Oh
you
my name’s Jill Doucet thank you so much
for having me here tonight it’s actually
been on my bucket list to do a TEDx talk
more specifically just to stand on this
red carpet so anything after this is a
bonus in my mind so my speech coach said
if I get nervous just to start telling a
story so my story starts on campus and
it started living in a bit of a divide
on the one hand I had a business and on
the other hand I was taking
environmental studies and this was quite
awkward at that time I couldn’t afford
University when I was 17 and I was too
long young to get a student loan so I
started the easiest company that there
is to start at that age with not much
skill which is a painting company and we
had old trucks and ladders and we were
pouring paint down downspouts because
that was okay then and I was also in
environmental science learning about how
businesses are destroying the planet
especially big trucks and carbon
emissions and basically people liked me
and I was thinking this sucks because I
want to build something I want to I want
to build my own career I want to be in
business but I also want to make a
difference in the world so I spent a
couple years struggling in this divide
and decided to sell all the equipment
from the painting company closed it down
I was getting burnt out anyways and I
also dropped out of school because I was
finding that it was making me really
depress the rhetoric of corporations
destroying the planet and yet my passion
being in business so I decided to clear
the slate and I started working at a
coffee shop and volunteering for
different nonprofits anything that
piqued my interest anything that sparked
passion and basically didn’t make me
depressed and I ended up getting
involved with a group on campus that was
working to make the University of
Victoria carbon neutral and this really
fascinated me this concept of we can use
organizations to create change and I
thought could we apply this to business
so I asked my boss at the coffee shop
Dave if I could make his coffee shop
carbon neutral and his response wasn’t
entirely positive at first he said I’m
gonna die in 40 years why do I care so
that was a rough starting point and he
challenged me to just tell him what the
business
was for him and this is in 2007-2008 so
this is not really the right time to be
adding a bunch of costs to a business
they’re thinking no cut cut cut so it
had to be I had to find some sort of
common ground between business and
sustainability so I pitched it again and
said what if this is a differentiator
what if we could make you the most
popular coffee shop in town and that
piqued his interest and he said okay
maybe you have something here and he he
was a smart guy he was very progressive
so he saw the benefit so it was a
year-long journey we made the coffee
shop carbon neutral we reduced the
energy and water costs we also had
really great staff retention this was an
unexpected benefit people were staying
around twice as long and that’s a huge
differentiator in the hospitality
industry we were also able to slash the
marketing budget because it was getting
a ton of free press and customer loyalty
was up so we found that in graining
sustainability into an organization and
doing it strategically can be better for
business and this started to for me it
started to break apart that false
dichotomy between business and the
environment so I had my case study and
then the next business came in and said
hey I have a large coffee roasting
company can you help me make it carbon
neutral and I said sure and we got
started we started making reductions to
their carbon footprint and I sent in my
first invoice and I found it a couple
months ago and it is it has Old English
font it doesn’t even say invoice at the
top it has clipart all around the sides
like like I was trying to design it but
clearly had no idea what I was doing it
only had pages on my computer and then
it just said at the bottom please make
check to Jill and there they said we
can’t just write a check to Jill like
you got to start a business or something
and that’s what launched synergy and I
called it synergy because we’re bringing
together motives from two different
worlds business in the environment and
having them work together and spent
almost 10 years it’s been an incredible
journey we’ve worked with businesses in
the hospitality sector marinas hotels
restaurants fashion companies all kinds
of companies a lot of diversity and I
feel so lucky to work with these
entrepreneurs all the time and when I
think back now to those projects that
had the biggest impact they all started
kind of an awkward conversation they all
started from a place where
we actually didn’t really share values
similarly to my first conversations with
Dave at the coffee shop I want to tell
you a story about one particular
business big whoa burger
when I met Kalin McNeal was before big
ol burger existed my friend Stacy
introduced us and he said you got to
meet this guy he wants to start a
fast-food restaurants gonna be the next
hot burger chain this is right after
supersize me came out and all this stuff
about fast food and I was thinking I
don’t want to associate with that we
probably have nothing in common and
really fast food isn’t sustainable it’s
so wasteful so I don’t even know if I
want to go there but I took the meeting
and you know Kailen is probably thinking
