Sustainability Professionals as Ambassadors for Change: Redefining Communication

This is a wake-up call for sustainability professionals. In my view, we need to combine the pure business case for sustainability with an urgency for change that is connected to personal values and a broader societal perspective. Sustainability regulation does not equal a new tax regulation: Yes, they both are bureaucracy monsters, yet the former is part of a much more complex and challenging race for a future of the planet and a world we all want to live in. This is why sustainability consulting differs from other fields of business consulting. Sustainability professionals that want to stand for change should use a language that is drastic enough to trigger emotional reactions in the minds of decision-makers that lead to cognitive change and eventually to change in business models.