Sports and Leadership

From our monthly newsletter, DestinationGreen

In this edition of DestinationGreen I want to quickly discuss leadership using the language of sports (especially since the Olympics just concluded), update the schedule from the Green Sports Alliance for the next Greener Cleaning in Sport Facilities workshops, and provide an update on the new sustainability program that ISSA is launching to help their warehouse distribution members.

Leadership: Recently I had the honor of giving a talk on leadership at a meeting of the Leadership Institute hosted by the Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC). Check out some of my favorite sports leaders and quotes in the right hand column.

It was an awesome event with 80 attendees representing leaders in K-12 and higher education. All shared the belief that children, regardless of their background, age, race, religion or affluence, deserve to go to school in a building that is clean, healthy, comfortable and safe.

Based on this, the group discussed what leadership truly and practically means – and how we can help all kids and institutions, including those still beginning their Green Cleaning journey.

My congratulations to HSC for demonstrating their leadership and willingness to think outside the box. And as a reminder, HSC will be doing a two-day event during the ISSA Convention in Chicago on Green Cleaning in Schools. So, if you work with schools, this might be a great opportunity for you.

Webinar: And if you’re interested in spending 30 minutes with me (via WebEx), I will be sharing my Leadership In The Language of Sports presentation on Tuesday, September 20 at 2pm Eastern Time. The presentation will be fun and FREE. But participation is limited, so please send me a quick email (click here) and I will send you the log-in and call-in info.

Green Sports Alliance: I don’t know about you, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Olympics. While I would like to have watched more basketball (admittedly, I am a basketball junkie), it was a great opportunity to watch elite performers in so many sports – swimming and diving, track & field, boxing and wrestling, golf, equestrian and more.

Whether or not an athlete medaled, having made it to the Olympics is a true testament to the individual’s commitment, discipline, sacrifice, overcoming obstacles, mental toughness and more. If more of us used this focus and effort, we could accomplish anything! So, if you love sports like I do, I hope you’ll join us at one of the next three Greener Cleaning in Sport Facilities events:

•The Colorado Rockies will be hosting an event at Coors Field on September 27
•The Washington Nationals will be hosting an event at Nationals Park on November 16
•And on October 27, there will be a special event hosted by ISSA (International Sanitary Supply Association) during their annual convention, which will include a Greener Cleaning in Sports Facilities workshop. Attendees will also have the opportunity to visit with over 700 exhibitors of cleaning products.

Please let me know if you want additional info on any of these events.

ISSA Sustainability Program for Warehouse Distributors: I have had the pleasure of working closely with ISSA for well over 20 years. During that time, we have moved Green Cleaning into the mainstream and through the power of the marketplace, we have eliminated the most hazardous ingredients and products that adversely affected worker and building occupant health, and the environment.

Now we are launching a new program to help the 2,400 warehouse distribution members of ISSA operate more efficiently (be more sustainable). The program is specifically designed to help them save money and reduce unnecessary consumption and waste, as well as to give them a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

The program has three components:

1. Benchmarking of energy, water, waste, fuel and other operational issues to help them better manage their resources and identify opportunities to save money;

2. Educational sessions using world-class experts from USGBC, EPA and others to help the distributors actually improve their performance; and

3. Awards/recognition that will include being recognized before the opening keynote at the upcoming ISSA Convention.

Check out this short video of ISSA’s new Executive Director, John Barrett; I think he is awesome and ISSA is lucky to have him as our leader. Together, I think we can make an important impact for these distributors, our entire industry, and all of the buildings and organizations that we serve.

If you have any questions about this exciting new program or anything else in this newsletter, please let me know.

Till next month,

Steve