I don’t think I could ever be accused of greenwashing. Or any kind of mis-leading or lying. Because one of my strongest “qualities” is being very direct. Ask any of my friends!
It’s one of my strengths but it’s also been one of my biggest weaknesses. For example, my directness hasn’t always gone down well:
- In friendships (no, that dress doesn’t look great HAHA)
- When applying for more senior jobs in a big corporation (if I didn’t believe a policy or approach would give good enough outcomes or lead to practical improvements, I’ve really struggled to tow the line)
- I really wanted to get into international relations at one point, but I just imagined what international incidents I could have caused from being too direct!
People throughout my life have had to help me work on this “weakness” – to learn how to be more “diplomatic”.
Mum – “Camilla, maybe don’t tell your English teacher how much you hate Keats, when it’s her favourite poet”
Peter Wilson – “maybe start with a bit of chit chat when you run a meeting, to warm people up, rather than going straight into your very well planned (think he used to word “militant”) agenda”
Karen Tuck – “I know we know what we want to get out of the meeting, but maybe give them a chance to figure it out too”
Thank goodness for these excellent mentors because I think I have now honed my “weakness” of being TOO direct into a “strength”. Someone recently fedback that “you were honest and straightforward. The others I spoke to did not have the panache you had.” Phew
This is the kind of approach I think businesses need to take with communicating their social & environmental responsibility journeys. If you are always honest and open about your challenges and how you’ve faced them and what you’re exploring to solve them, your customers will empathise with that. Trust and the loyalty will then follow in the truckload.
What do you think – Can a company ever be TOO honest when it comes to sustainability, or does radical transparency always build trust?
Worried About Greenwashing? How to Communicate Sustainability with Credibility