the same thing like Stacy why are you
trying to make me meet with this green
girl she’s probably just gonna cost me a
fortune she’s gonna talk about peace and
love and I want to make money but he met
with me anyways and I met with him
anyways and we had a little tiny sliver
of common ground not a lot but we had a
little bit to work with and his idea was
maybe this would be a good marketing
angle I think people people want to see
fast food is different so maybe we can
reduce our waste and I was thinking the
same thing I was also thinking we could
change the world with this burger joint
but I didn’t approach him with that
first and he said he said okay let’s try
this let’s just let’s try and find some
compostable stuff and what will work
from there today big will burger has
three locations they’re all carbon
neutral they produce less than 1% waste
they are almost waste free except for
the weird things that customers bring in
sometimes everything on your tray is
compostable so when you dump that tray
it goes right into the compost that
compost is used for community gardens
which they have helped start and their
fryer oil is used for biodiesel in their
vans
they’ve become an example for
restaurants and other companies all over
the world they get requests all the time
to share their story and it’s been a
huge marketing advantage they’ve reduced
their energy and water use by 35% so
that’s a huge cost advantage as well and
we really dug into the business case on
this one and Kalyn is now a champion for
sustainability for triple bottom-line
businesses and making a difference and
that’s because entrepreneurs want to
build things at the end of the day they
want to create things and when you start
a company you’re given one measure of
success profit there you go go start
your business so naturally that’s your
measure of success and that’s what you
use but once you start adding these new
men
the social metrics with your staff and
their engagement happiness the
environmental metrics with your carbon
footprint and waste and energy you get
and this is coming from Cailin he said I
get the same buzz when I see those
numbers as I do from having a really
good income statement that says a nice
big profit at the bottom it’s not to say
he doesn’t care about profit anymore of
course he does he’s a smart businessman
but he also cares about making a
difference and he saw that these two can
work together so this is great we can
harness capitalism to create change and
that’s what we do alt all day every day
but there is a big barrier in our way
and it isn’t technology and it isn’t
regulation it isn’t the ones we normally
think about it’s actually a social one
and it affects all of us and goes back
to that first conversation I had with
Dave and Kalyn and in both of those
conversations I was hesitant to even
start it I almost didn’t want to go and
just a couple months ago I had the
opportunity to to reach out to a
business that was one of those big
corporate brands the evil ones you know
we’ve all got them in our head and I
thought I’m not even gonna go there I
don’t respect them they don’t they don’t
share my values so forget it and then I
thought back to those first
conversations with Dave and Kalyn and we
didn’t share values either Kalyn didn’t
come in as a crusading environmentalist
and say let’s change the world with
burgers sort of happened after but
that’s not how we started we started
from a tiny sliver of common ground and
what really concerns me right now is the
way we filter our information and silo
ourselves into groups that just share
our values and I do this too I do it all
the time and I’ve become much more aware
of it I have to remind myself always to
not judge to start those conversations
and sit at the table because you never
know where that’s gonna go so I’ve been
looking for the silver bullet solution
to climate change for about 15 years now
and not just like on reddit on
commercial breaks looking for solutions
but like nine-to-five all the friggin
time looking for how we can create
change cuz I’m really passionate about
solving climate change and there is no
silver bullet there’s a myriad of
amazing solutions but I do believe our
biggest opportunity is to break down
those silos that we exist
and start having those uncomfortable
conversations find that tiny sliver of
common ground and see where that goes so
I have to go back and make a meeting
that I didn’t want to set in the first
place and it’s gonna be uncomfortable
but if we can start those conversations
and create change I think we can really
make a difference in our world and I
want to leave you with the thought about
just as a proof point how we filter
ourselves on social media I’m sure all
of you can relate to this idea of you
see someone have a rant on Facebook or
on Instagram or whatever medium and you
go hide lock unfollow I don’t want to
see it it gives me that icky feeling
where it doesn’t radiate exactly with my
thoughts my beliefs so I’m gonna filter
you out and I do this too I do it often
and I’ve realized that that is just
another way that I’m pulling myself
deeper into a silo only with people that
believe what I believe so my challenge
to you is to think about how you want to
make a difference in the world and how
you can collaborate with people who
don’t share your values to make that
happen
thank you
[Applause]
you
