The Sustainable Human Podcast
Welcome to the Sustainable Human Podcast
A podcast dedicated to the H in the S in ESG.
For leaders who are committed to changing the way organisations approach, measure and report on human sustainability, within and outside of ESG regulations and standards.
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Episode 17: Linking Human Capital to Equity Value: with David van Adelsberg
‘‘So I said to Dan (Ariely), look, if people are the most important asset, do you think there’s a chance that we could measure the connection between employees and their employer? And if that connection was predictive, and this is predictive of performance, do you think we could make it investable? And by predictive and by measuring what we were talking about was the ultimate measure of performance, could it have impact on a public company’s future equity value? Its stock price.”
Episode 16: The hidden cost of capital: the investor perspective on Human Sustainability with Juan Palacios
“The way that we think about this in economics is around the notion of externality. That’s one of the long-standing concepts in the discipline of economics and finance, and this is still one of the most important issues that we deal with today. Externalities relates to ''what do my actions generate for others''? This could be positive or it could be negative''.
Episode 15: Sustainable human performance - lessons from sports for the business world: with Jack Groppel
''From an ESG perspective, we're looking at the environment, we're looking at social aspects, and we've got increased level of reporting requirements and regulations that have come in. But we've sort of forgotten about the most critical part that sits at the core of every organisation - that's the human being''.
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Episode 14: Exploring Human Sustainability - from definition to impact: with Linda Jarnhamn & Patricia Erhardt-Lewis
''From an ESG perspective, we're looking at the environment, we're looking at social aspects, and we've got increased level of reporting requirements and regulations that have come in. But we've sort of forgotten about the most critical part that sits at the core of every organisation - that's the human being''.
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Episode 13: The hidden costs of bullying - a neuroscientific perspective with Soraya Shaw
''What may hurt somebody, or what somebody may find unacceptable, might not even bother me. We’re all very subjective in that way. But I think coming from a neuroscience point of view, it's the damage that we know that it (bullying) does to the brain. However it manifests itself, however people experience it and whether they call it out or they don’t, there is really serious damage that’s actually going. It’s not like you hurt your leg and you can see that it’s sore. When our brain is damaged, nobody else really sees it.''
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Episode 12: Human-centered sustainability & the quest for progress with Julion Gallagher Ruwette
''Are we making enough progress when it comes to the social elements of sustainability? I don't think we are because we're overly stressed, we're burnt out, we're anxious, we don't spend enough time in nature, with our families, with ourselves really. And from an economic point of view, I also think we're far from where we'd like to be. I think we only get greedier''
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Episode 11: Human Sustainability - the investor’s perspective with Minjia Yang
''From an investor's perspective, it's hard to identify intangible benefits from the financial statements. So, when we talk about human sustainability, we need to be clear, because investors pay more attention to actual numbers than whatever term we put those numbers under. The key challenge for evaluation is that we sometimes have to rely on economic theories to turn intangible benefits into a dollar amount so that investor communities can easily understand''.
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Episode 10: The business case for clean air and it's impact on cognitive performance with Mazen Jamal
''Air quality is periodically horrible. Periodically, when needed to be good, it's horrible. When the office is empty, it's pretty good. When you put people in a meeting room, close the door and ask them to start thinking about problems and investments, that's when air quality starts getting really bad. That's when it starts affecting their cognitive skills. So, the air quality, when it needs to be good, it's bad''
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Episode 9: How climate change affects our brain health and cognition with Burcin Ikiz
''You need to realize that if you're 40 years old and if you want to live to be 80, thinking, you know, I'll eat healthy when I turn 60, 70, let me live my life now. It doesn't work like that. One of the biggest risk factors for developing dementia later in life is how you lived your life in your midlife. So we have to realize that actually we have to make those changes right now.''
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Episode 8: How work environments can unpack the success formula for Human Sustainability with Rachel Hodgdon
''Businesses that take a people first approach, do better when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. They perform better financially. They're more resilient. They bounce back faster. Their people are healthier... So I think many executives that I speak to intuitively understand this, but I also think that they are completely disoriented. That's almost generous to say that. I think that they are mystified by how to measure their performance when it comes to social sustainability''.
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Episode 7: Elevating Brain Capital as a Business Imperative with Harris Eyre
''As a leader, you have the ability to write your company's brain story for the first time. That's your job as a leader. You need to have a compelling vision that makes sense to as many of your employees as possible. So write your brain story for your company. Talk about mental health, neurodiversity and dementia issues, talk about boosting creativity... and develop a framework - because you can do that now''.
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Episode 6: Brain Health: The case for a new balance sheet paradigm by Kelly O'Brien
''I do think that right now, the way that the balance sheet works, humans are seen as an expense and not an asset, technically. Until that changes, and there is a movement to change that, that's what it will be seen as: an investment in a human is an expense, not an asset. There's got to be a mind shift''
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Episode 5: Inclusive innovation: The impact of diversity on sustainable workplaces with Tina Lindh
"There is a huge gap in knowledge. If you work as an HR Director or a Sustainability Director, you need to know what it is. You need to understand Social Sustainability. And not only understand. I have never met a Sustainability Director that doesn't care about the planet. But I have met a lot of people working in important roles in companies that actually don't understand, or care about humans."
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Episode 4: Health: from risk to asset, the path to a more resilient, sustainable future of work, with Elizabeth Bachrad
''We tend to think of health as a risk, which it is, but what about thinking about health as an asset? Then it will become our duty to also understand that we have an opportunity to account for everything that provides an opportunity to a business, not just the risk''.
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Episode 3: Sustainable high performance: the role of HRV in predicting employee risk and potential, with Justin Buckthorp
''Are we capturing the correct metrics? Are we even capturing metrics that matter? How are we leveraging those metrics? How are we interpreting those metrics and are we having honest conversations around what those metrics might show - even though it can be awkward and tough? And then how do we use that to make a difference? Both for the employees and for the organisation''?
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Episode 2: Metrics of Value: navigating Human Capital in the ESG era, with Kathleen McGrail
''We need to be really clear about how an organisation measures human capital and assesses the capabilities overall. As investors become more and more demanding about seeing a more comprehensive overview of ESG, organisations will need to look across HR, ESG, finance and investor relations to take a more integrated approach''.
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Episode 1: The human side of ESG, a broad perspective, with Dr Tauni Lanier
''Human sustainability takes on a lot of different layers… it’s about making sure that the human element of us has a positive impact on the world, that what we do, doesn’t take away from future generations''
