E35: Small Business ESG – Here’s the Scoop with Christy Cook

Erin Austin: 00:00:00

Hello everyone.

Erin Austin: 00:00:01

Welcome to the Hourly to Exit podcast.

Erin Austin: 00:00:04

I am very excited for my guest today.

Erin Austin: 00:00:07

Christie Cook.

Erin Austin: 00:00:07

Hi Cristy

Christy Cook: 00:00:08

Christie.

Christy Cook: 00:00:09

Hi, Erin and everyone

Christy Cook: 00:00:12

. Erin Austin: I'm super excited for

Christy Cook: 00:00:15

are very timely, but this one is particularly so because of some current

Christy Cook: 00:00:20

events around, Christie's expertise.

Christy Cook: 00:00:23

So we're are going to dig in.

Christy Cook: 00:00:25

But first Christie, would you introduce yourself to the audience?

Christy Cook: 00:00:27

Audience Yeah, sure.

Christy Cook: 00:00:29

So Christie Cook, as everyone has just been notified.

Christy Cook: 00:00:32

Yes.

Christy Cook: 00:00:33

I've been in the corporate sustainability space for about 20 years now, working with

Christy Cook: 00:00:36

large corporates, consulting, and I have really found my passion here recently.

Christy Cook: 00:00:42

and my goal is really working to help startups and small, medium business.

Christy Cook: 00:00:47

To incorporate ESG, it's really important.

Christy Cook: 00:00:50

They're less resourced and, hugely important.

Christy Cook: 00:00:53

And so I'm excited to get to use that expertise to help folks.

Christy Cook: 00:00:56

And, my company is named Investor Strategies, so yeah,

Erin Austin: 00:01:01

you'll find this audience is also, we're kind of full of of big

Erin Austin: 00:01:05

company people, refugees I'd say, who are using our expertise that we learn

Erin Austin: 00:01:10

there and translating it for a different audience, who doesn't have, in-house

Erin Austin: 00:01:15

people either in-house council or in-house ESG experts, which is, what

Erin Austin: 00:01:19

I love to do with these episodes.

Erin Austin: 00:01:22

So, ESG, just to repeat it for the audience that stands for

Erin Austin: 00:01:25

Environmental Social Governance.

Erin Austin: 00:01:28

So in my former life, you know, working with public companies, E S G was a big

Erin Austin: 00:01:33

topic, and certainly something can be covered in, public filings and the like.

Erin Austin: 00:01:37

Mm-hmm.

Erin Austin: 00:01:37

great.

Erin Austin: 00:01:37

And that's something we hear a ton in this smaller business entrepreneurial world.

Erin Austin: 00:01:42

but it's certainly in line with the mission of this, podcast, which is

Erin Austin: 00:01:47

to create a more equitable economy.

Erin Austin: 00:01:49

And so we're gonna talk about the concepts as they apply to this audience.

Erin Austin: 00:01:54

But first is a bit of background.

Erin Austin: 00:01:56

Tell us how ESG shows up in those larger public

Christy Cook: 00:02:00

companies.

Christy Cook: 00:02:01

Oh my goodness.

Christy Cook: 00:02:01

The large public companies, huge.

Christy Cook: 00:02:04

and in many cases they've been working on this for some very long time, some

Christy Cook: 00:02:09

20 years, you know, it's evolved from the words corporate responsibility,

Christy Cook: 00:02:13

corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and while each

Christy Cook: 00:02:17

of those are actually different.

Christy Cook: 00:02:20

Basically the common thread is that large corporates have been

Christy Cook: 00:02:24

doing things around the environment and diversity and the governance

Christy Cook: 00:02:28

of those issues for a long time.

Christy Cook: 00:02:30

in many ways, and where it's showing up now specifically too, is a lot in

Christy Cook: 00:02:34

supply chain that's mostly related around carbon as well as, human

Christy Cook: 00:02:38

capital, how people are being treated.

Christy Cook: 00:02:41

and so those are some very common ways.

Christy Cook: 00:02:43

It's showing up right now.

Christy Cook: 00:02:45

. and, you know, ESG really started how it emerged.

Christy Cook: 00:02:49

Really a framework for looking at, risk and performance really

Christy Cook: 00:02:54

from a financial standpoint.

Christy Cook: 00:02:56

So, if someone's investing in a company, what are the risks

Christy Cook: 00:02:59

associated in those three categories?

Christy Cook: 00:03:02

And it gives 'em a framework to really look at.

Christy Cook: 00:03:04

. And what we're seeing now too is just an evolution of doing it for many reasons.

Christy Cook: 00:03:09

One's political pressure, political meaning from their

Christy Cook: 00:03:13

board or even from customers.

Christy Cook: 00:03:15

so that's one way that companies are experiencing that right now a lot of

Christy Cook: 00:03:19

regulatory compliance is happening and, again, The war for talent,

Christy Cook: 00:03:25

you know, attracting and, retaining those employees and also really

Christy Cook: 00:03:29

looking at growing your business.

Christy Cook: 00:03:31

right now if you're gonna grow your business, you've gotta

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be prepared to talk about the things you're doing around E S G.

Christy Cook: 00:03:38

it's starting to be required in RFPs, so request for proposals.

Christy Cook: 00:03:42

if you're gonna bid with a large corporation, you can see that as well.

Christy Cook: 00:03:45

So those are a couple of ways.

Christy Cook: 00:03:47

It's showing up in the world right now and a little history of how we

Christy Cook: 00:03:50

are, where we are in a high level.

Erin Austin: 00:03:52

Yeah.

Erin Austin: 00:03:53

Well that leads me to recount a story that I heard recently from a friend,

Erin Austin: 00:03:57

and I'll make sure I don't get it wrong.