my name’s Jill Doucet thank you so much
for having me here tonight it’s actually
been on my bucket list to do a TEDx talk
more specifically just to stand on this
red carpet so anything after this is a
bonus in my mind so my speech coach said
if I get nervous just to start telling a
story so my story starts on campus and
it started living in a bit of a divide
on the one hand I had a business and on
the other hand I was taking
environmental studies and this was quite
awkward at that time I couldn’t afford
University when I was 17 and I was too
long young to get a student loan so I
started the easiest company that there
is to start at that age with not much
skill which is a painting company and we
had old trucks and ladders and we were
pouring paint down downspouts because
that was okay then and I was also in
environmental science learning about how
businesses are destroying the planet
especially big trucks and carbon
emissions and basically people liked me
and I was thinking this sucks because I
want to build something I want to I want
to build my own career I want to be in
business but I also want to make a
difference in the world so I spent a
couple years struggling in this divide
and decided to sell all the equipment
from the painting company closed it down
I was getting burnt out anyways and I
also dropped out of school because I was
finding that it was making me really
depress the rhetoric of corporations
destroying the planet and yet my passion
being in business so I decided to clear
the slate and I started working at a
coffee shop and volunteering for
different nonprofits anything that
piqued my interest anything that sparked
passion and basically didn’t make me
depressed and I ended up getting
involved with a group on campus that was
working to make the University of
Victoria carbon neutral and this really
fascinated me this concept of we can use
organizations to create change and I
thought could we apply this to business
so I asked my boss at the coffee shop
Dave if I could make his coffee shop
carbon neutral and his response wasn’t
entirely positive at first he said I’m
gonna die in 40 years why do I care so
that was a rough starting point and he
challenged me to just tell him what the
business
was for him and this is in 2007-2008 so
this is not really the right time to be
adding a bunch of costs to a business
they’re thinking no cut cut cut so it
had to be I had to find some sort of
common ground between business and
sustainability so I pitched it again and
said what if this is a differentiator
what if we could make you the most
popular coffee shop in town and that
piqued his interest and he said okay
maybe you have something here and he he
was a smart guy he was very progressive
so he saw the benefit so it was a
year-long journey we made the coffee
shop carbon neutral we reduced the
energy and water costs we also had
really great staff retention this was an
unexpected benefit people were staying
around twice as long and that’s a huge
differentiator in the hospitality
industry we were also able to slash the
marketing budget because it was getting
a ton of free press and customer loyalty
was up so we found that in graining
sustainability into an organization and
doing it strategically can be better for
business and this started to for me it
started to break apart that false
dichotomy between business and the
environment so I had my case study and
then the next business came in and said
hey I have a large coffee roasting
company can you help me make it carbon
neutral and I said sure and we got
started we started making reductions to
their carbon footprint and I sent in my
first invoice and I found it a couple
months ago and it is it has Old English
font it doesn’t even say invoice at the
top it has clipart all around the sides
like like I was trying to design it but
clearly had no idea what I was doing it
only had pages on my computer and then
it just said at the bottom please make
check to Jill and there they said we
can’t just write a check to Jill like
you got to start a business or something
and that’s what launched synergy and I
called it synergy because we’re bringing
together motives from two different
worlds business in the environment and
having them work together and spent
almost 10 years it’s been an incredible
journey we’ve worked with businesses in
the hospitality sector marinas hotels
restaurants fashion companies all kinds
of companies a lot of diversity and I
feel so lucky to work with these
entrepreneurs all the time and when I
think back now to those projects that
had the biggest impact they all started
kind of an awkward conversation they all
started from a place where
we actually didn’t really share values
similarly to my first conversations with
Dave at the coffee shop I want to tell
you a story about one particular
business big whoa burger
when I met Kalin McNeal was before big
ol burger existed my friend Stacy
introduced us and he said you got to
meet this guy he wants to start a
fast-food restaurants gonna be the next
hot burger chain this is right after
supersize me came out and all this stuff
about fast food and I was thinking I
don’t want to associate with that we
probably have nothing in common and
really fast food isn’t sustainable it’s
so wasteful so I don’t even know if I
want to go there but I took the meeting
and you know Kailen is probably thinking
the same thing like Stacy why are you
