Change is Good

Evolutionary theory has taught us that it is not the strong that survive, rather it is those that can adapt best to their environment that survive and thrive! As a true lover of change, my faith in this tenet has been tested in the past few weeks, and has remained strong. I have now finished my first two weeks at Sustainable Waterloo Region and this has been an eye-opening time. While I knew the learning curve would be steep, there are a few things that took me by surprise:

1. The incredible team: there is a large team that supports this organization and I will be relying on them fairly heavily to make sure I can not only keep things running, but move things forward as well. This team is a group of incredibly talented and committed people and I am lucky to be working with them.
2. I feel at home: everyone I meet is so warm, supportive and open. There was never any doubt that people would be nice, yet I expected at least a little resistance to a new face. This has not been the case. Staff, volunteers, board members, community partners and member organizations have all been so amazing and I can’t say how much I appreciate it.
3. There is so much to learn: much more than you would think in fact! The analogy that I have used is that I feel like I am floating over the ocean, watching the waves shift and move and wishing that they would just stop moving for a moment or two so I can get a handle on things. It is all still the same ocean, but there is constant movement.
4. A cause is very inspiring: I am thrilled to be able to be a part of creating change. This is exactly what I was looking for and the reason I made this leap. It has, however, become very apparent that a cause’s scope can grow exponentially, and it is important to have a clear understanding of what we are focused on.
5. This is a definite change: what I was looking for was a way to change my life, and I have found it. To say that this is different from my previous career at The Letter M would be an understatement. This is a whole new world and one I am to grateful to be a part of.

As for the future, every day I have new ideas, the team comes up with possibilities for what we can do together to support business in meeting its environmental goals in economically sustainable ways. I won’t share what we are doing, as so much is yet to be decided, but I can say this; it is going to be a fun and thrilling ride.