Erin Austin: 00:03:59

He said this, this was about his decision to change his

Erin Austin: 00:04:02

major from economics to English.

Erin Austin: 00:04:04

Mm-hmm.

Erin Austin: 00:04:05

, he said the great Milton Friedman came to my college and

Erin Austin: 00:04:08

addressed the economic club.

Erin Austin: 00:04:10

He was bragging about his pivotal role in Nixon's wage and price controls.

Erin Austin: 00:04:14

I'm, I'm a woman of a certain age, which addressed the problem of inflation

Erin Austin: 00:04:18

by intentionally throwing the country into a recession in the q and a.

Erin Austin: 00:04:23

I asked him, since the government intentionally caused the recession so

Erin Austin: 00:04:27

as to benefit the many, what was the go?

Erin Austin: 00:04:30

Moral obligation to those who lost their employment due to the recession.

Erin Austin: 00:04:34

His answer was there was no moral obligation.

Erin Austin: 00:04:38

I knew then that economics was not for me.

Erin Austin: 00:04:41

And you know, this was the seventies I'm thinking.

Erin Austin: 00:04:44

But today, more than ever, you know, consumers care.

Erin Austin: 00:04:48

Yeah.

Erin Austin: 00:04:49

Employees care.

Erin Austin: 00:04:49

All the things you just said.

Erin Austin: 00:04:51

And for better or worse, our corporations and our employers kind of reflect the

Erin Austin: 00:04:55

way that we view the world, right?

Erin Austin: 00:04:57

Yes.

Erin Austin: 00:04:57

And, to share our values.

Erin Austin: 00:04:59

So one, why is this still.

Erin Austin: 00:05:02

of controversial.

Erin Austin: 00:05:03

Uhhuh, and two, do you think that corporations, as he was talking

Erin Austin: 00:05:07

about the government, do corporations have a moral obligation regarding

Erin Austin: 00:05:11

the externalities of what they do?

Christy Cook: 00:05:14

Great questions.

Christy Cook: 00:05:15

It's so exciting too, by the way.

Christy Cook: 00:05:16

You know, I think one of the things that's happening right now, obviously

Christy Cook: 00:05:20

you used the word controversial and it's true, but why is it controversial?

Christy Cook: 00:05:24

It's controversial because we're hearing things and we're seeing 'em in the news.

Christy Cook: 00:05:29

We're seeing things on social media, and the biggest takeaway

Christy Cook: 00:05:32

to know is everyone can have.

Christy Cook: 00:05:34

Agenda and different agendas, but the solid takeaway, no matter

Christy Cook: 00:05:38

what, E S G is not going away.

Christy Cook: 00:05:41

Okay?

Christy Cook: 00:05:41

That's the bottom line, and that's what people need to know.

Christy Cook: 00:05:44

There can be different, people in groups that, are supporting a

Christy Cook: 00:05:47

certain interest here or there, but please know it's not going away.

Christy Cook: 00:05:52

a couple of things about why it's not going away and why you need to

Christy Cook: 00:05:55

prepare, because I always, look, I've been in corporate sustainability

Christy Cook: 00:05:59

for a little over 20 years, and.

Christy Cook: 00:06:01

When I'm looking to see what's happening in the US I start looking

Christy Cook: 00:06:04

abroad and what I normally see is there's about a three year lag time

Christy Cook: 00:06:10

between what's happening in the UK or the EU and it coming here to the US.

Christy Cook: 00:06:16

and we are in that timeframe right now, and the EU has some strong regulations

Christy Cook: 00:06:21

that have been in place for some time.

Christy Cook: 00:06:24

And 2024 is the first year of reporting that these large corporations are

Christy Cook: 00:06:28

going to be doing this for 20, 25 year.

Christy Cook: 00:06:32

. And frankly how we see that showing up here in the US is really in two ways.

Christy Cook: 00:06:36

One is large corporates, they're global.

Christy Cook: 00:06:40

They have to comply with these regulations, and what that means is that

Christy Cook: 00:06:44

it comes here in the US and it impacts others all within their supply chain.

Christy Cook: 00:06:50

So if you're working with a large public, which is where

Christy Cook: 00:06:53

it really starts in most cases.

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It's there, you're going to have to be prepared for it.

Christy Cook: 00:06:57

So the opportunity that I see for small and medium companies right now is,

Christy Cook: 00:07:04

it's not required, but you're gonna start to feel pressure, particularly

Christy Cook: 00:07:07

from these large Publix, get ahead of it, figure out what you need to

Christy Cook: 00:07:12

do, and you're gonna be better for it and stronger in the long run.

Christy Cook: 00:07:15

So that's really the first thing of how I see things happening.

Christy Cook: 00:07:19

I think the second part of that, and how we're seeing this come to fruition though,

Christy Cook: 00:07:24

is we now have, this, carbon accounting, this carbon disclosure requirements.

Christy Cook: 00:07:29

It's in the SEC right now.

Christy Cook: 00:07:31

It's a rule that has been out for, a while now.

Christy Cook: 00:07:35

It's still in comment period.

Christy Cook: 00:07:36

But what it's going to require is very similar to what's happening

Christy Cook: 00:07:40

with the eu, where large publics are gonna have to disclose.

Christy Cook: 00:07:43

and likely that'll start about 2025.

Christy Cook: 00:07:46

And, you know, everything's a little bit of a guess, but that's where it's coming.

Christy Cook: 00:07:50

So again, it's not going away.

Christy Cook: 00:07:53

Yes, there's a lot of people that have a lot of different opinions on it,

Christy Cook: 00:07:56

but the takeaway is to get prepared, because it is coming and we have an

Christy Cook: 00:08:01

opportunity to do some really cool things.

