Communicating Sustainability


key learning:  multiple ways to effect change

Over the Summer of 2008, I spent four months in the Environment, Health & Safety (E,H&S) department at Johnson & Johnson working on several projects:


Sustainability Training

  1. Imagine training 120,000 employees on the subject of “sustainability.”  That was the task at hand as I worked with employees in the E, H&S department to develop a training module to reach the company’s 120,000 employees worldwide. Through the process I brainstormed ideas, and collected feedback from stakeholders in countries from each continent to ensure relevancy in the vast number of locales in which J&J works.  We branded the campaign, and began to create the training materials to allow EH&S staff in each J&J Company to conduct their own training on the subject. 

  2. In retrospect, I learned a great from this experience that affects the way I now develop strategies.  I had initially requested a method of evaluating our success that was more rigorous than e-mails from employees saying they liked the materials, and I now wish I had pushed harder for this.

  3. The company has a long-standing philanthropic tradition, which is wholly separate from the EH&S department.  Managers of the two departments were beginning to improve communications while I was there, but I think a comprehensive strategy with a strong business case would have incorporated social and environmental aspects through both of these departments.  This would be an especially good strategy for J&J, given the company’s close connection to health – a human element with a strong environmental component.


Driving Toward LEED Certification

  1. I became a LEED-Accredited Professional over the course of the summer, and gained a good understanding of the mechanics of achieving LEED certification.  I was one of the major drivers of a project to LEED-certify the company’s World Headquarters building.


Life Cycle Analysis 101

  1. Drawing on previous experience with Life Cycle Analysis, I developed a “how-to” guide that explained the complex decisions and processes involved in LCA in an easy-to-understand format.

johnson & johnson