National Day of Listening
So, You Want to Change the World?
Four years ago, The Uplift Agency was founded with a commitment to speaking truth to clients on sustainability and social impact issues. The constant greenwashing and marketing fluff that too many companies spout - usually enabled by their agencies - was exhausting and disheartening. Our world has big problems, and we need serious solutions - not PR fluff or outright falsehoods.
To make this vision a reality, it was critical to bring in people with frontline experience to be the consultants that would work directly with companies to actually shift their business practices and not just their marketing tactics. Many companies needed a firm with a deep conviction to help solve environmental, human rights and social issues to help them make these meaningful impacts.
The best way to solve a problem is to get close to it.
ESG requires a gradual enterprise-wide shift in mindset, governance and operations. It requires a substantial amount of knowledge and long-term commitment. It cannot be "solved" with a sustainability report, a PowerPoint strategy or polished messaging.
Everyone wants to change the world. But to change the world, we have to know the world. And we can't do that if our teams are homogenous and we don’t take the time to listen to diverse perspectives.
Great solutions stem from listening to those closest to the problem. When we don’t listen - we miss opportunities to create effective and meaningful change.
When the Uplift strategy was built, competitive research quickly reaffirmed the problems we knew existed. For example, one big social impact firm touts on their website that, "They aren't afraid to admit that they're the smartest people in the room when it comes to CSR and social impact."
Going to their team page (they've since taken the photos down), it was all white women in their 30s and 40s. It begged the question, "How can you be so confident? How can you believe you're the smartest in the room when you don't represent the people of the U.S., let alone the world."
We need to humble ourselves, realize we don't know it all and seek out people with a wide range of lived experiences.
As a different kind of sustainability and social impact firm, we are 100% confident that we don’t know everything about ESG. But we’re equally confident that we at Uplift can provide the best of the best in ESG consulting services by bringing a diverse range of talent and experience to the table with every single one of our clients. Talent that has spent much of their careers outside of the boardroom. Talent that has taken the time to not only see with their eyes what it takes to make meaningful change in the world, but has also listened to those who need that change the most.
It is often the case that the closer you get to the root of a problem, the more likely you are to find the most impactful and successful solutions. And what better way to do this than by LISTENING.
The Uplift Agency
Uplift builds strategies, programs, and communication campaigns that advance ESG in workplaces, supply chains and communities.
We know how to navigate the road ahead because we’ve already been down it – 90 percent of our team has led environmental or social programs in corporations or nonprofits. Because ESG is all we do, our services are more comprehensive and integrated than most firms.
