Not everything has to be absolutely perfect. Sometimes it is OK to find the sweet spot on the axis of minimal input and maximum output, without necessarily compromising on quality or outcomes. I used to want everything I did to be perfect and sometimes that just isn’t feasible or sensible.
As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kendall Reid, Director of Sustainability (ESG) at IFS
Kendall Reid is the Director of Global Sustainability (ESG) at IFS, and brings expertise in the formulation and delivery of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, maximizing economic growth and social capital, and minimizing environmental impacts. Kendall has worked in a range of multi-national corporate and start-up organizations in Asia Pacific, Middle East and the UK., including Sydney Airport, Re>Pal, Sony, Colt Technologies, UBS and Merrill Lynch. A graduate from the London School of Economics and University of Sydney, she is completing a Master of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of London, researching the top FTSE companies’ sustainability programs and the impacts of COVID-19. She has also volunteered with organizations such as Mission Australia and is a Lifetime Fellow at the Royal Society of Arts.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit how you grew up?
Thank you for having me! Excited to be here. I grew up in Sydney, Australia. My mother worked in mental health policy and my father in the Civil Service. My brother and I were blessed with what now seems like quite an idyllic childhood in Australia. We lived near the sea and have always been a close family. It was a fairly simple life — it seems a million miles away from the chaotic world we are living in at the moment! As lovely as Sydney was, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough and moved to the UK as soon as I was 18. I was fortunate enough to do a gap year after school in Europe, and then moved straight to London. I have been back and forth a bit since, with some intervals in other cities around the world, but London is home.
You are currently leading a social impact organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?
I am new to IFS and I truly feel privileged to be working here. When I was looking for a new role, I was amazed at how much was happening in the sector, especially during a pandemic. IFS stood out to me as they have a very pragmatic approach to ESG and sustainability, which is what always works best in my view. IFS has looked at what it does, and internally asked ‘how can we do things better? What resources and assets can we leverage to do good things while also producing great results? What value can we add to our customers, industry, the environment and the wider community?’ It is a really sensible way of approaching ESG, and it is something that attracted me to the organization.
IFS believes in investing in sustainability and the value it can drive to your business. Through investments in technology and connected data, more businesses can better build, manage and measure their sustainability initiatives.
Our commitment to sustainability is built upon our plan to improve operations, enabling our customers to achieve their sustainability goals and commitments. We are also dedicated to supporting the industry at large, to encourage more accountability to our environment, across the industry.
In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, IFS has identified several areas where it will increase its focus for greater impact.
- Education — The IFS Education Program already works with nearly 80 universities and higher education institutions globally. The program provides scholarships, grants, IT equipment, as well as practical knowledge through internships and mentorships for students. Over the course of the next three years, we plan to expand the program to 150 institutions globally.
- Carbon emissions — In a program started in 2019, IFS committed to reducing its carbon footprint in part through consolidating its real-estate and improving the green credentials of its properties. Since then, IFS has reduced the square meterage of its global real estate by 9.5% and shrunk its car fleet by 86% versus 2019. IFS will achieve carbon neutrality by 2025.
- Philanthropy — IFS champions and partners with the IFS Foundation to help alleviate poverty and other social challenges in Sri Lankan rural villages — Sri Lanka is home to the largest proportion of the IFS workforce. The IFS Foundation’s mission is to help improve the living standards of people in the countryside by addressing aspects of health, water and sanitation, education and economy, and resulting in a self-sustained community. CSR initiatives in Sri Lanka have already improved the lives of over 3,000 people. IFS supports the IFS Foundation’s planned expansion to encompass additional areas within remote and rural areas of Sri Lanka.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
My parents do a lot of philanthropy and charity work, and we were always taught to be thankful for the things we have and to somehow try and give back. It seems cheesy, but I did want to do something ‘good’ in my work, but I also loved working in corporate environments in the city. I started working in banks in London which I loved, however, I wasn’t sure exactly how I marry the two ambitions up. A friend suggested corporate responsibility and sustainability, which wasn’t really a big industry back then. I fell into it and have been doing it in some capacity ever since!