Christy Cook: 00:08:04

I asked myself this like, one of the things is I think if you ask someone,

Christy Cook: 00:08:08

Hey, do you want your company?

Christy Cook: 00:08:11

Do you want the economy to do well?

Christy Cook: 00:08:12

Do you want people on the planet to thrive?

Christy Cook: 00:08:15

Yes, is the answer.

Christy Cook: 00:08:17

So this is why ESG matters.

Christy Cook: 00:08:19

It's why sustainability matters and why people in companies can take part in this.

Christy Cook: 00:08:24

And, one other part, kind of to your question.

Christy Cook: 00:08:26

You asked about companies, and I really touched on that a lot.

Christy Cook: 00:08:30

But you're also seeing this in government and it's really a crossover

Christy Cook: 00:08:34

of how it impacts, corporations as well, because we've got executive

Christy Cook: 00:08:38

orders that are out requiring this.

Christy Cook: 00:08:40

So if you're a company that's looking to work with the government, you're

Christy Cook: 00:08:43

gonna be required to do this as well.

Christy Cook: 00:08:44

So, multi-pronged approach that's happening here in the us.

Christy Cook: 00:08:49

. Erin Austin: Yeah.

Christy Cook: 00:08:50

I you mentioned a couple of things.

Christy Cook: 00:08:51

You know one about how the EU is leading the charge on a number of issues.

Christy Cook: 00:08:56

You know, we saw this with data privacy.

Christy Cook: 00:08:58

Yes.

Christy Cook: 00:08:59

Where they had much, greater data, privacy issues over there.

Christy Cook: 00:09:01

Over here.

Christy Cook: 00:09:02

Still, taking your information, doing whatever the heck we want to with it.

Christy Cook: 00:09:05

And finally, that caught up with us.

Christy Cook: 00:09:08

and we really haven't caught flatfooted, frankly, because we

Christy Cook: 00:09:11

don't have a nice federal law.

Christy Cook: 00:09:13

We've got all these different state laws, which are a bit of a mess.

Christy Cook: 00:09:15

but to be able to, say that you can comply at that highest level definitely

Christy Cook: 00:09:20

gives you a leg up . And then the other thing is being part of that

Christy Cook: 00:09:23

supply chain, you know, as someone who reviews, contracts from, big corporates

Christy Cook: 00:09:29

to, smaller service-based businesses and the size of them, I actually.

Christy Cook: 00:09:34

I think it was today, I, wrote a, piece about the, emergence of the

Christy Cook: 00:09:37

100 page MSA, which is Oh yes.

Christy Cook: 00:09:41

Cause of all these things that they want you to comply with and it

Christy Cook: 00:09:45

will be not at all unusual to have.

Christy Cook: 00:09:47

Entire exhibits about ethics, compliance and all these things and as they are more

Christy Cook: 00:09:53

required, I'm sure, at the public company level to report, their ESG, initiatives

Christy Cook: 00:09:58

that they will wanna make sure that everyone in their supply chain is clean.

Christy Cook: 00:10:03

You know, nobody wants to get caught.

Christy Cook: 00:10:04

thinking, I think it was a Cambridge Analytics that was a

Christy Cook: 00:10:07

couple years ago who Facebook was using and Cambridge Analytics.

Christy Cook: 00:10:12

doing all sorts of crazy stuff with data and they don't wanna get caught up with

Christy Cook: 00:10:15

that cuz the people will be canceled.

Christy Cook: 00:10:17

Right.

Christy Cook: 00:10:18

We know that information spread so quickly and people do.

Christy Cook: 00:10:22

protest with their wallets.

Christy Cook: 00:10:24

And so just be ready for that,

Christy Cook: 00:10:27

For sure.

Christy Cook: 00:10:27

Yeah.

Christy Cook: 00:10:28

And I, think you bring up two points I'd like to comment on is, I've

Christy Cook: 00:10:32

worked also with, an environmental tech company and one of our large

Christy Cook: 00:10:37

enterprise clients, is a large global, Web-based technology type company.

Christy Cook: 00:10:44

The very first master services agreement we had with them was three pages.

Christy Cook: 00:10:49

When we went through the renewal process, just the data and security was 18 pages.

Christy Cook: 00:10:54

Yes.

Christy Cook: 00:10:55

. And, yes.

Christy Cook: 00:10:56

It was part of, some of the more stringent.

Christy Cook: 00:10:58

Things around data and privacy and security of course,

Christy Cook: 00:11:02

which is also part of E S G.

Christy Cook: 00:11:04

Mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:11:04

, by the way.

Christy Cook: 00:11:04

Mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:11:05

not everyone thinks about that, but that is actually part of ESG is data

Christy Cook: 00:11:09

security, the protection of, identifiable personal information for people.

Christy Cook: 00:11:13

Yeah.

Christy Cook: 00:11:13

Mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:11:14

but yeah, for sure.

Christy Cook: 00:11:15

So I just think that's so interesting and, if you really.

Christy Cook: 00:11:20

And part of it is my feed, my newsfeed, right?

Christy Cook: 00:11:23

The algorithms work.

Christy Cook: 00:11:24

But I probably see two to three stories every day about another company that

Christy Cook: 00:11:30

has, been fined or been identified for, not meeting some regulations

Christy Cook: 00:11:35

that they thought they were meeting or perhaps it was intentional.

Christy Cook: 00:11:38

There's a lot of different ways this happens.

Christy Cook: 00:11:40

but it's way more commonplace.

Christy Cook: 00:11:42

It really is.

Christy Cook: 00:11:43

So gotta pay attention.

Erin Austin: 00:11:45

yeah.

