top of page
Search

๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜€' ๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐—บ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€: ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐˜… ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ก๐—ฌ๐—– ๐—–๐—น๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ช๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ

Pictures from some of the Responsible Alpha bilateral meetings during NYC Climate Week 2025 with aligned organizations.
Pictures from some of the Responsible Alpha bilateral meetings during NYC Climate Week 2025 with aligned organizations.

After meeting with executives from corporations in the S&P 500 and NGOs, and moderating and speaking at many events at NYC Climate Week with more than 2 decades of leadership experience in the sector leading many global initiatives from behind-the-scenes, here are my observations:


  • ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—•๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—œ: All that matters is making the business case and ROI which change agents lack the fundamental ability to communicate.

  • ๐—ช๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—”๐—ฐ๐˜: Leaders want to act and "do sustainability". They do not need morale persuasion. They want step-by-step action plan, e.g., if we do ABC, we clean up this waterway, which results in this ROI.ย 

  • ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: Leaders do not want to "talk, they want to act". Leaders are immune to shame-and-blame. They are tired of talking.

  • ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—™๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐— ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜€: Leaders are confused. They do not understand the scientific differences between ESG metrics, scores, ranking and pillars; SDG goals, targets, and indicators; and climate transition risk and opportunities metrics.ย 

  • ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ง๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—˜๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜„ ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: Everyone wants to tell each other what to do as we address complex systems' change, yet the operating principles of humility, listening, learning, gratitude, collaboration, and curiosity are not understood as core drivers of success.ย 

  • ๐— ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐˜๐˜‚๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜†: Many organizations are missing institutional memory. Most ideas have been tried before. But most lack this knowledge. Old is new again.

  • ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ช๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜: Leaders need to invest in the change they want as innovation driven by failure and success will transition our economy to a net-positive economy.


I left more hopeful than I expected, yet am also struck by organizations wanting to deploy 19th century linear thinking to solve 21st century systemic complex problems.


ย 
ย 
ย 

Comments


B-Corporation Logo and Commitment high social and environmental standards

Responsible Alpha partners with all organizations on their transition to a
net positive economy by 2050. 

โ€‹

Responsible Alpha is a certified minority-owned, B Corp certified, Delaware registered Public Benefit Corporation proudly owned by its staff, advisors, and board members.

  • LinkedIn
  • Bluesky_butterfly-logo.svg_
  • Youtube
  • Facebook

Vienna     Washington,  DC

Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions
©2025 by Responsible Alpha, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. 

bottom of page