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest it. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
Ha! I don’t know that I did ‘get up and do it’. As a child, I wanted to be a lawyer or an archaeologist so a failure there on both fronts! However, I have no regrets about what I have done. I have always been quite academic and loved working in fast-paced, interesting environments and I feel like I ended up here naturally somehow, so I feel very fortunate. There were a few years where I wondered if I had made the wrong decision to go into this industry because it was taking a while to really take off, but I am glad I have stuck with it now. I wouldn’t say there was ever an ‘aha’ moment; there were more moments when I was banging my head against the wall if I am honest! I do feel somewhat validated now, which is a bit of a relief. It is such an interesting space to be in and you get involved with all parts of the business which I love.
Many people don’t know the steps to take to start a new organization. But you did. What are some of the things or steps you took to get your project started?
I have been very fortunate in that when I started at IFS, they were already doing some great things. We have just released a new three-year sustainability plan that has some fantastic, ambitious commitments and opportunities to do some great things. As a general rule when I begin a new program of work, I endeavor to learn as much as I can about the business, about the industry and get to know as many people as I can and then build a plan. I am quite involved in the ESG industry and have a good network, so I am constantly learning about exciting ways companies are tackling sustainability issues and keeping abreast of best practices.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
To raise awareness around the importance of sustainability and to improve our own approach, we have appointed Lewis Pugh as our Sustainability Ambassador, which is very exciting. Lewis is the UN Patron of the Oceans. He will influence our sustainability plan, as well as engage with the IFS ecosystem to challenge and celebrate sustainability best practice.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or take away you learned from that?
Gosh, there are too many to choose from! I think the most mortifying thing was when I had just started out working at UBS in London and was about 22 years old. It was such a change of scenery for me and it was quite intimidating. I was doing some junior work on a really big, global program of work. When the program went live we had a big call with the Managing Director for the UK and Europe. I somehow managed to mess up the link to the conference call that I sent out, which had all of the most senior people on it. When I finally sent a new link, the MD yelled at everyone for not checking the conference call link worked and then hung up. I was so upset and remember crying to my friends in the pub afterwards! I still cringe when I think about it and I still double check things like that!
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
When I started at UBS I had the most fantastic boss who really took me under his wing and showed me the ropes, and taught me a lot about living in London. He is still one of my closest friends and I will often go to him for advice. I think it is so important for junior people to have access to more senior people in an organization who can afford them some time for their development. My family have been a great support of mine, too, and I have a really good network in sustainability — we often say we feel like we are ‘in the trenches together’!
I have been so fortunate at IFS in that the senior management and the Board of Directors are really passionate about sustainability. It is not just lip-service to them, and they have been so welcoming and supportive of me. My manager is fantastic and knows what is important and what isn’t. I am looking forward to learning more from all of them. There has been a lot of support from the 4000-strong team at IFS regarding our ESG program, so I feel like I am in the right place.
Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
There are so many ways to solve the challenges we face, but I think it is important we really understand what the issues are. Sometimes it seems like suddenly everyone is an expert and that isn’t useful. I am learning more every day, as we all should. These issues are complex, and often require complex solutions. I think being organized and pragmatic in your approach, just like you would do with any other large program of work, is important. Measuring and reporting outcomes is really important. We can’t always be perfect at everything, but being honest about what you could do better is a great place to start. These efforts to solve social and environmental issues are collaborative. I think business plays a big part — with great power comes great responsibility.
At IFS, I think the focus is in the right place. We look at environmental, social and governance criteria and put all of our efforts into creating robust programs of work that have meaningful impacts, which we can measure and report on. We don’t try and do everything at once. Instead, we put all of our efforts into programs that bring the most value to our customers, shareholders, partners, communities and our team.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
There are now vast amounts of academic literature that show that this is indeed the case. I think it is important not to reinvent the wheel. Look at what your business does and ask — can we do this a bit better? What can we do to bring more value to our stakeholders — and when I say stakeholders, I would include our community and the environment in this definition, too. Often programs of work such as emissions reduction or programs that improve efficiency within the business will naturally be cost-saving as well. If you are sensible and intuitive in your program development, you can leverage assets and resources you already have to make progress. If you can entrench sustainability principles into your core business strategy, there are so many ways the wider business can benefit — you just need to be smart about it.
