I am completing a few searches right now for sustainability professionals with engineering backgrounds. It got me to thinking about what makes an engineer a good sustainability professional.
Last year, while researching chief sustainability officers, I noticed a number of CSOs who come from engineering backgrounds. For example, Albemarle CSO David Clary, Dow Chemical CSO David Kepler, and Jarden Corp. CSO Jim Bennet are chemical engineers. Owens-Corning’s Frank O’Brien-Bernini is a mechanical engineer while YUM Brands’ Roger McClendon is an electrical and computer engineer.
Why so many engineers in a role that primarily involves communications and external affairs — with change management, behavioral learning and constant innovation thrown in for good measure? How does an intensive and concentrated education track like engineering become a prerequisite for sustainability chiefs?
Data, Data, Data
First, engineers tend to be more methodical and detail-oriented. They improve current systems and develop new ones using hard data. This scientific, deductive approach to sustainability differs from a more social and intuitive one. Though both types of professionals are valuable, a scientific process tends to be more effective at improving things like energy efficiency and calculating environmental costs.
Source: GreenBiz.com
By Ellen Weinreb