The Career Beats podcast discusses sustainability and social impact with Gaurav Gupta, SVP of Sustainability at Dentsu, and Carmen González, Associate Director of Esade Careers, the host. Alejandro Bohorquez, VP of Business Development of the Esade MBA Net Impact Club is also featured in the talk.
Here are 5 key takeaways from the podcast:
- While setting KPIs for sustainability and ESG reporting can be challenging, they should be clear and aligned with long-term goals.
- Sustainability should be kept in mind when defining company strategy
- Pilot initiatives to test and scale sustainability policies
- Companies need to take urgent action, standardize reporting, and close the intention-action gap.
What are the top 4 challenges to be mindful of?
- Current business models prioritize shareholders over stakeholders, leading to unsustainable practices.
- Sustainability is not fully embedded in business strategies, making it challenging to achieve long-term goals.
- Sustainability development lacks urgency and investment, with only 15% of UN targets on track.
- Intention-action gap in sustainability efforts, with consumers expressing positive intentions but not always following through on behavioral changes.
And when it comes to education…
- Embedding sustainability in business education and skills required for sustainability roles.
- Experts suggest business schools and companies must integrate sustainability into core curriculum and operations to keep pace with industry trends.
- Developing transferable skills like strategic thinking, stakeholder engagement, flexibility, and data analysis among students is crucial for sustainability professionals.
- Sustainability and social impact should become part of career advice and development.
- Students are advised to follow industry bodies, company pages, and thought leaders on LinkedIn to stay informed and add value to your practice.
Listen to the full podcast here
and learn about the do's and don'ts of engaged sustainability initiatives.
