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Dare to care about what you wear
Meet Anita de Wit and Joanneke Lootsma, the executive board driving ReBlend, a Dutch upcycling startup that turns non-wearable clothes into new textiles and fashion. I recently met them at a B Corp event and was so inspired by their fabrics and story that I planned this interview with them. Here’s what they had to…
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Who needs aspiration? Start from where you are!
Meet Christo Nel, leadership development and change expert. I met him in 2014, when he was one of the international speakers on a panel on sustainability and governance. When I found out that Christo was stepping down as the MBA Program Director at Nyenrode Business University, I immediately reached out to interview him. Here’s what…
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Key steps to integrate sustainability into your career
Looking for top tips on how to make your next career move more sustainable? Here are the key pointers from a workshop I organized at Nyenrode University. The workshop was expertly led by Annick Schmeddes, founder of sustainable career agency Sustainable Talent. Create you own role Research shows that less than 2% of vacancies have a link to sustainability,…
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Why investors are joining consumers and NGOs on tax evasion
When defining what sustainability and corporate social responsibility are really all about, tax should be part of the discussion. Increasingly, various stakeholders view corporate tax responsibility (CTR) as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR). In recent years, media coverage of companies’ tax policy and tax avoidance schemes has resulted in dented reputations, even consumer boycotts. Mainstream…
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Don’t just do something, stand there
Meet André Nijhof, Professor Sustainable Business and Stewardship at Nyenrode Business University. I interviewed André in the restaurant for faculty and execs, in which I worked many hours during my own time at Nyenrode. Here’s what he shared about his personal drivers, responsibility and intent. Connection to nature and other people We started the…
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B Corps for inspiration or accreditation?
Collectively, B Corps aspire to be a growing global movement of people using business as a force for good. Individually, B Corps are for-profit companies certified to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. On January 22, I attended the B Corps Netherlands community event, hosted by Patagonia at their Amsterdam offices. …
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Simon (Sinek) Says “Start with Why”
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read more from my huge pile of non fiction books before it buries me. And with 2016 as my year of positive change, I thought Start with Why by Simon Sinek would be an appropriate place to start – and it was! Not only did it help me formulate…
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More training needed before accountants can save the world
Since 2012, Peter Bakker, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development has been declaring that accountants will save the world. On January 12, I had the honor to host and moderate an expert panel on the subject in the most sustainable office building in the world. Nyenrode University’s Dean, Mr. Leen Paape,…
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A great journey starts with a single step
Many of us are inspired by this beautiful quote by Lao Tse. Sometimes great journeys may be scary at the start, but reminding ourselves that great things do start small helps us get started in the first place. In the past years, we’ve all seen (or even experienced) drastic natural disasters, caused by climate change. Initially,…
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Wayne’s World: the Sustainable Frontiers Forecast
In September 2015, I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by South African author Wayne Visser. The lecture started with an interesting timeline of the development of sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. He then presented a model to create integrated value, his vision of the future of this movement. This blog post is about…
