Dear Business Leaders, We Can Do Better

Yesterday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a 4000-page report confirming that Global Warming is indeed happening, and that at current course and speed, scientists forecast a pending global disaster. More importantly, the report made it painfully clear that all of this has been caused by human driven greenhouse gas emissions. Yes, it's our fault.

According to the report, the levels of atmospheric heat-trapping CO2 are now higher than they've been in 2 million years; sea levels have risen more in the past century than they have in the 3,000 years prior, with the oceans rising by 3.7mm (0.15 inches) a year in recent years; flooding events in coastal areas have doubled since the 1960s; and Artic Sea ice is at its lowest point in 1,000 years. If current warming rates continues, Earth will exceed 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) of warming and reach 3.6 F (2 C) by 2050. And this will be catastrophic, resulting in more heat waves, droughts, flash floods, and other extreme weather patterns that are more violent and destructive than anything we have seen to date.

Attention humans of Planet Earth: This is Code Red.

This got me thinking: what's my role here? As a technologist and business leader for over 25 years, have my decisions and actions contributed to this dystopic reality? It's clear from the report that scientists believe governments, industries, and nation states are not doing enough to tackle greenhouse gas emissions. So, what about me? How culpable am I in driving these nauseating numbers?

The ugly truth is, I'm culpable indeed.

Turns out, one of the largest drivers of greenhouse gases is transportation. According to the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks 1990–2019, transportation accounted for the largest portion (29%) of total U.S. GHG emissions in 2019. Especially air travel.

Understanding what the largest drivers are of greenhouse gases allows us to map our own behaviors to those activities. And so, I find myself reflecting on my career and asking myself these questions:

1. How many times did I fly across the country or across the globe for a single meeting? Why? Because I felt "in person" meetings will allow me to better create a connection, a bond, and this be more successful? Was that worth it? At what cost? How much of a disadvantage would I have been if I joined the meeting via Teams or Skype?
2. How many hours/days/years have I spent in cars commuting to and from work? Why? Because I've always worked in a culture where "showing up for work" matters? Because being in the office is more impactful than doing work remotely? Was it worth it? What has the last year working remote taught us about remote productivity and teamwork? Should I revisit my long-held beliefs and dogmas?
3. How many times did I, as the leader, call a meeting where I required teams from all over the world to fly in and meet for a day or two? Why? Because I believed that "you can build better connections with people if we get together in person"? Was it worth it? At what cost? How disadvantaged would our teams be if we would have held some of those meetings via Zoom?
4. How many times did I ask others who work for me to fly across the globe to visit customers, attend conferences, or pitch ideas in person? Why? Because I didn't think we can close the deal or build the partnership or align on shared goals unless we were face to face? Because I was hoping to build bridges and trust with partners and customers over dinners? Was it worth it? At what cost?
5. How do I tradeoff my company's (and my) need to drive more impact vs. the impact on the planet? I reckon that I can rationalize every single business meeting, keynote, summit, board visit or customer meeting I've ever had to fly to over years. And these rationalizations are sincere. Every business trip has resulted in some meaningful business, personal, career or product impact. The question remains though, at what cost? Was it worth it? If you would have asked me a few years ago, I would quickly have said, 'these business trips are essential--of course, yes!' But I'm not so convinced anymore. If I add up all my business travel, how much have I contributed to Global Warming? What if you add that to all my team members', peers', and partners' travel? At what point does our collective decisions to prioritize travel for our companies or ourselves over the needs of our planet start to tilt the scales?

This blog is for all the business leaders, board members, entrepreneurs, aspiring leaders, and technologists who recognize these patterns and might be asking themselves similar questions. When our decisions can influence hundreds or even thousands of other employees' choices, we must recognize that responsibility. It's time that we hold ourselves up to a higher bar. We have the unique opportunity to reshape and redefine expectations and dogmas about in-person vs. remote meetings. We have an opportunity to create new frameworks that help our teams evaluate when meetings truly require in-person and when they do not, overlaying business impact and results with global climate impact.

COVID has forced many companies to rethink remote and hybrid work. But conversations still tend towards "when will we be able to go back to normal?" The pandemic has created an opportunity for leaders around the world to redefine what that new normal can look like. Should big conferences be held remotely only until COVID and health concerns subside, or is it time that we forever rethink the need to fly thousands of people around the world for large conferences due to the additional carbon impact? Can we redefine global teams and global productivity whilst also protecting the Earth for our children?

Yes, eventually pandemic fears will be put to rest (hopefully sooner rather than later). And people will be able to fly and commute and join meetings around the world in person once again safely. But just because we can, doesn't mean that we should. What role do you want to play in reshaping that future? We can do better.

**The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent my employer.