While the big companies grab the headlines when it comes to sustainability details and projects, it’s an issue that impacts every company, no matter how small. With business investors and customers increasingly focusing on how businesses manage environmental and social issues, every professional benefits from understanding the best practices to promote a sustainable organization.
Jeff Gowdy, an adjunct professor of management at Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management, takes this approach when teaching sustainability-related courses, including those in the new, online Global Certificate in Corporate Sustainability program developed in collaboration between Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management and UBC Sauder School of Business.
“It’s not just the big companies that need to be concerned about sustainability, it affects every company in business now,” said Gowdy, who has taught at the university since 2010. One way it impacts smaller businesses is that leaders at larger companies look to smaller operations in their value chain to help them reach sustainability goals.
It also impacts smaller companies at the consumer transaction level. “When we go shopping, we basically vote with our dollar for the world we want now and, in the future,” said Gowdy. “More and more people are voting with their pocketbooks and their wallets for things that are environmentally and socially centric.”
A Background in Engineering
Gowdy brings a background in engineering to the sustainability issue. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia, focusing on management systems. He said with a smile that his choice of an engineering concentration “was more to avoid going into electrical engineering or chemical engineering. Systems seemed the only interesting engineering degree.”
It also laid the groundwork for his first job and future education, both of which involved management. After earning his engineering degree, Gowdy worked for a management consulting firm for about 7 years. Over that time, he realized that his real passion involved working in sustainability.
Gowdy decided to follow that passion, earning an MBA in Strategy with a focus on environmental management from Vanderbilt. Since 2010, he has taught in the university’s MBA and executive education programs. He is also the executive director at SustainServ, a global sustainability consulting firm.
Gowdy said he enjoys teaching, in part because he is following in the footsteps of a father he admires.
“My father is a college professor and he’s in his 53rd year of teaching, so as a kid, I looked up to my dad and thought it was such an awesome thing that my dad went to a campus every day and taught students,” Gowdy said. “And he won awards for being the best professor. So, I grew up in an academic community. All my friends’ parents were professors – or most of them.”
He said teaching offers a great balance with his work as a sustainability consultant.
“In the classroom, I’m with people like myself who went back to school to learn how to pivot their career, how to do something else, do something that’s more aligned with their interests and what they want to do,” Gowdy said.
What Students Can Expect From the Corporate Sustainability Program
Interest in corporate sustainability topics has increased as organizations increasingly focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns, driven in part by a growing trend among investors to consider ESG factors when deciding whether to back a business venture. Consumers also increasingly make purchase decisions based on a company’s approach to ESG issues.
In the online Global Certificate in Corporate Sustainability program, Gowdy said students are given a comprehensive view of what is currently happening in sustainability. “My expectations for what people can take away from this program is a comprehensive understanding of what’s going on in the corporate sustainability space because there’s a lot that is going on. It’s a very wide breadth of activity. And unless you understand that comprehensive breadth, it’s hard to really hone in and pick strategic things to work on.”
He said students go beyond learning definitions and developing a basic understanding of corporate sustainability. The course modules provide a deep dive into specific issues organizations have faced and continue to face. Gowdy said getting into the details helps professionals better understand the most important issues currently facing organizations.
“I think it’s important to know those few things that will affect you, no matter who you are, or what company or sector you work in. And you can walk out prepared to address those things,” Gowdy said.
Advice for Students Taking Online Courses
Gowdy said that taking an online certificate course presents challenges like those experienced by traditional students in a classroom. He said in both cases, students get out of a college course what they put into it.
He said with online students, the key is to show up for every class, have the video on, and participate in online interactions with both professors and classmates. “That’s the main thing – to show up, be fully present, be authentic, and have full participation,” he said. “Then, you will get back equal or more than you put in. That’s also a challenge online because the ability to not do that is a little easier than when you are in the classroom.”
Gowdy said one of the great aspects of his job is seeing students move on to have success in their careers. For example, he teaches a class on the future of energy markets in a low-carbon economy. He said at least four of his students have moved on to work with Silicon Ranch, which he called “a major player in the solar industry based in Tennessee.”
He said the students come back each year as guest speakers in his class. He added that in the class “we cover renewables and cover solar, and we have a business case that gets into the details of solar. Essentially, that was kind of the beginning learning ground, and now several of them are out putting it into play with a major player in the industry. That is really cool to see.”