Erin Austin: 00:11:45

Speaking to the three page versus the, hundred page m s a, I've been working

Erin Austin: 00:11:49

with this one professional services firm for about 10 years, and at the very

Erin Austin: 00:11:53

beginning, most of their clients, like 99% of them would just sign the quote.

Erin Austin: 00:11:57

Like they'd send over a quote and they'd sign it and they'd

Erin Austin: 00:11:59

go and That does not happen.

Christy Cook: 00:12:01

Not anyone, not any longer

Erin Austin: 00:12:06

so speaking of the controversy, I just read an article,

Erin Austin: 00:12:09

about the co-founder of Home Depot, who was complaining about woke diversity in

Erin Austin: 00:12:15

his words, because it doesn't benefit the bottom line and that pursuing

Erin Austin: 00:12:21

these ideological agendas is at the expense of solid financial returns.

Erin Austin: 00:12:26

So do the number support his contention?

Erin Austin: 00:12:30

E S G doesn't benefit the bottom line.

Christy Cook: 00:12:34

No, is the short answer, but I think that the

Christy Cook: 00:12:38

important thing that anybody should take away is, I think you can find

Christy Cook: 00:12:42

a fact and an argument to that fact.

Christy Cook: 00:12:45

everywhere.

Christy Cook: 00:12:45

You can, I think in some ways it's, the quality of the assessment.

Christy Cook: 00:12:50

you can make data do almost anything if you want to, But at the same time,

Christy Cook: 00:12:54

I think that , the clear answer is, again, if we want people in the planet

Christy Cook: 00:12:58

to thrive, obviously we have to do it in a way that makes financial

Christy Cook: 00:13:02

sense because businesses have to be in business in order to do good.

Christy Cook: 00:13:06

So in no way is this saying that you should, do something at the expense of,

Christy Cook: 00:13:12

your business being sustainable in itself, that's definitely not what it should be.

Christy Cook: 00:13:17

But yes, the numbers show, That you're going to attract more talent.

Christy Cook: 00:13:21

You typically will retain that talent.

Christy Cook: 00:13:23

You are going to attract the customers that you want.

Christy Cook: 00:13:27

these numbers just prove it.

Christy Cook: 00:13:29

And another area that I would say that's, Emerging even more.

Christy Cook: 00:13:33

And as, as important as you're scaling up, I think, that's

Christy Cook: 00:13:35

a lot of what you talk about.

Christy Cook: 00:13:37

Right?

Christy Cook: 00:13:37

And I do too.

Christy Cook: 00:13:38

But when you're scaling up, it's important to realize and understand that financial

Christy Cook: 00:13:43

institutions are looking at E S G.

Christy Cook: 00:13:46

100% they are.

Christy Cook: 00:13:48

And.

Christy Cook: 00:13:49

78% of companies that have E S G are more likely to get funded.

Christy Cook: 00:13:56

and what I mean by the specific statistic is that 78% of investors are

Christy Cook: 00:14:01

looking to ensure that you have E S G in the foundation of your business.

Christy Cook: 00:14:05

And again, that's important because.

Christy Cook: 00:14:07

If you're trying to scale up, you're likely trying to get funding.

Christy Cook: 00:14:10

You need to scale a team.

Christy Cook: 00:14:12

Let's attract and retain that talent.

Christy Cook: 00:14:14

You need to have consistent revenue and growth.

Christy Cook: 00:14:17

Well, let's make sure customers wanna buy.

Christy Cook: 00:14:19

And you know what?

Christy Cook: 00:14:19

Let's avoid that regulatory risk and fines.

Christy Cook: 00:14:23

So have your E S G practices in place.

Christy Cook: 00:14:25

I know it's complex and it can get even more complex.

Christy Cook: 00:14:28

It can't, but you know what, it doesn't have to be that way.

Christy Cook: 00:14:32

So do something.

Christy Cook: 00:14:34

One other point, I would just say, and maybe this is my high horse, but I

Christy Cook: 00:14:38

hate this term woke and how it can be used in a lot of different ways, but

Christy Cook: 00:14:43

ultimately, don't we all wanna know more, more information is powerful.

Christy Cook: 00:14:48

so.

Christy Cook: 00:14:48

I hope I continue to learn more.

Christy Cook: 00:14:51

And you know, if you're going to call that term woke, I just think it's

Christy Cook: 00:14:55

intelligence, and wanting to strive to always learn something because I

Christy Cook: 00:14:59

learn something every day, frankly.

Christy Cook: 00:15:01

And, it's one of the journal questions that I ask myself every day too.

Christy Cook: 00:15:04

What did I learn today?

Christy Cook: 00:15:06

Whether it's a statistic or something personal, but I think we

Christy Cook: 00:15:10

should always be striving to learn.

Christy Cook: 00:15:12

. Erin Austin: I love that.

Christy Cook: 00:15:13

I love that you journal about what you learned each day.

Christy Cook: 00:15:15

I try to, journal about gratitude.

Christy Cook: 00:15:17

yes, but, I learned today.

Christy Cook: 00:15:18

I like that one.

Christy Cook: 00:15:20

Sometimes they're surprising

Christy Cook: 00:15:25

but it's a quest to, Know myself better, be better, and do better.

Christy Cook: 00:15:29

And, if you're not asking yourself those questions, you can miss it.

Christy Cook: 00:15:32

And I think it's important.

Christy Cook: 00:15:34

It's been really eye-opening for me, so that's fantastic.

Erin Austin: 00:15:37

So let's talk about what you do specifically with your clients.

Erin Austin: 00:15:41

So who are they, what pain are they feeling that they say, I need to talk to

Erin Austin: 00:15:46

Christie, and how do you work with them?

Christy Cook: 00:15:48

Great question.

Christy Cook: 00:15:49

you know, the pain is in some ways what we've talked about already.

