After decades in the sustainability profession we’ve found that some of our most valuable and rewarding periods occur when we feel like we’re connected with likeminded people. We learn from them, we are inspired by them, and we share a collective sense of responsibility that can carry us through the day-to-day challenges that are inherent in our chosen career paths. For a time we found those connections through regular in-person events like professional conferences and to a lesser extent through a few professional organizations. Occasionally we would find them through digital platforms. But we noticed that the nature and value of these communities was declining even before the pandemic. And now nearly every digital space available for sustainability professionals feels compromised and polluted.

We’ve realized that what we DON’T need is more social media posts, AI slop, and conferences co-opted by large corporations. We have some ideas about what we DO need and how we help create it (more on that below). And we feel confident that other people feel this need as well. We’re building Hilde to be a place where sustainability professionals can find a dedicated community of practice with colleagues.

While resourcing for our work will go through cycles, in our experience no sustainability team is ever funded in a way that reflects the nature of our work. The people we know who think they have all the budget and capacity they need perhaps don’t fully understand the challenges we’re facing. It is clear that the resourcing and capacity challenge is nearly universal in our profession. And it prevents us from doing what needs to be done. Integrating sustainability into business decision-making is a key step in unlocking the executive buy-in and budget you need.

We’re building Hilde to provide an affordable option for sustainability professionals with limited budgets and capacity who need information, collaboration, and motivation.

We continue to observe a trend across many of the businesses we work with: Sustainability responsibilities being delegated to non-sustainability professionals. While nearly every function has a role to play in successfully implementing an authentic sustainability agenda, we still believe that we need dedicated professionals to drive this kind of organizational transformation. People who have the scientific education and stakeholder engagement expertise to successfully lead this work.  

That being said, we also recognize that some of the non-sustainability people being tasked with leading this work also need help. And while it may not be ideal, we still feel that we should be helping the non-sustainability professionals responsible for leading this work in their businesses be as successful as possible. Some of those people will end up becoming sustainability professionals themselves. We can help accelerate their journey so they can have a bigger impact, faster.

We’re building Hilde to help anyone tasked with managing sustainability work access the kind of information they need to take action and succeed.

We’ve seen some heroic efforts by small or single-member sustainability teams. But even the most patient and persistent people in sustainability aren’t being set up for success in some cases because they don’t have experienced leadership on their side. We continue to see the entry or junior-level sustainability professionals (i.e. Managers) being tasked with leading what should be Director or Vice President level responsibilities. This kind of arrangement is problematic for a number of reasons and we often caution emerging sustainability professionals about this dynamic when we see it.

Most importantly, we think it’s a recipe for burnout for junior sustainability professionals. With no senior level leadership available to help provide mentorship and be perceived as a “peer” with other executives it can be incredibly difficult for junior sustainability professionals to drive real change. Senior leaders can provide valuable insight about how to successfully navigate business processes and complex stakeholder dynamics. But those kinds of people are increasingly absent from businesses.

We’re building Hilde to help emerging sustainability professionals access the kind of experience and insights they need to successfully navigate change.

Here’s the problem: There is plenty of content out there about sustainability, but not much of it is useful. Lots of the content out there for sustainability professionals comes from people without first hand experience with what it takes to implement a program in an organization. Commentary and criticism on social media platforms, even professionally focused ones, doesn’t really help us do our jobs. We need guidance and actionable insights from people who have done the work and know what it takes to do it right.

We’re building Hilde to deliver data-driven insights into company sustainability performance so sustainability professionals can compare, contrast, and learn.

Find other more about our Pro subscription offerings. We hope to see you in one of our upcoming sessions!