Steve Goldbach and Susan Goldsmith Deloitte: Five Strategies Our Company Is Using To Tackle Climate Change & Become More Sustainable

As a part of our series about how companies are becoming more sustainable, we had the pleasure of interviewing Steve Goldbach and Susan Goldsmith Deloitte.

Steve Goldbach is the Sustainability leader at Deloitte US. He leads the organization’s efforts to address the most pressing environmental and social challenges of our time. Prior to this role, Steve served as the Deloitte US Chief Strategy Officer.

Susan Goldsmith is the US Sustainability Leader in the Deloitte US Purpose and DEI Office (PDIEO). Susan has seen first-hand the relationship between social impact efforts and the impact that has on an organization’s bottom line having worked with many Fortune 100 companies through her work in Deloitte Consulting LLP. Susan has focused her career on working with executives who are leading change and have a deep responsibility not only to the clients they serve, but our broader society and planet.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Steve: I spent the better part of my career as a business strategist. I have always been interested in sustainability, but it’s never been front and center like it is now. Previously, I spent eight years as a Chief Strategy Officer at Deloitte, and it was our new CEO who originally put the idea of sustainability on the table for my future career path. The more that time passed, the more the idea became all-consuming. What ultimately drove me to ask for the role was reflecting on the experience my wife, Michelle, had reinventing herself over the pandemic. She went from a Portfolio Manager in a large Investment Management firm to Chief Responsibility Officer. Sitting in the office next to her, day-in, day-out, I was able to watch, admiringly, as she learned a new craft and built a capable team. I developed an appreciation for the challenges and the strategic imperatives that this work has for every organization.

[Susan]: My background is in social psychology and education — a nontraditional path into consulting. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Fortune 100 companies almost exclusively throughout my career and I’ve seen first-hand the direct relationship between social impact efforts and the effect that can have on an organization’s bottom line. I believe Deloitte, as well as other organizations, have a deep responsibility to our people, society and the planet we inhabit. If I can devote myself to amplifying Deloitte’s work, values and resources to make a difference in the world, that’s whole heartedly where I want to spend my time and effort in my career.

What is the mission of your organization? What problems are you aiming to solve?

[Steve]: Deloitte has a long-standing history of serving businesses, government, and society as they adapt to technological and social changes with the goal of better shaping the contributions made to our society. As an organization, we lead with purpose, and we’re focused on making an impact that matters by creating trust and confidence in a more equitable and sustainable society. We’re serving organizations throughout their transformation journeys, advising them as they navigate their most complex challenges, and serving the growing market demand for climate, energy, nature, equity, and ESG reporting services and solutions.

[Susan]: We believe that solving the most pressing sustainability, climate, and equity challenges not only benefits people and the planet, but is simply smart, responsible business. At Deloitte, we’re fortunate to have a vast network of professionals connected through in-depth insights, technology, industry knowledge, and a genuine passion for responsible growth to advise organizations as they navigate the complexities of the ever-changing climate and equity environment. At our core, our mission is to help create measurable progress towards a sustainable future.

Can you tell our readers about the initiatives that you or your organization are taking to address climate change or sustainability? Can you give an example for each?

[Steve]: Within the last year, we’ve seen considerable unpredictability in the economy and profound shifts in the geopolitical landscape. We’ve seen markets and supply chains disrupted, international relationships rewritten, and expectations about the global economy upended. Amongst all this is the urgency to address climate change and social inequities, because as we know, a warming planet isn’t an isolated phenomenon. It has many social and economic implications including its spillover effects for many racially and ethnically diverse communities and can exacerbate existing systemic barriers. This momentum can be used to help accelerate our climate actions to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. This will require reimagining, reinventing, and redesigning many of the day-to-day experiences of our lives, as well as how businesses and economies operate.

To do our part to help address the climate crisis and help the world achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, Deloitte Global launched WorldClimate, a global strategy to drive responsible climate choices within the organization and beyond. We believe we can make a positive environmental impact by not only addressing our own contributions to global emissions, but also by empowering our professionals and engaging our broader ecosystem to create solutions that facilitate the transition to a low carbon economy.

Additionally, Deloitte Global announced a significant investment and expansion to the Global Sustainability practice to support clients as they redefine their strategies, embed sustainability into their operations, meet tax, disclosure, and regulatory requirements, and help them accelerate transformation of their organizations and value chains. One example is GreenSpace Tech, which provides businesses with access to a robust ecosystem of climate technologies and innovators to quickly track, develop, and deploy climate tech solutions within their organization. This climate tech offering is spearheaded by entrepreneurs and climate specialists and takes a collaborative approach to scaling climate technology solutions for greater impact.

