Impact Interview: Derek Sabori

Name: Derek Sabori

Role/Function: Founder, The Underswell and Senior Director Communications, thinkPARALLAX

What are you working on these days?

These days, I’m spending most of my time getting to know my new team members and clients at thinkPARALLAX, the sustainability strategy and communications agency based out of Encinitas, California. We help clients with everything from materiality assessments to goal-setting to reports and communications strategy, and I love it. That said, I’ve been on my own as the founder of The Underswell and my School of Understanding for the last seven years, so I’m still adjusting to being “in-house.” I couldn’t ask for a better team and setup, though.

When I’m not learning the ropes and helping clients, I’m spending time interviewing amazing people who are fueling and driving the sustainability movement at brands, companies, and non-profits all over the world and in a variety of sectors on my podcast Good Things Happening! Just under the surface… w/me, Derek Sabori. Truly a passion project, I get to spend time with such smart people who are so committed to doing business better and leaving the world a better place. CEOs, founders, Sustainability professionals, and more. It’s an hour of wisdom, inspiration, motivation, sustainability resources, and connection.

Lastly, when there’s time left, I’m continuously promoting my School of Understanding - a sustainability training course/experience I’ve developed (after years of teaching sustainability at a college) for brands and companies. Brands like New Balance and ASICS put groups of their employees through the experience to make better sense of sustainability, learn the history of it all, and sort through the nuances and interconnections of all the topics most of us DIDN’T learn on our educational or professional pathways.

What was the “aha” moment that sparked your interest in social impact?

Back in the early 2000s, while working as a divisional merchandising manager at the brand Volcom and helping to build up a little employee-focused “eco-club” there, I attended a lunch-and-learn that we put together; it was a screening of the newly released DVD version of the well-known climate crisis documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.

It hit me pretty hard. Here I was with a good ten years of experience at a well-known brand, I was in a management position, I had already gone back to school for an MBA, and as the film ended, I remember asking myself, “Why do I not already know this? Why are we not talking about this anywhere?” I just really felt a bit let down and disappointed.

And so, it was at that moment, as the credits were rolling, that I committed myself to putting much - if not all - of my professional efforts into this space.

How did you break into the social impact space?

Mine is a story of getting the job from the inside. After my a-ha moment (see previous question), I started putting as much effort as I could into that eco-club we were developing (yep, that’s what we were calling it back then). The passion I had and my eagerness to learn made me stand out, and I was nominated to lead that effort. Eventually, that led to a more formalized role as the company’s director of corporate social responsibility, and eventually, as the movement progressed, we turned that into a VP of Global Sustainability role.

The things that helped me secure that role were the following:

• Thorough understanding of the business: I held multiple roles and was involved with various parts of the value chain. 

• Understanding of immediate business needs at the time: on-time delivery, strong supplier relationships, healthy profitability, and efficient operations.

• Trust and reputation: I had the trust of upper management, and while I didn’t have the experience for this role at the time, I had a reputation for leaning in and growing into roles.

• Exceptional willingness to learn: I think we’re still a few years out to where a critical mass of the workforce has business acumen and brand management, blended with environmental and social impact awareness. I dove in and learned as much as I could as quickly as possible.

DIG DEEPER: Derek recorded a webcast where he dove into the details of how he built up the sustainability department from scratch during his time at Volcom. The recording is available exclusively to members of the Change Hub, our membership community for busy sustainable business professionals. JOIN HERE

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?

For me, being a good conversationalist and storyteller has been crucial. In this role, you’re always selling a strategy, a vision, a solution, or convincing someone that things need to change. That, and you’re almost always pitching for something that will cost the business money. So, be sure you know how to lead a pitch or a presentation. Learn how to capture and keep an audience. Know what drives them, and speak to that need or want.

Also, do your best to always be in the know and have resources at the ready. In a changemaker role, you’ll always be working the room, influencing others, and sharing best practices, good examples, and relevant solutions. Have them in your back pocket, ready to discuss.

Lastly, be a visionary AND be a good listener. Yes, paint the picture of where they could go, and what they could be, but be sure to tap into their expertise. You won’t know everything, and chances are, you’ll be working with various roles across various departments. Whomever you’re influencing - work with them and lean on their expertise. Let them know you’re there to work with and help them.

What most excites you about the social impact space right now?

I’m excited that it’s becoming so normalized - at least in conversation. I think there’s still a lot of work to do at brands and companies, but some of the biggest and most influential companies in the world are doing serious work in all parts of their supply chains, and with a wide variety of stakeholders in mind.

Much of this is driven by policies and mandates that are finally coming down from governments and agencies, but much of this is from the pressure that companies have felt and faced from their employees, their customers, and even their suppliers. The more we all learn, the more realistically we face it, the more we talk about it, the more we normalize it - the more that will get done.

At this point, though, we must keep our foot on the accelerator; no letting off now.

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