We might have contact with a bank over a loan or an overdraft extension. But when Kevin Dunckley encountered HSBC he came away with a career change.
Banking on a new career
As current HH Global Chief Sustainability Officer Kevin explains, the eureka moment happened when he went into a forest and re-emerged as a “changed man”.
He says: “I was a CIO at HH Global, running tech, and I was a board sponsor for HSBC, one of our big clients.
“They ran a global sustainability leadership and learning programme with their execs in nature-based environments, with NGO partner Earthwatch.”
He adds: “Each time, one of their key supply chain partners got invited, so I was in. After five days on that programme, working with scientists and NGOs, I came back a changed man.”
Kevin met with HH Global’s then CEO, who was also his line manager, and said: “This is a really big area and we need to drive into it.”
He adds: “It’s important to our client, important to me and – luckily for me – also important to our CEO.
“l had a career change from that moment. And our client HSBC played a pivotal role.”
Enthusiasm is sustainable
Kevin joined HH Global in 2007 as Digital Media Director and was CIO and Chief Digital Officer before he landed the CSO role in October 2016.
Nearly eight years on, has his passion for the role gone cold? Not a bit of it.
He says: “I'm hugely privileged to work in an organisation this size with Fortune 500 brands and a big supply chain, and I believe we are in the most crucial role.”
“We are deciding what our clients do with their budget.”
About HH Global
HH Global is a world-leading global marketing activation partner, with a promise to deliver ‘big impact for big ideas’.
Kevin explains: “When a big life sciences, beverages, technology or financial client has to go to market with their goods and services, delivering a high-quality marketing campaign across multiple geographies is complex.
“You need a partner like us to activate that effectively and that's what we do. We sit at the intersection of Fortune 500 brands and the global supply chain and we bring their campaigns to life.”
Looking forward with resolution
One of the greatest challenges in building a sustainable business is creating a compelling future vision and actively working daily to make it a reality. But for Kevin, the future holds a great deal of promise.
He says: “I would expect in the next 12 to 18 months significant strides towards reducing our overall CO2 emissions.
“And that's by the product supply chain, helping clients order more sustainable products and services, maybe fewer products, but better products.”
He also wants to see the Sustainable Procurement Framework reaching 2,500 suppliers across 55 countries and the real-world impact of clients’ design communities becoming vastly more aware of circular design through the Conscious Creative programme.
But the “big one” for Kevin is communication and narrative around net zero.
He says: “There's too much alphabet soup and people are confused. So, I'm making it a bit of a mission for our organisation to be the clearest communicators and storytellers around sustainability.”
He adds: “You're not going to take your audience with you if you speak in jargon and sustainability professionals are guilty of that, just like tech people are.
So, I really want to drive clear, authentic storytelling and clear messaging where anybody can understand what you're saying and can get excited to join the journey.”
To read the full story in the magazine click HERE
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