How We Do Things Is at Least Equally Important as What We Achieve

A problem shared is a problem halved. If only it was that easy. As seen in the last IPCC Report the climate emergency that we face needs radical collaboration and action. It is clear to me that how we reset our lives post Covid - as individuals, businesses, industry, and governments - must align with the rapid demands of our planet. 

This is why a direct message to me via LinkedIn, from a competitor, came as a bit of a shock. “Dare I say Derek that I'd like to hear more about the great work you're doing and less about how many trees you're saving?"

As Greta Thunberg said, ‘no one is too small to make a difference’. I like to think, at Coffee & TV, that we are doing our bit to align with nature, lower our impact on the environment, and share our solutions so others can replicate. It came as a shock to me that someone was asking me not to share our climate actions and only our world class pretty pictures, when we are constantly being told to move from a competitive to collaborative mindset to help the climate crisis. 

I decided to post the message on LinkedIn to hear some opinions about our content. What do people care more about: pretty pictures or saving trees?

For me ‘great work’ is everything we do as a business from climate activism to exceptional VFX.

The response on LinkedIn was clear: ‘every business should aim to be more than what it makes or produces’. It was reassuring to hear everyone was aiming to adopt our way of thinking at Coffee & TV, ‘how we do things is at least equally important as what we achieve’. Incredible images are great, but people want to hear the whole story. How you treat people, the culture you create, and what you do to help environmental and social issues, are more than ever before the metrics that define business success. 

At Coffee & TV we only talk about what we are doing, not what we can do. We try to be transparent in our successes and failures and we are definitely not afraid to ask for help. We are thankful to have passionate individuals who care about the climate throughout the organisation. This means we are united in our decisions to respond and efficient in our ability to act. After all, we all know we have a part to play in securing our future for the younger generation.

64% of people globally expect CEOs to lead on social change rather than waiting for government intervention. So while I don’t claim to know all the answers, I do feel it’s my duty to share what I do know about creating and leading a sustainable business, and not just our great work. Harnessing the power of advertising to change consumer behaviour and create a positive impact is what excites us about being a creative studio in this time of crisis. We are working alongside Ad Net Zero to transform the advertising industry into part of the solution. 

Continuing business operations without consideration for sustainability will surely run its course, but how long might it take? The sooner everyone realises this isn’t a green fad or a charitable initiative, the sooner leaders can work together to achieve the radical change needed to stop the earth warming over 1.5 degrees, widely accepted as beyond the point of no return.

It would be a lot easier to sit back, let others do the hard work for us and just stick to the day job, but that’s not what we're about at Coffee & TV. We're proud to be a certified B Corp and we want to be the best for the world, as well as the best in the world. During the global week #Act4SDGs later this month we look forward to sharing our steps on becoming a more sustainable business, and we hope others will follow. We're learning each day, setting bold targets, taking action, and sharing what we learn. We definitely won’t hesitate to post about either saving trees or making pretty pictures in the future.

Derek Moore CEO & Co-Founder Coffee & TV