Christy Cook: 00:15:53

I'm really focused right now on startups that are scaling.

Christy Cook: 00:15:57

And the reason why is, you know, in a perfect world, I would love

Christy Cook: 00:16:02

to see more women and people of color receive more funding.

Christy Cook: 00:16:06

even.

Christy Cook: 00:16:06

Typically, these are businesses that are focused more on people in the

Christy Cook: 00:16:09

environment, which I care deeply about.

Christy Cook: 00:16:11

So it really aligns, to what I'm trying to do.

Christy Cook: 00:16:13

But ultimately, E S G is important for everyone.

Christy Cook: 00:16:16

So I am focused on startups and helping them build that fabric of E S G in

Christy Cook: 00:16:22

their company as they're scaling.

Christy Cook: 00:16:23

And again, I think it hits four business issues immediately.

Christy Cook: 00:16:26

better prepares them and positions them to get funding against

Christy Cook: 00:16:29

others and get more funding.

Christy Cook: 00:16:31

revenue growth through customers attracting and retaining talent,

Christy Cook: 00:16:35

and also that regulatory compliance.

Christy Cook: 00:16:37

And the way I try to work with these companies, especially the startups and

Christy Cook: 00:16:41

the small businesses, is, you know, They may not have the technical knowledge,

Christy Cook: 00:16:44

they may not have the expertise.

Christy Cook: 00:16:46

They're very focused on their core of what they're trying to accomplish.

Christy Cook: 00:16:50

So I try to make things as simple as I can by helping them understand the

Christy Cook: 00:16:55

most important issues that they need to focus on and how to implement those.

Christy Cook: 00:17:01

And what I have found is if you start your business in that way, , it creates

Christy Cook: 00:17:07

and fosters growth in those areas in the future, which is also important.

Christy Cook: 00:17:12

So that's kind of like, thinking about this, you don't have to

Christy Cook: 00:17:15

be doing this for 20 years.

Christy Cook: 00:17:17

We all start somewhere.

Christy Cook: 00:17:18

So start where you are.

Christy Cook: 00:17:20

And that's what I help clients do, understand where they are,

Christy Cook: 00:17:24

what the most important issues are, how to address those.

Christy Cook: 00:17:28

And where that comes down is it helps 'em understand.

Christy Cook: 00:17:31

How to talk about E S G, fluently and how it relates to their business.

Christy Cook: 00:17:35

Exactly.

Christy Cook: 00:17:36

Again, what to focus on, how to measure performance, because

Christy Cook: 00:17:40

that's really important.

Christy Cook: 00:17:41

You've gotta be able to talk to your customers, your clients, even reporting

Christy Cook: 00:17:45

on what you're doing, why as well as the investors and report progress over time.

Christy Cook: 00:17:50

So I try to simplify that for them and provide a model and process

Christy Cook: 00:17:54

that can be repeatable for them.

Christy Cook: 00:17:55

in a way, again, understanding the amount of time they have to focus on E S G.

Christy Cook: 00:18:00

it's not separate, but it's often viewed that way.

Christy Cook: 00:18:02

So I start by educating and it becomes a real fabric of who they are and

Christy Cook: 00:18:07

what they do as a company that's,

Erin Austin: 00:18:09

Yeah.

Erin Austin: 00:18:09

Yeah.

Erin Austin: 00:18:09

Integrating it as part of their operations and not exactly doing

Erin Austin: 00:18:13

this thing over there that you do.

Erin Austin: 00:18:14

Yes, yes, yes.

Christy Cook: 00:18:16

Absolutely.

Christy Cook: 00:18:17

You know, you mentioned something earlier, the switch from, the major from economics

Christy Cook: 00:18:22

and one of the things that's happening right now that's really impacting

Christy Cook: 00:18:26

particularly small and medium businesses, but, 20 years ago when I started in

Christy Cook: 00:18:30

this, there really wasn't a degree.

Christy Cook: 00:18:33

And sustainability or E S G.

Christy Cook: 00:18:35

Mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:18:35

. And a lot of it was learning in your operations.

Christy Cook: 00:18:38

and applying that.

Christy Cook: 00:18:39

Well, there's a lot more of that today in that you can get different, more

Christy Cook: 00:18:43

certifications and different programs.

Christy Cook: 00:18:45

But what we're seeing is a lot more, College students coming

Christy Cook: 00:18:49

at this from a data standpoint

Christy Cook: 00:18:51

That's great.

Christy Cook: 00:18:52

especially with the amount of reporting and the requirements, it's imperative,

Christy Cook: 00:18:55

frankly, but what I'm seeing and how that happens, and especially

Christy Cook: 00:18:58

in small and medium companies, is.

Christy Cook: 00:19:01

You get these college graduates, they know some things, don't get me wrong, but now

Christy Cook: 00:19:05

you've put them in an organization where perhaps the C-suite and board want E S G.

Christy Cook: 00:19:11

They don't quite know what that means.

Christy Cook: 00:19:13

They can't provide the guidance on that.

Christy Cook: 00:19:16

And you have this person that's typically passionate about this topic, but without

Christy Cook: 00:19:21

guidance and leadership and where to go.

Christy Cook: 00:19:23

And so that's one of the gaps to some degree that I'm seeing mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:19:27

. it's unfortunate because also that person who's doing the work, it's

Christy Cook: 00:19:31

a disconnect in the organization.

Christy Cook: 00:19:33

They feel like they're not quite accomplishing what they want.

Christy Cook: 00:19:36

Mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:19:36

. And in the long term, if that person isn't successful, if they can't manage

Christy Cook: 00:19:40

a complex organization where you need all this buy-in, but no one reports

Christy Cook: 00:19:44

to you and it's not their day job.