[Susan]: Beyond Deloitte, we’re driving change within the communities where we live and work by supporting organizations with a commitment to sustainability and equity such as American Forests, CIV:LAB Climate Fund, and Project Drawdown. We also often see other organizations doing the same. The challenges of climate change and sustainability are far too large for a single organization to tackle and often require collective action from businesses, community leaders, nonprofits entrepreneurs and more to build the right ecosystems of support to drive systemic change.

On its own, we know that Deloitte can have a significant impact, but collectively with the community of others we can have and outsized impact. That’s what was done through Deloitte’s collaboration with the World Economic Forum, Salesforce, Citi, and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce when the Yes San Francisco, Urban Sustainability Challenge was launched, a unique call to action for entrepreneurs to submit sustainable solutions that contribute to the needs of San Francisco through scalable improvements to urban spaces in its downtown area. The challenge has created a blueprint for urban transformation that can be scaled beyond San Francisco to empower place-based collaborations and innovations to address the local needs of cities around the world to make them more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable.

How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?

[Steve]: I believe that Sustainability as a business trend is not unlike Digital about 15 years ago. With the benefit of hindsight, we can look back and say that companies needed to adopt digital technology to thrive. As we look ahead, given the regulatory requirements, public commitments, customers, and end-consumers, we can say that the longer one waits to transform their business, the more risk of becoming less profitable they incur. We believe the moves that are made today could set up companies to be the winners of tomorrow. So, in some ways, acting now could make companies more profitable by avoiding the cost of inaction.

But we also believe that there is competitive advantage to be gained by “going on offense” with sustainability. One of our clients in a hard-to-abate sector is completely transforming its upstream value chain and creating a version of its product that is significantly less carbon intensive. They can sell that product at a premium to its downstream customers with science-based targets who are looking to reduce their Scope 3 footprint. We are helping them stand up this business by working to capture the impact of their actions on supply chain operations.

In your opinion what are a few things people can do to inspire the next generation to become engaged in sustainability and the environmental movement?

[Steve] I’m trying to instill sustainable behavior in my soon-to-be 10-year-old daughter, Grayson. First and foremost, it comes from making it a conversation topic at key moments when she is receptive — at the dinner table, at bedtime, when we are walking somewhere, and I have her attention. When we act at home, we talk about why that action is important, whether it’s composting or using renewable energy. We also help frame her choices and guide her to consider sustainability and equity as she makes her choices. For the most part it’s little things like taking the amount of food you’re planning to eat in the school cafeteria since throwing out food is both wasteful and contributes to GHG emissions. In short, I want sustainability to be an important consideration for her as she walks through life.

More broadly, according to Deloitte’s Global 2023 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, 60% of millennials and 55% of Gen Zs are anxious about climate change. Further, U.S. millennials are more likely (58%) to be putting pressure on their employer to take climate action. Businesses should take note — as the climate continues to change, the future workforce is looking to see that businesses are stepping up to the challenge.

[Susan] I agree with that, Steve. Our strategy for addressing climate change and sustainability goes beyond reducing Deloitte’s carbon footprint, which is an imperative for an organization of our size, but we’re also committing substantial time and resources that empower individuals to commit to their own environmental consciousness. In my ongoing conversations with Deloitte practitioners, I can get a sense of the issues that are top of mind for our people. Sustainability and climate change continue to be at the top of that list, especially among younger generations.

Throughout our organization we’re frequently getting questions about how individuals can get involved and be part of the change we hope to see. We’ve established a network of Green Teams across our Deloitte offices to inspire professionals to take individual action to be more sustainable through things like educational sessions, volunteerism, and challenges to take sustainable actions. I firmly believe we have a responsibility to provide pathways of opportunity for our people to get involved, give back, and increase their own environmental consciousness. If we don’t, we simply aren’t activating the full potential and power of our organization.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

[Steve]

• I wish someone had told me before I started my career that simply being smart didn’t matter nearly as much as working hard and communicating clearly. I find people tend to generally assume that if they’re smart, good things will happen to them. The reality is, being smart is rarely a differentiator as there are tons of smart people in every organization. Distinguishing yourself usually stems from your ability to work hard and smart coupled with being easy to work with and communicating effectively. Often people forget the critical role communicating clearly plays in someone’s overall success.
• Additionally, I wish someone told me it’s a useless exercise to have a long-term career plan because it’s almost inevitable your plan will dramatically change. This is increasingly true as we’re unable to predict the future business context in which we’ll operate. We’re seeing this now with artificial intelligence and even sustainability. I challenge people to focus on what they’re learning today and what skills they’re building now. This can help increase the number of opportunities available to someone in the future.

