Influencing from the Inside

As sustainability professionals, many of us work within corporations, global non-profits and public institutions, influencing sustainability progress from the inside.  By working within powerful organisations, we can understand what is and isn’t working, build trust and drive incremental positive change. 

But does this approach enable the scale of change that’s needed? When the organisations that we work for are some of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, nature destruction and social inequalities, does working for them mean we are unintentionally holding sustainability progress back?

As individuals and a collective of sustainability professionals, how do we make sense of these contradictions and move forward?

Join this event to explore influencing sustainability from inside organisations and institutions, where we actively lean into the harder conversation, but always with intention and kindness.

Thought-starters

The conversation will be kicked off by the 3 contributors below:

Jenny Scott

Partner and Co-Founder of Apella Advisors, a corporate affairs and communications firm that helps organisations preserve and grow their reputation amid the complexity of 21st-century business. Also an Independent Board Member at HM Treasury. Previously Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and journalist for Reuters and the BBC.

Stephen Backhouse

A philosopher and sustainability facilitator, working with companies, non-profits, and governments to tackle complex leadership and multi-stakeholder problems. An internationally recognized expert in the philosophy of power, the political thought of Søren Kierkegaard and Christian nationalism.

Nicole Alexander

Co-founder of Noetic, a thought leadership platform specialising in sustainable systems transformation through behaviour change. Previously a brand strategy director at Futerra, advising organisations including Netflix, Google, Nestlé, The Nature Conservancy, and Sierra Club. Also a US Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.

The Harder Conversation: Event Series

We’ve put in loads of work, some of us for decades. We are giving our all to imagining, shaping, influencing and communicating a better future.

And yet emissions are still rising, nature is still declining, health and happiness isn’t great either. It’s 2026 and the dial is not moving in the right direction.

We owe it to ourselves, each other, the planet and future generations, to have the harder conversation.

The one that has no clear answers.

The one that challenges our beliefs and actions.

The one that is essential for a genuinely sustainable future.

This event is part of a wider series of Harder Conversations, where topics are proposed by the Treo House community.

What to expect

• First half: Fish Bowl Conversation.

  3 people will begin the conversation, seated in a circle inside the audience. An empty chair will allow anyone from the audience to join, whilst the original contributors will gradually leave and make space for others.

• Second half: Group Discussions.

  We will divide into smaller groups of 3-5 for prompt based discussion, before reconvening as a collective and asking ourselves 'what next?'.

The rules

1. Confidential

   Take the lessons, leave the details. Do not repeat who said what or the context (Chatham House Rule).

   
   

2. Compassionate

   Be kind to one another. We’re all just complex humans trying our best.

   
   

3. Curious

   Listen to understand, not to just reply. Be open to the experience of not being in an echo-chamber.