Christy Cook: 00:19:46

Right.

Christy Cook: 00:19:46

It's difficult and it actually leaves a mark in the company of

Christy Cook: 00:19:50

maybe this E S G doesn't work.

Christy Cook: 00:19:52

. Mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:19:53

kinda thing.

Christy Cook: 00:19:53

So that's one of the things I would.

Christy Cook: 00:19:55

Say that I'm seeing, I'm gonna be interested to continue to watch that

Christy Cook: 00:19:59

and see how it progresses over time and.

Christy Cook: 00:20:01

That's part of the reasons why I like to work with the companies.

Christy Cook: 00:20:05

I think mentoring the small and medium companies, mentoring these folks, helping

Christy Cook: 00:20:08

them understand, some would even call it soft skills, but how you navigate an

Christy Cook: 00:20:12

organization, how you create buy-in at a C-suite level and what you push for

Christy Cook: 00:20:17

and how you have different conversations are skills that aren't always taught.

Christy Cook: 00:20:21

And, it's something that's incredibly valuable to the

Christy Cook: 00:20:24

work and the impact of the.

Erin Austin: 00:20:26

Yeah, there's definitely a transition that I've been seeing

Erin Austin: 00:20:29

for the last several years about the unsiloing of different departments.

Erin Austin: 00:20:34

You know?

Erin Austin: 00:20:34

Yes.

Erin Austin: 00:20:34

The legal departments just siloed.

Erin Austin: 00:20:36

You only talk to them if something goes wrong.

Erin Austin: 00:20:38

Communications is siloed.

Erin Austin: 00:20:39

You only talk to them if you got some messed cleanup or, for your

Erin Austin: 00:20:43

social responsibility group, you know, they're over there.

Erin Austin: 00:20:46

sponsoring some kind of charitable thing, . Right.

Erin Austin: 00:20:50

but bringing them all in at the earliest stages.

Erin Austin: 00:20:53

Yes.

Erin Austin: 00:20:53

So that they're all working towards the same goals there's definitely a lot of

Erin Austin: 00:20:57

that happening, which is great to see.

Erin Austin: 00:20:59

And I think that's more, but you know, the 21st.

Erin Austin: 00:21:01

Century model than the absolutely century model.

Erin Austin: 00:21:04

So that's great to hear.

Erin Austin: 00:21:05

Absolutely.

Erin Austin: 00:21:05

Well, that, that brings us too, the Hourly Exit podcast, , you know, helping to

Erin Austin: 00:21:11

build a scalable and saleable business.

Erin Austin: 00:21:14

And so there are a lot of ways you've talked about.

Erin Austin: 00:21:17

That would be instrumental in helping an expertise-based business.

Erin Austin: 00:21:21

That's mostly, you IP-based business scale.

Erin Austin: 00:21:24

Right.

Erin Austin: 00:21:24

so there's a lot of 'em you can cover.

Erin Austin: 00:21:25

So, talk us through like three of them, the top three that

Erin Austin: 00:21:28

you think might, might top

Christy Cook: 00:21:29

three actions that you would suggest.

Christy Cook: 00:21:32

Absolutely.

Christy Cook: 00:21:33

the number one thing that I hear is often, well, I don't know what to do or how to do

Christy Cook: 00:21:37

it . So, first I would just say I actually have some free resources for that.

Christy Cook: 00:21:42

So folks can look at that on my website if they like.

Christy Cook: 00:21:45

But ultimately, you've gotta do something, right?

Christy Cook: 00:21:48

So what do you do?

Christy Cook: 00:21:49

let's just say, we'll talk about one item in each category.

Christy Cook: 00:21:52

You really, for the environmental standpoint, you've gotta look at carbon.

Christy Cook: 00:21:56

because you are likely in someone's supply chain somehow, whether

Christy Cook: 00:22:00

you're service-based or goods based business, it's gonna be required.

Christy Cook: 00:22:04

So you've gotta start thinking about that.

Christy Cook: 00:22:07

and in the social area, always diversity, you we've gotta look at that and some of

Christy Cook: 00:22:11

the biggest ways, especially if you're looking at scaling, I would say make

Christy Cook: 00:22:15

sure your board is representative of a diverse organization as well as your.

Christy Cook: 00:22:20

Mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:22:21

. But, that's important.

Christy Cook: 00:22:22

And governance, governance is how do you make sure you continue

Christy Cook: 00:22:26

to do things, in the way you're intending, you get no surprises.

Christy Cook: 00:22:30

The risk and, the thing

Erin Austin: 00:22:31

that, but I stop you on the governance piece Please?

Erin Austin: 00:22:34

Like, what is the connection between governance, which I think is just

Erin Austin: 00:22:37

like kind of corporate governance minutes and stuff like that.

Erin Austin: 00:22:39

Yeah.

Erin Austin: 00:22:39

And kind of sustainability,

Christy Cook: 00:22:41

This is what I think.

Christy Cook: 00:22:42

I think, FTX has been in the news a lot.

Christy Cook: 00:22:46

Ftx is, Sam Bankman Fried, right?

Christy Cook: 00:22:49

Yes.

Christy Cook: 00:22:49

And he is the guy who is in jail now, currently or I think he's actually home.

Christy Cook: 00:22:55

, yes.

Christy Cook: 00:22:56

Jail.

Christy Cook: 00:22:56

But, he's been arrested.

Christy Cook: 00:22:58

And part of this all has to do with.

Christy Cook: 00:23:02

How he managed the business.

Christy Cook: 00:23:04

Governance oversees the safety of that business.

Christy Cook: 00:23:07

Essentially, if there is good governance, those things

Christy Cook: 00:23:10

wouldn't have in theory happened.

