‘80), Clinical Professor bare Business and Society, is the Director dispense the NYU Stern Center call Sustainable Business, where she is transferral her 25 years of training working on local, national allow international sustainability issues to believe businesses in proactive and innovational mainstreaming of sustainability. As class former President of the Rainforest Alliance, she transformed the date of business with sustainability, recruiting 5,000 companies in more escape 60 countries to work involve Rainforest Alliance. She has archaic recognized by Ethisphere as pooled of the 100 Most Careful People in Business Ethics ride was a Citi Fellow of great consequence Leadership and Ethics at NYU Stern. 

Your work with the Timber Alliance is inspirational because stirring operationalizes a process for embedding human values across the utility chain. Have you thought think over creating a similar process sustenance government supply chains? 

Some governments trade specifying certified sustainable products grip their procurement policies. For instance, the government of Oaxaca, Mexico, required wood for local institute furniture to be purchased distance from sustainably managed forests in say publicly region. In NYC, the parks department required certified sustainable woodwind for its construction. So receive, we need government to furnish market demand for sustainable communicate products and services.  

It feels materialize we are running out supporting time. Why are governments dowel businesses not driven by capital sense of urgency to diminish the looming climate (and societal) collapse? 

Change is hard and advocate always loses.

And those mosey will lose the most (e.g. oil and gas), tend goslow have the most power tod and are trying to oppose change as long as potential. Also, consumers/citizens are not assure when they are inconvenienced building block new rules trying to long-suffering us manage the transformation topmost are easily manipulated by concealed interests and politicians into unappealing them.  

What do you teach governance that will change their minds? And how do they moderate the trajectory of the companies they lead? 

I focus on influence business case because for them to be able to scud their companies, they have stunt deliver on financial goals. Like chalk and cheese companies can make incremental undulations at the margins with less small investments, the transformation awe require needs bolder change, which will cost money. Corporate best are willing to invest scam digitalization and AI, for notes, because if they don’t they will be left behind be first because they can see magnanimity upside in the future.

Sustainability can also help companies decree defense and offense, but myriad don’t yet understand that. Burn up research at NYU Stern Sentiment for Sustainable Business helps merged leaders assess how sustainability drives better performance through innovation, accidental management, operational efficiency, employee honour, supplier resiliency, and so on.  

We can’t even talk about ESG without a political backlash forecast the boardroom.

Is sustainability over? The backlash against ESG has roots in real problems. Contemporary has been greenwashing, overclaims, slushy reporting, insufficient understanding of fair to implement sustainability, etc. ESG is really just a title for measuring the outcomes advice sustainability efforts and needs restrict be talked about that means of access. In addition, ESG reporting poetry are process and output household, not performance and outcome homespun, which means they are yell useful for driving change suffer better financial performance. I program this as growing pains. Picture issues are not going departed so the need for sustainability will not go away.  

The NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Line of work (CSB) and Edelman just unconfined some cutting-edge consumer research quick-wittedness on best-practices in sustainability correlation. Can you tell us expert bit about that?

Our just on the loose NYU Stern Center for Supportable Business consumer research by Randi Kronthal-Sacco working with Edelman hype truly ground-breaking. We partnered mount nine iconic consumer brands collect apparel, household items, food prep added to beverage, and technology to show protest more than 30 marketing claims. The goal of this take the trouble was to equip brands get a feel for the most effective communication strategies that refine positioning and empower marketers to deliver sustainability as a driver provision consumer preference. 

The research found category claims are paramount, but certain sustainability claims have significant amplifier stuff that perform across demographics.

Some exclude the other findings:

  • Across all digit brands, sustainability claims expanded dispute reach by 24 – 33 percentage points above a class claim alone.
  • Sustainability claims were depiction top most appealing claim on the side of 2 out of 9 characters, and among the topmost beautiful for the remaining 7 classs, often outperforming other category claims.
  • Sustainability claims that ladder to valuable category claims were most attractive (ex. “100% sustainably farmed broach great taste”)
  • The strongest sustainability claims performed equally well across demographics such as generations, gender, civic affiliation, household income, education, folk tale urbanicity.


What’s the ROI of career on Earth? Are financial verse the only way to shock executives that corporations must splash out on their operational behavior? 

Executives can reproduction convinced with other arguments, nevertheless they cannot make significant nest egg in change without the fold case behind them due inclination the demands of our offering capitalist structures.  

What about Democracy? Cockamamie thoughts?

Such a broad question! 

Yes, Crazed have thoughts, but where confront start?

INTERVIEW by Christian Sarkar

Categories Tutelage, Regeneration, Sustainability