What a diverse bunch!

It's always interesting to meet others who work in the Sustainability/Corporate Responsibility sector because it represents people with such a diverse range of skills and experience. Within sustainability consultancy firms or in-house sustainability teams, you'll find people with backgrounds in PR, Marketing, Advertising, Research, Management Consultancy, Fundraising, Journalism - there's no set path.

Two of the panel members from the Boston Net Impact Careers Summit last Friday provide a nice example of this. Kathrin Winkler, VP Corporate Sustainability and Chief Sustainability Officer at EMC Corporation, previously worked as Senior Director of Product Management for the company. As part of her role in product management, Kathrin was already thinking about energy efficiency and waste reduction and this led to her teaming up with like-minded colleagues to think about a broader program of measures to improve the sustainability of the organisation. With time, these measures were turned into a business plan, which got buy-in from the C-Suite and led to the introduction of a more strategic approach to sustainability and the creation of Kathrin's position.

In contrast, Christine Riley, Director Corporate Responsibility and The Dunkin' Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation at Dunkin' Brands Inc. (phew that's a long job title) was an external hire. She started out in the not-for-profit sector doing corporate fundraising, which led to consultancy experience at Boston-based PR, Marketing and CSR agency Cone Communications, and then to her current position, heading up sustainability at Dunkin' Brands.

Despite their different skills and experience, the key skill they have in common is their ability to build relationships and leverage these connections to successfully achieve a project goal. Kathrin's knowledge of the company, its operations, and crucially, it's people has been invaluable when trying to instigate change across the organisation. Christine's experience of managing relationships as a fundraiser and as a consultant has enabled her to seek out and exploit the relevant knowledge and expertise within the business to make things happen. For both of them, whilst they lead the change and need the skills to do this, it is the business that has to deliver it.

Kathrin and Christine's experience matches findings from research carried out by Vox Global, the Weinreb Group and Net Impact Berkeley, which was published in the 2012 report Making The Pitch: Selling Sustainability From Inside Corporate America. A survey of sustainability leaders working at Fortune 100 companies showed that, whilst prior to taking the job, sustainability leaders felt that subject-matter expertise was going to be the key to being successful, once in the job, they all agreed that "interpersonal skills - rather than subject matter expertise - is the most important attribute a sustainability professional must have to be successful".

Overall, I think this is encouraging - it shows that sustainability roles are no longer 'specialist' positions on the periphery. Sustainability leaders are senior executives with diverse experience and a range of skills. What is most important is that they have an influential voice, excellent people and relationship building skills and that they are able to use these talents to maximize their company's potential to be a force for good.

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