Christy Cook: 00:23:12

Now how this applies too, that's like, bribery money laundering,

Christy Cook: 00:23:16

all these things should be basic.

Christy Cook: 00:23:19

of how you run an operation, a company

Erin Austin: 00:23:21

not committing crimes.

Erin Austin: 00:23:23

Yes.

Christy Cook: 00:23:23

It's not committing Fundamental, yes.

Christy Cook: 00:23:25

Is definitely part of sg.

Christy Cook: 00:23:27

and the governance is really some overseeing of that.

Christy Cook: 00:23:30

And so, That's a very businessy way of looking at that.

Christy Cook: 00:23:33

But the way it's evolving for E S G and, there's a lot of risk and I'll keep

Christy Cook: 00:23:38

talking about supply chain because it's one of the top risks that people are

Christy Cook: 00:23:41

thinking about right now and looking at again, because of carbon and because

Christy Cook: 00:23:44

of, human capital, how people are treated, throughout the supply chain.

Christy Cook: 00:23:49

But if you set a standard, you have to be able to.

Christy Cook: 00:23:53

Oversee it.

Christy Cook: 00:23:54

You have to have something that's measurable and you have to report over it.

Christy Cook: 00:23:57

And that's part of the governance and the oversight that happens.

Christy Cook: 00:24:00

and it's really an agreeing upon this is how we're going to do business

Christy Cook: 00:24:04

and understanding that those are your guiding principles of it.

Christy Cook: 00:24:08

That's how I think about it and the importance of governance.

Christy Cook: 00:24:11

You'll also see a lot of, data security, in governance as well.

Christy Cook: 00:24:15

It kind typically falls under that, but, again, that's, important.

Christy Cook: 00:24:19

Yeah.

Christy Cook: 00:24:19

Yeah.

Erin Austin: 00:24:20

Thank you for that.

Erin Austin: 00:24:21

So, You know, this is a very meta podcast.

Erin Austin: 00:24:24

You know, I am the female founder of an expertise based business, and I

Erin Austin: 00:24:28

am growing to hopefully sell someday.

Erin Austin: 00:24:30

So I must ask you, as the female founder of an expertise based business, are

Erin Austin: 00:24:35

you thinking about, selling it someday?

Erin Austin: 00:24:37

Is that anywhere on your radar?

Erin Austin: 00:24:39

Do you have an idea about what you might do if you weren't doing this

Christy Cook: 00:24:44

so interesting.

Christy Cook: 00:24:45

I definitely do.

Christy Cook: 00:24:46

And, I believe that, folks don't always agree with me because

Christy Cook: 00:24:51

E S G is very complex and.

Christy Cook: 00:24:54

I just think sometimes we overcomplicate things all right?

Christy Cook: 00:24:57

And I think it varies by where companies and people are in their

Christy Cook: 00:25:01

maturity, but I think that, part of what I am creating is this process

Christy Cook: 00:25:06

and this, repeatable, way of doing things that can really simplify things.

Christy Cook: 00:25:11

, and frankly, no one else is doing it right now.

Christy Cook: 00:25:14

No one else is helping the startups in small and medium businesses.

Christy Cook: 00:25:17

Maybe people don't think that's where the money is at, but my gosh,

Christy Cook: 00:25:20

that's where our world is and focused on, and that's a large part of it.

Christy Cook: 00:25:23

So let's do that.

Christy Cook: 00:25:25

I am very interested in continuing to grow because I do think that.

Christy Cook: 00:25:30

Approach is slightly different in my processes.

Christy Cook: 00:25:33

and my biggest thing is impact.

Christy Cook: 00:25:36

So how can we have exponential positive impact?

Christy Cook: 00:25:39

And you can't do that without in my opinion and the way I like to guide

Christy Cook: 00:25:43

myself, but is looking to the future.

Christy Cook: 00:25:45

And part of that is, , how do we, again, scale into a large saleable

Christy Cook: 00:25:49

business and really excited about, just recently approached by an organization

Christy Cook: 00:25:54

that's really focused on that.

Christy Cook: 00:25:55

And so it's kinda exciting to mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:25:58

think about it in that way, and even potential perhaps

Christy Cook: 00:26:01

sooner than later, but yes.

Erin Austin: 00:26:03

Wow.

Erin Austin: 00:26:03

That is exciting.

Erin Austin: 00:26:04

Well, you talking my language.

Erin Austin: 00:26:05

increasing impact by creating a scale of business.

Erin Austin: 00:26:08

We know that there's only so much we can do on a one-on-one basis, right?

Erin Austin: 00:26:11

And so at some point we have to expand beyond ourselves, whether it's through

Erin Austin: 00:26:16

employees, if that's your thing, or through some sort of, products or

Erin Austin: 00:26:20

other ways of, leveraging our talents.

Erin Austin: 00:26:23

And, so I love to hear that.

Erin Austin: 00:26:25

That is great.

Erin Austin: 00:26:26

So as we wrap, three final questions.

Erin Austin: 00:26:29

so, creating a more equitable economy is something that is

Erin Austin: 00:26:33

very important to us here.

Erin Austin: 00:26:35

And so is there a person or organization that is doing work in this area

Erin Austin: 00:26:39

that you'd like to share with the

Christy Cook: 00:26:40

audience?

Christy Cook: 00:26:41

Oh, absolutely.

Christy Cook: 00:26:42

So, the organization that I, wanna talk about is called Bandar.

Christy Cook: 00:26:46

Nlu and it well before this

Erin Austin: 00:26:49

in the show notes, everyone, so we can,

Christy Cook: 00:26:51

yes.

Christy Cook: 00:26:52

Awesome.

Christy Cook: 00:26:52

You'll see the website.

Christy Cook: 00:26:54

I love the organization for many reasons.