trying to make me meet with this green
girl she’s probably just gonna cost me a
fortune she’s gonna talk about peace and
love and I want to make money but he met
with me anyways and I met with him
anyways and we had a little tiny sliver
of common ground not a lot but we had a
little bit to work with and his idea was
maybe this would be a good marketing
angle I think people people want to see
fast food is different so maybe we can
reduce our waste and I was thinking the
same thing I was also thinking we could
change the world with this burger joint
but I didn’t approach him with that
first and he said he said okay let’s try
this let’s just let’s try and find some
compostable stuff and what will work
from there today big will burger has
three locations they’re all carbon
neutral they produce less than 1% waste
they are almost waste free except for
the weird things that customers bring in
sometimes everything on your tray is
compostable so when you dump that tray
it goes right into the compost that
compost is used for community gardens
which they have helped start and their
fryer oil is used for biodiesel in their
vans
they’ve become an example for
restaurants and other companies all over
the world they get requests all the time
to share their story and it’s been a
huge marketing advantage they’ve reduced
their energy and water use by 35% so
that’s a huge cost advantage as well and
we really dug into the business case on
this one and Kalyn is now a champion for
sustainability for triple bottom-line
businesses and making a difference and
that’s because entrepreneurs want to
build things at the end of the day they
want to create things and when you start
a company you’re given one measure of
success profit there you go go start
your business so naturally that’s your
measure of success and that’s what you
use but once you start adding these new
men
the social metrics with your staff and
their engagement happiness the
environmental metrics with your carbon
footprint and waste and energy you get
and this is coming from Cailin he said I
get the same buzz when I see those
numbers as I do from having a really
good income statement that says a nice
big profit at the bottom it’s not to say
he doesn’t care about profit anymore of
course he does he’s a smart businessman
but he also cares about making a
difference and he saw that these two can
work together so this is great we can
harness capitalism to create change and
that’s what we do alt all day every day
but there is a big barrier in our way
and it isn’t technology and it isn’t
regulation it isn’t the ones we normally
think about it’s actually a social one
and it affects all of us and goes back
to that first conversation I had with
Dave and Kalyn and in both of those
conversations I was hesitant to even
start it I almost didn’t want to go and
just a couple months ago I had the
opportunity to to reach out to a
business that was one of those big
corporate brands the evil ones you know
we’ve all got them in our head and I
thought I’m not even gonna go there I
don’t respect them they don’t they don’t
share my values so forget it and then I
thought back to those first
conversations with Dave and Kalyn and we
didn’t share values either Kalyn didn’t
come in as a crusading environmentalist
and say let’s change the world with
burgers sort of happened after but
that’s not how we started we started
from a tiny sliver of common ground and
what really concerns me right now is the
way we filter our information and silo
ourselves into groups that just share
our values and I do this too I do it all
the time and I’ve become much more aware
of it I have to remind myself always to
not judge to start those conversations
and sit at the table because you never
know where that’s gonna go so I’ve been
looking for the silver bullet solution
to climate change for about 15 years now
and not just like on reddit on
commercial breaks looking for solutions
but like nine-to-five all the friggin
time looking for how we can create
change cuz I’m really passionate about
solving climate change and there is no
silver bullet there’s a myriad of
amazing solutions but I do believe our
biggest opportunity is to break down
those silos that we exist
and start having those uncomfortable
conversations find that tiny sliver of
common ground and see where that goes so
I have to go back and make a meeting
that I didn’t want to set in the first
place and it’s gonna be uncomfortable
but if we can start those conversations
and create change I think we can really
make a difference in our world and I
want to leave you with the thought about
just as a proof point how we filter
ourselves on social media I’m sure all
of you can relate to this idea of you
see someone have a rant on Facebook or
on Instagram or whatever medium and you
go hide lock unfollow I don’t want to
see it it gives me that icky feeling
where it doesn’t radiate exactly with my
thoughts my beliefs so I’m gonna filter
you out and I do this too I do it often
and I’ve realized that that is just
another way that I’m pulling myself
deeper into a silo only with people that
believe what I believe so my challenge
to you is to think about how you want to
make a difference in the world and how
you can collaborate with people who
don’t share your values to make that
happen
thank you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: