Lead The Change

Leading Change for a Sustainable Future: Celebrating the Leading Sustainable Change Spring 2024 Program and Competition Winners

Over 80 students from 8 countries participated in "Lead the Change'' competition as part of “Leading Sustainable Change” international course in Spring 2024. The success of the winners and their projects exemplifies the power of system-oriented thinking and collaborative efforts. As we celebrate their achievements, we are reminded that small changes, guided by a clear vision and strategic planning, can lead to significant, positive transformations over time.

Addressing urgent climate and sustainability challenges requires not only the solutions we already possess but also the speed and scale necessary to transform large institutions such as schools, governments, financial institutions and corporations. Despite the availability of effective techniques, many change efforts fail or do not fully succeed because change is inherently difficult and often not taught outside of MBA programs, particularly from a sustainability perspective. 

The Bard MBA in Sustainability and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) offered the Leading Sustainable Change program in Spring 2024 through the Open Society University Network. This program is designed to empower students and professionals from across the world with the knowledge and skills required to lead transformational change, fostering sustainability and resilience in their professional environments. This Spring, the program was attended by 83 students from five universities across the United States, Mexico, Bulgaria, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Bangladesh, along with a cohort of higher education sustainability professionals who participated through AASHE and represented institutions from the United States, Lebanon, Ireland, and Cameroon.  

Course Overview

"Leading Sustainable Change" is a collaborative, international, cross-institutional course designed for students (undergraduate and graduate) and professionals aiming to become adept at orchestrating organizational change for sustainability. The curriculum, designed by Aurora Winslade, Director of Sustainability at Edison International and Bard MBA faculty, underscores the importance of leading change within organizations to address the complex and pressing challenges of our times.

The course equips participants with skills and insights for leading effective change in various organizations. It focuses on sustainable and just practices informed by science, technology, and creativity. The course covers critical analysis, persuasive writing, communication, reasoning, and social-emotional intelligence. These skills foster healthy, sustainable, and resilient organizations. Learning through doing, feedback, self-reflection, and practical application are emphasized. The course highlights the social context of change management and how a minor adjustment can lead to significant differences over time, much like a small shift in a ship's course can alter its destination. It prepares learners to navigate complex projects and relationships, implementing change that meets organizational needs and serves the greater good.

The course explores why change efforts commonly fail and introduces robust, adaptable frameworks and strategic approaches for circumventing these failures. Through a hands-on approach, participants engage in stakeholder networking, empirical research, persuasive communication, and strategized proposal developments that culminate in an Organizational Opportunity Project (OrgOpp). This project involves identifying a demand within a relevant context (university, business, NGO), utilizing the provided frameworks, garnering stakeholder approval, conducting assessments, and formulating actionable recommendations. The course finale includes Global Final Presentations where students present their recommendations for change to stakeholders.

One of the most remarkable aspects of these programs is the international collaboration and peer coaching that occur among participants. Students from diverse backgrounds and geographical locations come together to share insights, support each other's projects, and learn from different perspectives. This global network enriches the learning experience and fosters a sense of shared purpose.

Rachael Rost-Allen from Johnson County Community College highlighted, "No matter what field you are going into, sustainability will be vital to its current and future success in some way. This program will provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop a sustainability mindset to utilize in your personal, professional, and academic lives. It will also show future employers that you understand and care about sustainability as it relates to your field!”

Honoring the Lead the Change Winners

This year the course included the inaugural "Lead the Change" competition, offering participants the opportunity to showcase their work, receive additional coaching and feedback, and gain recognition. Evaluation criteria for the competition centered on effective stakeholder engagement, securing buy-in from stakeholders, thorough stakeholder research, and impactful and realistic near-term and long-term goals.

“We are proud to honor the winners of the Lead the Change competition,” Aurora Winslade said. “These projects exemplify the application of sustainability principles and the impact of strategic, system-oriented thinking. The winners have demonstrated exceptional creativity, collaboration, and a deep understanding of how to drive change within existing systems. By identifying leverage points within existing systems, these projects set a direction towards a sustainable future.”

Winning Projects Overview

Winner - Undergraduate Students: 

  • Javier Escalante Bracho, Marco Rejon, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) “Leadership in Sustainability: STARS Rating Reporting”: The project aims to inspire and facilitate current and future sustainability initiatives within ITAM to build a community oriented towards a sustainable and just future. By gathering and organizing relevant information, the team plans to write a sustainability report introducing ITAM to the AASHE STARS Rating program, laying the groundwork for a clear institution-wide sustainability agenda. 

Winner - AASHE Sustainability Professionals: 

  • Rachael Rost-Allen, Johnson County Community College “JCCC Sustainability Distinction Program”: Driven by the urgent need to address global wicked problems, the project seeks to create sustainability leaders equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills. The initiative involves establishing a 12-credit sustainability-related academic program at JCCC, recognized as a distinction on student transcripts. This program aims to align student academic interests with sustainability, fostering a sustainable mindset for their professional and personal lives. 

Runner-Up - Undergraduate Students: 

  • Kamelia A.Ivanova, Nikola S. Marinov, Bozhidara I. Stoeva, Natalia D. Vasileva, Solomon Kaneti, American University in Bulgaria “Education+”: Recognizing the untapped potential in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, the project focuses on fostering positive change and a sustainable mindset among the youth. By encouraging active participation in local green initiatives organized by NGOs, the team aims to empower the younger generation to contribute meaningfully to their community and the environment, showcasing the possibilities that already exist but are difficult to find.

Runner-Up - AASHE Sustainability Professionals: 

  • Daphne Hulse, University of Illinois “Green Research Procurement'': Under the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP), the project targets the high-priority objective of reducing landfilled waste to achieve zero waste and carbon neutrality. By equipping university students, faculty, and staff with the knowledge to reduce their waste, the initiative fosters a sense of individual agency and a collective reduction in total landfilled waste, contributing to sustainable purchasing practices and overall waste management.

Desta Raines, Director of Sustainability at Sephora and one of the coaches for the competition, observed, "The competition helped students to critically analyze the meaning of 'thinking globally, acting locally' and come up with meaningful ideas and projects that can have a lasting impact on their communities and institutions. I enjoyed the opportunity to mentor and learn, too."

Conclusion

Javier Escalante Bracho from the ITAM winning team said, “This program hits the bullseye in pointing out the importance of building stakeholder buy-in to lead change. It teaches you the tools to mobilize people effectively, in the right direction, which ends up being the main determining factor of a project's success.”

To tackle urgent climate and sustainability challenges, we need to rapidly scale up existing solutions across large institutions. The innovative model pioneered by Bard Sustainable MBA and AASHE, designed to train students, professionals, and faculty, has the potential to significantly amplify the impact of sustainability education and practice globally.