Abby Shuga
Education Abroad
For my STEP Signature Project, I participated in the Fisher College of Business Sustainability Global Lab. The two-week program included a series of company visits and lectures in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Stockholm. Along with various cultural tours, the business conversations focused on sustainability and how it is treated in European versus American companies.
Over the course of this program, I was introduced to a new, more integrative view of sustainability within business that is adopted by many European companies. I learned to more critically evaluate the sustainability goals that companies introduce; sustainability has become a hot topic in business and I’ve learned that many companies will try to portray their actions as more “green” and beneficial than they really are. Many of my previously held assumptions were challenged, and I found myself considering many new career paths that I never saw myself pursuing prior to this trip. Through this program, I developed a new view of sustainability, and with that a new outlook on my career plans.
A common thread that I did not expect to encounter was the difference between the American and European consideration of sustainability and its benefits. Professionals from many of the companies I heard from made the distinction that in Europe, and especially in countries like the Netherlands and Sweden, sustainability is ingrained as part of the culture and is strongly supported by both the business community and the government. In American companies, sustainability is pursued mostly as a means for better performance through improved reputation, risk avoidance, and cost savings. In gaining a clearer understanding of this distinction, I am better able to analyze the sustainability initiatives of American and European companies and understand their varying levels of success.
Over the course of this education abroad experience, I discovered many more lenses through which I could view and analyze sustainability. The most notable of these was around the idea of the “voice of the beneficiaries”. First introduced when I visited the Rotterdam School of Management, I had never considered the lack of consultation with people directly affected by sustainability actions. In order to implement truly beneficial and sustainable action, all stakeholders need to be involved in the decision making but very rarely are. By understanding this idea, my ability to critically evaluate sustainability and CSR goals is now much stronger. For instance, during one of the company visits with a burger chain, the spokesperson told my group all about how they were planting trees to offset their carbon emissions. I would have been interested to know more about how much the company consulted with the local communities near which they were implementing these projects.
The companies that I visited on this trip opened my eyes to a variety of opportunities I was previously unaware of or uninterested in. For example, I had never considered a career in a foreign country, figuring that the language barriers and cultural differences would be too drastic a change. However, in speaking with the Chief Operations Officer of AkzoNobel, an American professional who has been working in Europe for several decades, my views were altered. He noted the importance of learning the local language as a gateway to adapting to the culture, but also stressed diversity as highly coveted in international business and a way to discover better solutions. Seeing how successful he and other Americans I spoke with have been in their careers in Europe have definitely made me more open to the idea of living and working abroad. In this program I visited companies that ranged from large multinationals, to two-year-old startups, to marketing firms with less than ten employees. Seeing this variety made me aware of all the paths involving sustainability that are open to me.
This program also provided me with ample opportunities to working on my skills and my confidence in networking. I have often found myself to be the type of person who shied away from asking questions during or after a presentation out of fear of looking uninformed or unintelligent. Throughout my company visits, I pushed myself to actively listen and ask questions during every presentation, getting my name and my face out there and providing further opportunities to network in the future. I pushed myself to speak with all of the presenters and lecturers and made contact I wouldn’t have been able to before. This has not only helped me be more confident in networking within my current internship; I also believe it will make me a more successful candidate when I begin interviewing for full-time positions.
Before this trip, I could describe my involvement with sustainability in business as an area of interest at most. I now believe that I can participate in intelligent discussions about sustainability and its current position in business, and use this to my advantage when speaking with companies as a potential employee. I have gained skills in evaluating sustainability initiatives for potential greenwashing, a skill I believe will help me in making decisions as a consumer, as well as searching for a company I want to work for. In my prior vision of my future career, I had never strayed from the idea of working for a large, for-profit corporation. But in speaking with different types of companies and professionals, I’ve learned that there are many more paths out there. I could work for a think tank and promote the idea of urban planning from the perspective of young girls in order to improve safety for all. I could work as a consultant and advise other companies on their own sustainability efforts and drive an eco-conscience throughout the business world. The contacts that I have made and the knowledge I have gained are invaluable to my professional and personal development as I prepare to graduate and enter a new phase in my life.
