Impact Interview: Evan Wiener
What are you working on these days?
I lead H&M’s global Circular Business team based at the brand’s headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. We are tasked with testing and scaling new business models that drive new growth while reducing the company’s environmental impact. It’s an exciting space right now in fashion because the linear model of production and consumption simply isn’t sustainable. We work on everything from building new consumer-facing platforms and services like Resale and Rental, to supporting the development of reverse supply chain capabilities and technologies needed to rapidly address waste and carbon impacts across the industry.
Most recently, my team developed the brand’s resale platform, called H&M Pre-Loved. It is currently live in the U.S., Sweden and Germany. What’s unique about my work and team is that we sit, organizationally, within the brand versus the sustainability function. This keeps us close to business and consumer priorities, but through the lens of low-impact growth.
I challenge my team to not even use the words “Sustainability or ESG.” By doing so, we focus on delivering business and consumer value first, that if done well and at scale, has a much greater impact towards achieving overarching sustainability goals.
Overall, what’s most exciting to me about the work I get to do is that it’s at the forefront of driving large-scale business and consumer change that will help to shift the industry from a linear to circular business model over the next decade. It’s also the kind of sustainability work I enjoy most because it’s about identifying and capturing new value at the intersection of business and sustainability goals.
What was the “aha” moment that sparked your interest in social impact?
I remember reading a sustainability article in the Financial Times back in 2011, when I was working in Brand Marketing for Adidas. The article referenced several Fortune 500 consumer brands, and what they were doing to reduce their environmental impact. This was my “aha” moment because it got me thinking about the direct link between impact and influence. I thought, what if consumer and retail brands could leverage their influence and global reach as a means for more positive impact, beyond shareholder primacy? What if I could help unleash the potential that brands could have to drive positive and simultaneous environmental and business impact?
This article, and these questions, are what started me on my journey to learn and explore as much as I could in this space. I love that working in this field is a continuous process of learning and exploration. It simply moves so fast that you have to stay in a mode of continual learning and exploration. But I still have a copy of that Financial Times article hanging in my office today, because it reminds me of what originally sparked my interest in sustainability, and the impact I aim to have.
How did you break into the social impact space?
Given that I had a background in and passion for consumer and retail brands, I decided that this was where I wanted to focus my efforts. But I knew that to pivot my career into sustainability, I needed both a broader business skill set, while also a deep expertise in sustainability and ESG topics.
I decided that the best way to get this was to pursue an MBA, with a specialization in Corporate Sustainability and ESG. At the time, there weren’t many MBA programs that had this specialization. UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, however, had a Center for Responsible Business as part of its core MBA program. I decided that this was the best place for me to develop a foundation of cross-functional business and sustainability skills.
While getting my MBA, I also started my own consulting practice so I could test out my learnings and gain real-world experience that I could speak to when trying to land my first real sustainability role. This also helped build my network and determine the type of sustainability work in which I was most interested. ESG and Sustainability work can be so varied, complex and nuanced across brands and industries. As such, I always recommend taking the time, even if it’s a few years, to gain the applicable skills, experience and perspectives needed to have long-term impact.
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?
I believe that to be an effective sustainability change agent, you really need to have a diverse business background. I’ve seen so many incredibly smart and talented sustainability experts struggle in a corporate environment because they don’t have experience working across different business functions. And because, for better or worse, they’re often seen as the ‘sustainability expert’ versus the ‘brand or business leader.’ Therefore, whether it’s in product, design, supply chain, finance, marketing, gaining a strong functional (and ideally cross-functional) background creates a foundation that most sustainability professionals need to be successful. While it’s not essential for every sustainability role, it especially helps those aspiring to be in sustainability leadership or CSO positions.
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