Impact Interview: Cass McFadden
What are you working on these days?
I lead Cortland’s Sustainability team based at the firm’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. My team’s goal is to develop and execute initiatives that reduce our environmental impact while supporting the firm’s growth. Sustainability work within multifamily real estate is both exciting and demanding – our projects span topics including climate, energy, water, waste, procurement, design, development, utilities and more. It’s rewarding to work with impact players aiming to transform both building performance and residents’ living experiences.
Outside of Cortland, I offer up advisory time to start-ups seeking to enter the sustainability space. Impact work is inherently inclusive in the sense that it needs all kinds of people, ideas, and talents to grow. In helping others navigate their entries to this space, I establish key relationships and discover new insights.
What was the “aha” moment that sparked your interest in social impact?
I grew up on the island of Guam and experienced firsthand the destructive impacts of typhoons. Recovery was challenging and costly. That experience pushed me to think about career choices that would lead me to drive positive impact.
In my transition from college studies to the workplace, I felt a growing sense of responsibility for environmental work. This stemmed from learning about resource depletion, environmental justice issues, and the limitations of environmental policies and economic considerations. That’s when I developed the notion that achieving “big work” is simply small, intentional steps multiplied against a lifetime’s worth of effort.
How did you break into the social impact space?
It took a while to feel as if I’d successfully coupled “job” with “social impact”. There were days when I felt I was doing what I loved for poor levels of compensation. On other days, I felt well-compensated but less fulfilled. My journey from unpaid environmental intern to sustainability executive has been an arduous one. The advice I’d give to anyone seeking an impact role is three-fold: first, if you’re going to sustain the work, the work needs to sustain you; second, sharpen skills that you know are critical to making the impact you desire, and third, find creative ways to drive positive impact in any role you land.
Working in social impact is often about driving change. What is the skill or trait that has been most important for your work as a change agent? How did you learn or hone it?
When I didn’t know something, I had to be willing to learn. When I learned something, I had to be willing to teach. These approaches sound oversimplified or “soft”, but I believe they are the foundation for doing the harder things such as collaborating, mobilizing, and effectuating change.
For anyone specifically seeking sustainability roles, I’d encourage deep learning in areas of energy, materiality, finance, GHG accounting, reporting, green building design and the like. These topics are sustainability staples and will continue to evolve.
What most excites you about the social impact space right now?
I’m excited that change is being quantified. As social impact leaders take action, I’m glad measurement tools have been created and refined to monitor the outcomes of those actions to ensure success. I’m also excited about investor attention to impact work. This attention alone has shifted the meaning of business as usual by creating a natural integration of impact work with bottom-line thinking.
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