Sustainability is Found in Vulnerability

* Today's article was submitted by author and business owner Trent A. Romer. Trent has worked hard to shift his plastic bag manufacturing company Clear View Bag Co., Inc (www.clearviewbag.com) toward a more sustainable direction through a new vision of Healthy Planet, Healthy People, Healthy Company.  His book Finding Sustainability details his journey to ultimately find sustainability in multiple places.  Visit www.trentromer.com for pictures and details about the book.  

Sustainability is Found in Vulnerability

I walked alone to the historic building on a rainy November evening.  The front brick walkway led to a large door with transom windows above and a decorative arch capping the entrance. The door opened to a large lounge with high ceilings and antique furniture. My mind raced to who else may have entered this building and stood where I now gazed in wonder.  The adjacent room was the destination for the night.    

I was in the Harvard University Faculty Club following an afternoon of instruction.  The first day of a week-long Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership at Harvard University concluded with a dinner.  Seventy people from all over the world gathered to learn about leadership in a sustainable direction.  I did not know anyone in the room. 

The people around me seemed to all be sustainability managers from larger organizations --- Major League Baseball, Chick-fil-a, The FBI, NASCAR, Wynn Resorts and Amazon to name a few.  What was I doing here being from a small manufacturing firm?  The number of dining chairs matched the number of people.  There was nowhere to hide.   

After dinner, an open-mic event was planned. We were asked to consider taking the floor to reveal a hidden talent or share something with the group. I regrettably did not partake. However, that night has stayed with me. Being willing to take a risk, to be open to criticism and to learn through experience is essential to change, and that is exactly what that night at Harvard was geared to teach us. 

  

Vulnerability is a key component to change.  Knowing sustainable mindset and practices required change, the 5 day leadership education was teaching us how to implement change. Feeling vulnerable is never completely comfortable but always fulfilling in learning something I would never had known otherwise.  Embracing the feeling turbo charges learning.

As the week at Harvard unfolded, my nerves of being surrounded by highly influential people and being at an iconic institution subsided.  I realized all were there not to judge but to help each of us individually to find our own unique sustainability path. The relationships developed remain with me and proved to outlast the week that was.   

Since May of 2018, I have been on a journey to sustainability. Finding sustainability for our company has forced change.  My travels have taken me to two European countries and 5 states in 18 months.  The journey was experienced through both business related events and adventures in nature. Each place I felt a sense of vulnerability.   

I felt vulnerability at a European Converters conference in Brussels (Belgium) being the only American, in presenting new materials at the Pack Expo trade show in Chicago, in revealing our new vision to employees and clients, in attending the Sustainable Packaging show in Seattle, in tenting in bear country in the Adirondack Mountains and traversing slippery rocks up long, steep trails in Yosemite National Park. 

I am by no means an expert. Learning and listening is vital to my increasing understanding. 

Sustainability was found in multiple places during the course of the journey.  

The Harvard experience helped me find it in vulnerability. 

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