Learning Principle for the Development of a Sustainable Mindset
This week we had our first Project One Earth training, Professors Nick and Chris asked us to list our most important learning principle which we will need to apply for every training session we conduct on sustainability.
Simple question, Many different answers and none of it are really wrong. After thirty minutes, our cohort agreed on the following:
- Be open
- Be collaborative
- Be curious
- Be flexible
- We should listen to everyone’s voice
- \We should embrace resourcefulness
- We should be passionate (eager)
- We should commit
- We should be purposeful
All of these principles are great, and I am sure it will give way to brilliant results, but I think we have forgotten a very important principle which I have been following ever since I have been advocating for sustainable development in businesses.
I believe that for someone to fully embrace sustainability --
WE NEED TO UNLEARN TO LEARN
There are several concepts and ideas which we have been using that doesn’t have any place in this new world of sustainable development. There are concepts and ideas that we just need to recognise as obsolete or not valid because it negates everything we know about sustainability and systematic thinking. We need to be prepared to identify the concepts, unlearn all of them and unlock the new and right ideas to be applied in our business.
There is an urgency for us to unlearn but the good news is that this isn't the first time we asked ourselves to unlearn concepts and ideas. Remember when we accepted that the sun is the centre of our solar system, or that the Great Wall of China is visible in the orbit, or that we can only eat one egg a day. False fact, misconception, fallacy, urban legend or a myth - whichever you want to call it, these are examples of how we learned to unlearn.
It will be a fantastic journey. Unlearning and learning will be important so that we can progress and move forward. We just started our Project One Earth journey, and I can hardly wait for everyone at UAP developing a sustainable mindset.
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Gilbert Guaring is an idea peddler, a convert and cohort on Responsible Marketing, Sustainability and Systems Thinking. He is currently the Head of Marketing and Communications at UAP (uapcompany.com) and Founder of Be Extraordinary (be-extraordinary.co); Australia's first marketing focused non-for-profit organization inspiring SMEs in the built environment the value of strategic and responsible marketing and communications.