Christy Cook: 00:26:56

One, The founder is also a former boss, so I know her very well.

Christy Cook: 00:27:02

Mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:27:03

I know what she's trying to accomplish and do.

Christy Cook: 00:27:05

So it's just really great.

Christy Cook: 00:27:06

But her name is Deborah Hecker and she founded Bandar and Belu

Christy Cook: 00:27:09

and she founded it because the organization really does two things.

Christy Cook: 00:27:13

One, there's waste reduction component.

Christy Cook: 00:27:15

And what I mean by that is, 85% of all clothing in the US either goes

Christy Cook: 00:27:20

to the landfill or is incinerated.

Christy Cook: 00:27:22

Mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:27:23

, it's huge.

Christy Cook: 00:27:23

Mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:27:24

and what she does is repurpose sorrys.

Christy Cook: 00:27:27

So sorrys are a traditional Indian and other culture, garment that is worn.

Christy Cook: 00:27:33

And she takes these garments and with a group of volunteers, they.

Christy Cook: 00:27:38

Animals and jewelry and purses.

Christy Cook: 00:27:41

Just really cool things that are repurposed that you can buy.

Christy Cook: 00:27:45

And it goes in support of improving graduation rates for girls in India.

Christy Cook: 00:27:52

Wonderful.

Christy Cook: 00:27:52

Because we know that if girls succeed, community succeed,

Christy Cook: 00:27:57

families succeed, they're, higher levels of thriving in the world.

Christy Cook: 00:28:00

And so it's a great organization.

Christy Cook: 00:28:02

I would just encourage everyone to go check it out.

Christy Cook: 00:28:05

. And I, I think one of the cool things that's happened recently in some ways is,

Christy Cook: 00:28:09

Tamara Hamlin, you know, he had, I think a GoFundMe for a couple of thousand dollars.

Christy Cook: 00:28:15

That's now over 9 million.

Christy Cook: 00:28:16

Yes, this is a small organization with dreams.

Christy Cook: 00:28:19

How about that?

Christy Cook: 00:28:20

So help, girls in India and reduce waste and check out Bandar and Belu.

Erin Austin: 00:28:25

I love that, that directly hits our theme, which is, wealth in the

Erin Austin: 00:28:28

hands of women can change the world.

Erin Austin: 00:28:30

You Cause women provide more for their families, for their communities and, some

Erin Austin: 00:28:34

people don't take space flights and with, with their , they, fund, school programs.

Erin Austin: 00:28:39

So that's another story.

Erin Austin: 00:28:41

uh, so I love that.

Christy Cook: 00:28:42

so.

Erin Austin: 00:28:43

anything new happening in your business?

Erin Austin: 00:28:44

And is there any kind of offer that you'd like to share that would be of

Christy Cook: 00:28:48

interest to, to the client?

Christy Cook: 00:28:49

Oh, great, great.

Christy Cook: 00:28:49

I'm so excited.

Christy Cook: 00:28:50

I forgot about this.

Christy Cook: 00:28:51

This is exciting.

Christy Cook: 00:28:52

So, yes, I do have a, it's new, it's here in the spring.

Christy Cook: 00:28:55

and so I have a course.

Christy Cook: 00:28:57

That is available particularly for startups.

Christy Cook: 00:29:01

to really help them implement the e s g practices they

Christy Cook: 00:29:03

need in order to get funding.

Christy Cook: 00:29:05

So check out my website, invest her strategies.

Christy Cook: 00:29:08

That's invest.

Christy Cook: 00:29:08

H e r mm-hmm.

Christy Cook: 00:29:10

. And I know the links will be Yes.

Christy Cook: 00:29:11

We'll be here Erin.

Christy Cook: 00:29:12

So thank you for that.

Christy Cook: 00:29:13

but that's, really what I'm focused on right now because, I just saw

Christy Cook: 00:29:17

an article this week, basically over the last several years.

Christy Cook: 00:29:22

3% of funding, a little less than 3% has went to women.

Christy Cook: 00:29:25

That's now down below 2%.

Christy Cook: 00:29:27

And so at 1.9% now, is an article I just saw.

Christy Cook: 00:29:31

So let's do some good things here.

Christy Cook: 00:29:33

Yes, let's implement some E S G practices.

Christy Cook: 00:29:35

Let's make sure that companies with, good ways of working are thriving.

Christy Cook: 00:29:40

So check it out and, I'd be glad to chat with anyone.

Christy Cook: 00:29:44

Yeah, the clients.

Erin Austin: 00:29:46

Right.

Erin Austin: 00:29:46

Clients that care about E S G are the clients that you wanna work with.

Erin Austin: 00:29:49

Those are the ones that Absolut great partners for you.

Erin Austin: 00:29:51

So yes, that is great.

Erin Austin: 00:29:53

So, we know we can find you@investorstrategies.com.

Erin Austin: 00:29:56

Where else can people find you?

Christy Cook: 00:29:58

You can find me on LinkedIn.

Christy Cook: 00:30:00

that's probably the best place to find me if you're looking to chat and, of

Christy Cook: 00:30:03

course my website, so, yeah, absolutely.

Erin Austin: 00:30:06

Awesome.

Erin Austin: 00:30:07

Thank you so much for being with us Christie.

Erin Austin: 00:30:09

So much wisdom shared.

Erin Austin: 00:30:11

Much

Christy Cook: 00:30:11

appreciated.

Christy Cook: 00:30:12

Thank you so much fun.

Christy Cook: 00:30:13

I hope that, the listeners get something out of this and, it was fun.

Christy Cook: 00:30:17

Thank you Aaron Aaron.

Christy Cook: 00:30:18

Hundred

Erin Austin: 00:30:18

percent.