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<\/a>It starts with bikes – I biked to work today for the first time since winter hit.\u00a0 Much later than normal for me, but April was nasty , overall, and when I finally grabbed my bike I realized the chain had rusted enough to freeze up in a couple of places.\u00a0 I spent some time yesterday cleaning up my and oiling and flexing the chain for smooth riding and gear shifts.\u00a0 It works great, now, though the chain still looks a little messy.<\/p>\nI biked for the 3-mile downhill trek to work in office appropriate clothes (but not a suit), with my helmet, a reflector strap around my right calf to prevent chain snags, and my lights and bell (required by law in Albany).<\/p>\n
<\/a>Bike to Work Style. From Seattle, WA Bike to Work Day.<\/p><\/div>\n
Upon entry into my building, I realized riding my bike to work very quickly does two things.\u00a0 First, it makes me more accessible to many of the staff, which is wonderful.\u00a0 Second, it makes me less prestigious in the eyes of many of the staff, which is not so great.\u00a0 This dichotomy makes me more able to accomplish the mind-shift work required by my role leading sustainability implementations, but leaves me less able to reach the attention (and budgets) of department heads and other business leaders, even though I am part of the executive leadership level of the organization.\u00a0 What is truly needed for success is connection to both of these levels of greening. We need leadership and way-setting from the top as well as<\/span> grassroots efforts and engagement in the efforts by the full staff and general community.<\/p>\n My water bottle goes where I go.<\/p><\/div>\n I have experienced this divide often.\u00a0 Riding my bike certainly throws me back into the \u201ctree-hugger\u201d class, although riding for fun on the weekend wouldn\u2019t. I was neatly dismissed from decision-level interactions after I was spotted spending an afternoon doing a waste audit by sorting and weighing garbage and recyclables. The implication was that I should have assigned someone else to do this work, though I have no direct-line staff.\u00a0 I was instructed by one high-level executive that I would \u201cnot be taken seriously by anyone\u201d until I stopped carrying a water bottle. Absolute surprise was evident on many faces when I opted to walk to a meeting less than \u00bd mile up the hill, instead of having someone from the office to chauffeur me.\u00a0\u00a0 Even within the community, this separation occurs.\u00a0 When my family and I kayak, we get odd reactions when we pull-out with our kayaks full of river garbage. \u00a0It seems that enjoying a recreational kayak trip is acceptable, but lending a helping hand to Mother Nature makes the outing somehow not an appropriate family fun event.\u00a0\u00a0 We taint the experience by doing work that is beneath our pay grade.<\/p>\n It\u2019s as if our leaders are not permitted to take care of themselves, and, if they do, they are not truly leaders. \u00a0It\u2019s as if we can have fun only if we are ignoring the health of our planet, because cleaning up is someone else\u2019s job.\u00a0 How can this be?\u00a0 And, when we see this occurring, how can we let this be?<\/p>\n Sustainability is a strange new world of interactions and engagement.\u00a0 It is an endeavor that requires leaders to not only know the nitty gritty data produced by robust waste audits, but to show up at grassroots events and to even sweat a bit. I had a boss at an Albany architecture firm that casually picked up hole punch-outs and paperclips from the floor as he walked around to touch base with his employees and look over project drawings. Was he cleaning up?\u00a0 Not solely: he was taking pride in his business and he was exuding visible \u201cleadership by walking around\u201d. \u00a0AND he was cleaning up.\u00a0 I have been most impressed with leaders who join in on tree plantings, or who bike to work or carpool on Green Your Commute Day, and those that show up with their own washable plate and tableware for office events.\u00a0\u00a0 I have great respect for leaders that I see trudging up the hill to the Governor\u2019s office, tie swinging, sensible shoes smacking the pavement, water bottle in hand. How do we expand respect for leaders who not only take care of themselves, but who directly engage with staff as well as consider the environment and the budget in their daily actions?\u00a0 I know I am speaking as one who seeks the respect that is due to my title and my position, even while I hope that respect, when it comes to me, comes because of my knowledge, experience base and charisma.\u00a0 I worry when respect is so easily lost due to a mistaken notion that leaders must set policy and then assign implementation to someone else<\/em>.\u00a0 This hands-off perception is one I have been encountering for a long time. In college, at RPI, I was not initially tapped for Phalanx (the honorary leadership society) because I wasn\u2019t thought of as a leader due to a lack of leadership titles.\u00a0 After a time, the vetting body realized that I led from within the groups, often without the title or the support that holds up a title.\u00a0 I was doubly honored to be tapped into Phalanx when they clearly stated that leadership from within the effort is more difficult and often more effective than leadership from in front of the pack.<\/p>\n That brings me back to the present day when I am leading with a title, while employing many grassroots efforts, and I find I am somewhat unaccepted on both sides. \u00a0Talk about a rock and a hard place. \u00a0You\u2019d think this would be a perfect fit for my Gemini personality, love of a challenge, and ability to connect with anyone, be they a garbage collector or founder of a prominent NYC architecture firm.\u00a0 But I am intensely challenged in straddling this great divide, especially knowing that for real world-changing success, I must.<\/p>\n I may even occasionally say \u201cbecause I am the Director of Sustainability, that\u2019s why\u201d<\/strong>. \u00a0It\u2019s worth a shot.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And, to wrap up, a quick Public Service Announcement:<\/p>\n May is National Bike Month<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 established in 1956 (who knew?!).<\/p>\n One example of\u00a0Bike Share Option<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\nMy intent, therefore, is to continue to carry a water bottle, to ride my bike, to pick up garbage and help set up meeting rooms, to turn off lights and to promote local farmers\u2019 markets, tree planting events and Ride to Work days.\u00a0 In addition, I intend to focus a bit more on clarifying the power in my titled role.\u00a0 Not in a way that divorces me from taking care of myself, but in a way that intensifies the recognition of my experiences and my knowledge.\u00a0 I will have to take pride in my business, as did my previous employer, by picking things up that don\u2019t belong while I exemplify \u201cleadership by walking around\u201d and share my knowledge. \u00a0I will set clear examples of where we need to go, and why we need to go there, backed by deeper research, resources and cited successes.<\/p>\n