After more than 20 years of working the environmental field, I woke up one day in the "sustainability" world. Of course the change was not sudden at all, but for many professionals in Environment Health and Safety (EHS), the emerging field of sustainability brings up some big challenges and even bigger opportunities. By Tim Mohin

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After more than 20 years of working the environmental field, I woke up one day in the "sustainability" world. Of course the change was not sudden at all, but for many professionals in Environment Health and Safety (EHS), the emerging field of sustainability brings up some big challenges and even bigger opportunities.

I gave a keynote speech a few days ago that focused on this topic. It was a somewhat cathartic experience because the talk mirrored my own career. Also, most of folks in the crowd were of a certain age (read: we all have some mileage) and the subject struck a chord with many.

The arc of a typical EHS'ers career goes something like this:

1. Graduated college in something pretty technical like chemistry, biology, engineering, toxicology etc.
2. Got job in exciting and fast growing EHS field.
3. Moved up as the department expanded and set its sights on building a world class program.
4. Spent the last few years cutting costs, trying to dodge layoffs and undoing many of the world-class programs you had built with pride as EHS became a commodity service.
5. Now, just when green is in, the PR department is having all the fun marketing "sustainability" while you get to decide how to cut another 10% off the budget. (if this sounds familiar, I am setting up a support group…)

Of course this is not everyone's experience, but there was more than one nodding head when I put up this slide:

EHS manger at company X: "I am not sure what the folks in corporate social responsibility do all day, talk about corporate overhead"

CSR/Sustainability VP at company X: "What does EHS stand for again? Oh yeah, those are the folks who empty the trash at night…"

Clearly there is a divide within some companies between the sustainability function and the folks who manage environmental, health and safety performance.

The central premise of my talk was that this divide - while very real for some - can be overcome and, more importantly, people with EHS experience are well positioned to be leaders in the sustainability world.

To make this point, I sought to extract the key insights from my own career and from a few colleagues I interviewed who had made the leap from EHS into sustainability. A few common themes emerged:

1. Good sustainability leaders are good communicators: Without question, the ability to communicate well was at the top of the skills list for sustainability leaders. Just think of the last time you tried to explain sustainability to a relative and you get the idea. 2. Make friends with ambiguity: Sustainability can be frustratingly vague. To be a success in this space, you have to be willing to wade into the pudding. The real success comes when you define the vagaries of sustainability into a compelling and important company priority [see point 1]. 3. Be flexible like Gumbi: Because sustainability rolls together so many disciplines, an average day can include responding to a shareholder resolution on protecting old growth trees to managing a child labor issue three levels deep in your supply chain. 4. Play well with others: Perhaps no other corporate function cuts across more functions. But wait you say: Doesn't HR or Finance work with every department? Yep. But the difference is that the sustainability officer has to negotiate a common strategy and beg for cooperation with folks who are entrenched experts and have no need for the helpful leader from the department of good works. This job could stress-out Kissinger.

So with all these skills needed, why are EHS folks well positioned to lead sustainability functions? The answer is that many of these skills are also required to be a good EHS manager.

For years, I was the corporate environmental manager for a Fortune 50 corporation. The responsibilities in a job like this are huge. Our team was responsible for compliance, protecting public health, making sure there were no barriers to the business, dealing with stakeholders and regulators around the world and building a sterling environmental reputation for the firm.

The organizational and communications skills learned in this role were essential making the transition to the sustainability arena. My colleagues who came out of the safety field made similar points. One said: "you have to be a good communicator to explain why you are hanging an air monitoring pump on a factory worker." Another said: "You have to learn a new jargon for the things you already do well. For example, fielding community complaints becomes stakeholder engagement."

We also agreed that our technical training was a huge asset in the field of sustainability. Understanding chemistry, exposure, risks, regulations etc gives the sustainability program credibility and substance. The discipline that comes along with conducting compliance audits or developing an ISO 14001 environmental management system helps develop a data-driven sustainability program focused the priority issues.

The last point was perhaps the most important. Everyone I talked to who made the leap from EHS to sustainability was naturally curious. These folks are life-long learners who are happiest when they are being stretched by a new topic. This curiosity combined with a risk-taking nature led these folks out of their comfort-zones and into sustainability roles.

So, while sustainability has gained and EHS has waned, there need not be a divide between these areas. In many companies, the sustainability department is part of EHS, grew from EHS or is very connected to EHS. The key for the EHS professional who wants enter the sustainability world is to draw upon their skills, learn as much as they can, take some risks and…have fun.

If this sounds like you, here are a few references that might help…or just drop me a line and I can link you into the support group.

• Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution by Auden Schendler
• Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston
• The Triple Bottom Line: How Today's Best-Run Companies Are Achieving Economic, Social and Environmental Success -- and How You Can Too by Andrew W. Savitz and Karl Weber
• Stages of Corporate Citizenship: A Developmental Framework by Philip Mirvis, Ph.D. and Bradley K. Googins, Ph.D. A Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College Monograph
• Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Responsibility. Michael Porter & Mark Kramer Harvard Business Review
• Bringing Society Into Strategy - The 5 R Framework
• McKinsey Staff Paper #64
• The Power of Unreasonable People - John Elkington
• Believing Cassandra: An optimists view of pessimist world - Alan AtKisson
• Competencies for 21st Century - Boston College Corporate Citizenship

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Tim Mohin is a principal consultant and team leader for EORM's growing sustainability and corporate social responsibility practice. Formerly, Tim was Apple's senior manager for supplier responsibility and led Intel's environmental and sustainability efforts. He also led the development of national environmental strategy at the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Senate including the development of the National Environmental Technology Act.

Editor's Note: Tim is part of the faculty at Sustainable Brands'09, May 31-June 4th in Monterey, CA, where those interested can learn from the leaders about opportunities and best practices for building revenue and brand equity through smart, sustainable business