Planet over Products: a story of productive discomfort

I have a confession to make: I’ve spent most of my career helping big companies sell products to consumers…..mostly the kinds of things that people don’t actually need, but desire nonetheless. Sometimes clients would ask me if I used their product or what I thought of it, and that awkward moment would come when I would admit that I didn’t wear, eat, drink, or slather their product all over my face. I would often crack a joke to ease my unease. Fortunately, despite my lack of product enthusiasm, the marketing technology project I was a part of would still move merrily along.?

I’ve worked in some form of digital publishing or content management for over 30 years, and despite loving (almost) every moment of the 1990s digital revolution and the thrill of driving digital transformation for dozens of businesses, I’ve grown to loathe consumerism. Every time I say the word “brand” I feel a slight inner discomfort, like the twinge you get in a sore muscle that’s been overused. When I was recently introduced at an advertising technology conference as a “DAM Market Expert and Industry Influencer”, I wanted to run off stage and delete all my social media apps.?

Clearly, I needed a reset. So I went skydiving.....(yes, that's me in the picture above).?

It was the most horrifyingly exhilarating moment of my life. I was strapped to a guy called Lee, who jumps out of planes several times per day. Once I stopped screaming and opened my eyes, surprisingly I enjoyed hurtling towards earth at 125mph (or so). Then the jolt of the parachute opening. Whew! After our soft and easy landing, I said to Lee: “Thank you. Now, I fear nothing”.?

Vaughn Tan, a brilliant organizational strategist who specializes in coaching teams through uncertainty and towards innovation, calls moments like these “productive discomfort.” Like an athlete who pushes through a tough training session, we all need a bit of productive discomfort. This big jolt helped me break free of my own career inertia: digital asset management projects, a few big data projects, and venture capital due diligence teams grilling me about DAM vendors and marketing technology.….. over and over, all the time, starting at 6:00 GMT with the Australians and finishing at 21:00 with the Californians. While it’s always been interesting and very often challenging, and I am deeply fortunate to work with countless wonderful people, I began to crave new knowledge and experiences outside the realm of digital content / digital asset management. I wanted to make a different sort of impact……but..…the power of inertia is strong. The only way to counteract the gale force strength of my career inertia was to jump out of a plane.

There was a reality that kept haunting me while I advised big companies on tech strategies to help them sell more products. The consumerism I enabled profoundly harms our planet. Fortunately, most of the FMCG companies I worked with are now full of people who are working towards more sustainable products and business practices (albeit with extremely mixed results). This should be a focus for all businesses, but as climate data horrifyingly reveals, we’re only just scratching the surface of what urgently needs to be done. While it makes me feel somewhat better that I’ve radically reduced the amount of stuff I buy, fly a quarter as much as I used to, live a car-free life in London, plant bee-friendly wildflowers on my urban balcony, eat mostly vegetables, and use Ecosia as my search engine, this is all a pittance compared to the impact that big business and governments can make to save our planet. For lack of a better term, I feel a “calling” to be part of the bigger effort to tackle climate change, beyond my own personal compost bin.

So here’s my evolution, while leveraging inertia in the right way: I’m expanding my business (and knowledge) into sustainability and NetZero strategies - with a particular focus on creating environmentally sustainable digital technology programmes for existing clients, including software and tech services companies. I could delve into a lot of detail on what this means exactly, but that’s too much for this post! Soon I’ll present a session about sustainability and digital media management when I keynote the Festival of DAM, an eco-friendly online conference, on December 4. You can register here.

Recently, one of my clients procuring a DAM system asked vendor candidates to submit their sustainability policies as part of the selection process. The candidate submissions were not thought through, lacking substance or long-term strategy, with a bit of greenwashing thrown in. Every candidate received a low score.

It’s time to ask, if you haven’t already: What does your company’s sustainability policy and action plan look like, if you even have them? Would they stand up vs. your competitors in a procurement scoring situation? If you are a buyer organization choosing a technology or services supplier, what sustainability standards should you hold them to? How can your selection requirements push your suppliers to be more environmentally responsible? These are some of the challenges I’m now helping clients solve.????

So what’s next for me on this journey?

• I’ve finished my first domain certification - Pathways to NetZero from IEMA, the professional association for sustainability professionals
• On the heels of this, I’m working with a client on their NetZero 2030 planning and nearer-term carbon neutrality plan?
• This week I begin a course with the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at The University of Oxford, going deeper into the Future of Sustainable Business over the next two months
• Next week, I’ll attend the Blue Earth Summit at Woolwich Arsenal
• On Oct. 23th & 24th, I’ll be at the NetZero Festival at the Business Design Centre in Islington
• Now in my sixth year as DAM Industry Liaison and Instructor with the Digital Media Master’s Programme at King’s College, I’m engaged in research on the carbon impact of cloud computing, and incorporating a class about digital technology and sustainability into the curriculum

Alas, I can’t bring myself to use the term “super excited”, or splash any confetti-festooned emojis across the page to express my enthusiasm. Rather, I’ll use a properly tempered British-ism: I’m rather delighted. Do let me know if you’ll be at either of the upcoming Blue Earth and NetZero events, in particular if you’ve been working in sustainability a long time - I hope to learn from you.

Coincidentally, this week marks the 8th anniversary of establishing my business, Vox Veritas Digital. As we head into 2025, complete more certifications and refine our offerings, we'll update our web site in turn. Huge gratitude goes out to my colleagues and professional network for all your ongoing support, and most of all to my clients: thank you for trusting me to help you solve your always-evolving challenges.?

I hope you, too, will embrace those moments when you need to jump out of a plane.