Cum sa găsit Rachel Madan potrivită în consultanța rapidă | GreenBiz

Cum sa găsit Rachel Madan potrivită în consultanța rapidă | GreenBiz

Marca temporală: 12 mai 2023, ora 5:00
Nodul sursă: 2646805

După ce a experimentat o mare varietate de roluri în mai multe sectoare, Rachel Madan, director de durabilitate și impact la Luminous, îi place să ofere consultanță actuală cu clienții ei orientați spre scop. 

Anterior, ea a dezvoltat și a condus strategii globale de sustenabilitate corporativă la International Finance Corporation, și-a creat propria întreprindere socială numită Greener Museums, a consiliat muzeul de știință și industrie din Tate și Manchester cu privire la durabilitate și a consultat organizații precum Grupul Băncii Mondiale. și Universitatea din Rochester. 

Această diversitate de experiențe formulează propunerea unică de vânzare a lui Madan, despre care ea crede că este importantă pentru orice companie și persoană care caută un loc de muncă care operează în sustenabilitatea corporativă. M-am conectat recent cu Madan pentru a afla mai multe despre călătoria ei în carieră de până acum. 

Shannon Houde: Povestește-ne puțin despre ceea ce faci în fiecare zi. 

Rachel Madan: În timp ce Luminous este o agenție de comunicații strategice cu sediul în Londra, lucrăm și cu companii din SUA și Europa. Ajutăm companiile să-i inspire pe alții cu cine sunt, ce fac și de ce contează. Și avem diferite oferte de consultanță care ajută la asta, iar cea pe care o conduc este sustenabilitatea și impactul. Misiunea noastră este să ajutăm companiile bune să fie excelente în sustenabilitate. 

I was recruited to create the function and lead the team so it’s like I manage a startup in a way. When I first started, the team was just me, but now I have three people reporting to me and I’m about to hire a fourth. And so, I do a bit of everything: business development and marketing, mentoring and managing my team, working directly with clients, researching and developing new offerings. And because we do sustainability, communications and strategy, I do all of that, too. So, everything from materiality assessments to helping a company develop their first sustainability strategy or update one, or create engaging communications that then tell their sustainability story. 

Houde: I think that’s sometimes what lures people into consulting, the fact that it’s quite diverse and multifaceted and that keeps us challenged and motivated. So, tell us what you love the most about your work? 

Madan: I love that it’s different every day, and fast paced. I think it’s important to try lots of different roles in lots of different sectors in your career. I’ve been in a lot of different ones. And I think that, for me, consulting compared to being in a large company as an internal individual contributor, here I don’t have to wait for things to happen. I remember working at an institution where things moved so slowly. I also love building up and mentoring my team and working with people across the business. And I think, while it’s not for everybody, I really like the size of the company that I’m at, which is about 65 people. There are enough people that you have some support, but it’s not so many that you get lost. I also really love working with clients that are up for change and are interested in what sustainability is. 

Houde: And tell us a little bit about what it’s like working in the sustainability consulting sector where the big four firms are trying to hire these huge teams and be “in the game.” What do you think about this kind of surge that we’re seeing?

Madan: I’m really happy to see the demand. I think the demand for talent is a response to demand for help from companies, which I think is only a good thing. In terms of how we position ourselves differently from the Big Four, I think they’re doing something different to what we’re doing. We’re small and bespoke, and that is something that we can offer to our clients. I’m the director of my team, and I work with most of my clients. If they go and work with a KPMG, a PWC or Deloitte, that’s not happening. With us, it’s not just the same presentation but with a different client name on the deck. That’s something that in a competitive marketplace also applies for positioning yourself in terms of careers, i.e., it’s really important to be able to clearly articulate your own added value and what differentiates you from everyone else. 

Unul dintre lucrurile pe care trebuie să le poți face într-un mediu de consultanță este să vorbești cu o mulțime de părți interesate diferite despre o mulțime de probleme diferite.

Houde: De ce probleme ESG sunt preocupate cele mai multe companii? 

Madan: For companies that I’m working with, climate change is top of mind. We’re working with a lot of companies that are trying to meet their regulatory requirements, particularly around financial reporting, so we’re seeing a lot of companies who are trying to come to grips with their Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) reporting requirements. 

A avea acele cadre de raportare impuse legal este de fapt foarte important. De exemplu, există o nouă cerință de raportare în Regatul Unit în ceea ce privește diversitatea la nivel de conducere și de conducere. Multă vreme, companiile au reușit să vă ofere acest răspuns prost despre faptul că nu sunt destui oameni în pregătire. Și acum trebuie să raporteze acele numere și apoi să explice de ce numerele lor poate nu sunt atât de bune pe cât am crede că sunt, că ar trebui să fie. 

Houde: As well as climate too, what are you seeing in terms of that “S” in ESG? 

Madan: I’m not sure that there’s a consistency in approach there. I think that the challenge comes in measurement. For environmental issues, we have objective data that tells us what is material and what isn’t. The challenge with social impact is that we have some things that are easy to measure — for example, diversity metrics — but it doesn’t necessarily tell us what the impact of that is. Or, for example, how do we measure an inclusive business? It’s an area ripe for research and advancement. 

Houde: Pentru alții care doresc să intre în consultanță sau ESG în general, există certificări pe care le considerați esențiale pentru un nou venit? 

Madan: The challenge and the opportunity of sustainability is that it’s such a broad field. I think that the question around certification depends on in which direction you might want to take your career.

I’m not sure that the skills we seek as professionals are necessarily on a college syllabus, so I’ll tell you what I’m looking for right now in the roles that I’m hiring for. I’m looking for people who have GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) experience. You can do a certification on this; there are a number of organizations including GRI itself that run them. There’s also the Responsible Investing credential that’s run through the CFA in the U.K. So, I feel like those are helpful. I think if you were wanting to focus more on GHG emissions accounting, I would look for certifications and courses to help you get those skills. 

Houde: În sfârșit, vreun sfat pentru a face acest salt de la a fi colaborator individual într-o companie mai mare la o companie de consultanță? 

Madan: One of the things you need to be able to do in a consulting environment is talk to a lot of different stakeholders about a lot of different issues. You need to be able to research quickly, understand your audience and think ahead of them. And, of course, you have to be able to give advice. You have to really know your stuff as a subject matter expert and get to grips very quickly with the different challenges that different sectors might be facing. That’s one of the things that I like about it because I get to learn a ton about different companies. I’m almost always surprised about how similar the challenges are across different sectors. And then every once in a while, you come across something and you’re like, “Wow, I’ve never heard of that before. Let’s dive in and figure this out.” 

Shannon Houde este un antrenor de conducere și de carieră certificat ICF, care a fondat Coaching Walk of Life în 2009. Scopul vieții ei este de a le permite liderilor schimbării să-și transforme pasiunea în acțiune și să trăiască în potențialul lor – creând un impact social și de mediu scalabil la nivel global. Pentru a urmări mai multe povești ca acestea, alăturați-vă lui Shannon Coffee & Connect unde intervievează în fiecare lună practicieni în sustenabilitate pentru a afla mai multe despre ce implică „ziua lor în viață”.

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