[Susan]

• I wish someone had told me the importance of being intentional about how you show up as a leader in this space and represent the change you want to see. I’ve come to learn there is a lot of scrutiny, given the highly sensitive nature of this topic, that requires you to have tough skin, but how you hold the space for these issues is nontrivial. It’s important to be intentional about how you are an instrument of the change you want to see.
• Throughout my career I’ve learned it’s okay to not be an expert in every single domain and, in fact, it’s normal. Rather than trying to be an expert on every topic — which are plenty within the sustainability space — your time and energy is best spent on identifying your individual superpower and refining that skill to contribute to the larger cause. Personally, my superpower is activating teams and big organizations around a particular topic. I’ve learned the value of relying on other experts in their respective fields so collectively we can bring diverse thinking and skillsets to accomplish our goals, without needing to take it all on as individuals.
• I’ll also add, I wish someone had told me I would need to be well versed in corporate negotiation. Sustainability can be a very complex topic with a wide spectrum of views and opinions, all which people are equally passionate about. As a leader in this space, you should understand how to listen and hold space for all perspectives while continuing to make progress and move items forward. Along with that, I can’t underscore enough the importance of having the right people at the table. It’s important to listen, hear differing perspectives, address them, and find a mutual path forward that works for the greater good of the world and everyone in it, not only for one individual.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

[Steve]: I will say, there are far too many people that have meaningfully influenced my career path over the years so it would be a disservice to call attention to a single person. In fact, I think one’s career is built around a confluence of events and people that collectively lead you to where you are. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have many people care for me professionally and personally that have given me opportunities and courage to prove myself. I encourage everyone to learn from that experience as the most important thing you can do is pay it forward and accept people’s generosity as it comes to you.

[Susan]: My mother. Unfortunately, she didn’t get to see me move into this role, but she was a social activist most of her life — from marches on Washington to social causes like Mothers Against Drunk Driving — she constantly stood up for what she believed in and advocated for social change. I believe my aspiration and passion for this work stemmed from her and the areas we each focus on are inextricably linked because you can’t have sustainability without equity. I hope to continue honoring her legacy in the work I do as the Chief Sustainability Officer at Deloitte focusing on a more equitable society in an inhabitable planet for generations to come.

You are a person of great influence and doing some great things for the world! If you could inspire a movement that would bring the greatest amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

[Susan]: If I could inspire one movement it would be to bring true equity around the world. I believe we should address many facets of equity (i.e., equitable access to health, energy, food, and many more) to raise social consciousness and solve environmental issues. If the inequities that exist within society are addressed, the full potential of everyone can be unlocked which, in turn, provides a greater opportunity to address macro issues like sustainability and climate change for the collective benefit of all.

[Steve]: That’s a great point, Susan. The idea of equity can only be achieved if we as human beings develop a better capability for listening to the perspectives of others and understanding that their lived experiences may be quite different from your own. Instead of articulating the key differences in why you disagree, first seek to understand why they hold their view. It’s important to express genuine curiosity and giving others the benefit of the doubt when they don’t hold the same position as you as everyone’s experiences are vastly different. My wish is that humans would rise to meet their full potential in being empathic and curious as this is what’s needed to bring humanity forward and it’s what’s necessary to solve climate change too.

Do you have a favorite life lesson quote? Can you tell us how that was relevant to you in your own life?

[Steve]: “Always make an error of ‘commission’ rather than an error of omission”.

This was advice that was given to me by my old boss Jim Berrien, then the President of Forbes Magazine Group. In fairness, I had the pleasure of sharing this in a prior interview with Authority about the book I co-authored with Geoff Tuff, Provoke. I love that advice because it is so consistent with the Provoke mindset — it drives towards a bias to act in the face of uncertainty. If you’re not familiar, the Provoke mindset is rooted at the intersection of business and behavioral economics. It’s a willingness to do something (even if you’re not exactly sure what the right action is) to initiative the change we all strive for in society. The opportunity to create a more sustainable world is at our collective fingertips. The Provoke mindset reminds us we are all compelled to act.

[Susan]: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

I can’t recall where I first heard this, but for me, this quote goes beyond aspirational dreams of what we hope to accomplish and really speaks to how we show up as an individual with our own purpose and point of view. As a leader, we need to see ourselves as life-long learners and authentically devote ourselves to the impact and change we want to create in the world, so much so that it shows in every action we take day in and day out. It starts with you. We all have a deep responsibility to authentically show up and devote ourselves to the passion that drives us and it’s then that we can unlock the real potential of what we’re capable of.

What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?

To learn more about Deloitte’s Sustainability practice and offerings, visit our homepage here, or learn about our purpose commitments at deloitte.com/us/purpose.

Visit Susan Goldsmith’s and Steve Goldbach’s LinkedIn profiles to connect

This was so inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!