Some of the great things we are doing at IFS include:
Increase energy efficiency: In March 2021, IFS launched IFS Cloud, is a single platform that IFS customers can deploy on premises or in the cloud in a modular way taking advantage of the latest technologies and thus reducing needless computer processing and storage. When deployed in the cloud, such as on Azure, IFS Cloud is 52–79 percent more energy efficient than compute equivalents deployed in traditional data centers, and storage is 71–79 percent more energy efficient than storage equivalents deployed in traditional enterprise data centers*.
Sustainability technology to give back: Recognizing the need and pressures many customers must monitor, manage, and report on their own sustainability goals and commitments, IFS is producing a new module within IFS Cloud specifically for sustainability management. With so much information held within the value chains that IFS Cloud connects, this new module will be offered as standard, to all IFS Cloud customers in late 2021. IFS will donate a share of the license revenue generated by the module to sustainability causes.
Innovation for sustainability: To propel the ideation and delivery of added sustainability scenarios for IFS Cloud, a yearly hackathon will be launched on the 21st April and will run for three days across Earth Day (Thursday 22nd April). Teams from all over IFS’s research & development (R&D), customer-facing and internal divisions are taking part together with our partner ecosystem. IFS will also continue to strengthen its IFS Incubator program along the 10 principles that are the key statements that describe how we implement sustainability at IFS at the corporate level, in our businesses and at the regional level.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- Not everything has to be absolutely perfect. Sometimes it is OK to find the sweet spot on the axis of minimal input and maximum output, without necessarily compromising on quality or outcomes. I used to want everything I did to be perfect and sometimes that just isn’t feasible or sensible.
- Everyone is on a different path. I think this is especially relevant for women. Unfortunately, it is fact that women will have more career disruptions than men if they decide to have children, although hopefully this is changing with organizations now offering paternity leave programs, too. Balancing that can be really difficult and there is no perfect solution. It is better not to take cues from what other people have achieved at a certain age or worry about the timing too much. Everyone does things in their own time and in their own way.
- You are not the only one doubting yourself and wondering if you are good enough. I think even the best minds do this, and it is in fact useful and humbling to self-reflect. In order to grow and learn, we have to challenge ourselves with the unfamiliar, and this can be uncomfortable. If you sometimes feel intimidated or like you are faking it, you are certainly not alone. Good on you for putting yourself out there!
- You can have everything — just not all at once. Someone did tell me this, but I didn’t listen at the time. I used to want to have everything then and there, and found it difficult to slow down. In some respects, we have more time than we think we do, and I have learned to be a bit more patient over the years.
- Have fun! I am so lucky that I have worked with some great people and in some great organizations over the years and have had a lot of fun. I was fortunate I learned this quite early on. Work is much better if you can have some fun as well!
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
I recently went on a panel at the London School of Economics, my old alumni, regarding the Challenges of CSR and I was just so impressed with the caliber of the young people there. I am consistently impressed by younger people in the workforce, and think we can learn a lot from the younger generation. I think I would tell them to do what they enjoy, and that you don’t need to necessarily be radical or militant to be interested in Sustainability/ESG issues. It is OK not to have all the answers, or OK to be more moderate or sometimes have some cognitive dissonance in our actions and behaviors. Everyone can do their small bit in their own way. It is great to believe in things and be passionate, but it doesn’t need to take over your life. Enjoy yourself!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I have had a pretty crazy adult life in that I have crammed a lot in, whether that be in terms of education, working a lot, moving countries several times, etc. Sometimes, when I get the speed wobbles or I have moments of self-doubt, my mum will often say ‘normality is a paved road; it is comfortable to walk but no flowers grow’. Vincent van Gogh said it I believe. It does bring me some comfort! I think everyone is really just doing their best in their own way and I feel very fortunate to have had an interesting life.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I am a massive politics junkie so definitely Barack Obama. If you can get me Obama, I am forever in your debt! Failing that, Mick Jagger. Just let me know when and where.
How can our readers follow you online?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendall-reid-43843061/
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Kendall Reid of IFS Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.