The Creative Who Gave Up Magic Markers for Planetary Boundaries

Episode 106 | 19.6.2025

The Creative Who Gave Up Magic Markers for Planetary Boundaries

“We’re not reacting to windmills and green fields anymore,” says Martin Kann. “It’s just visual spam now.”

Martin Kann, one of Sweden’s most decorated creative directors, didn’t start his career wanting to save the planet. He wanted a desk full of coloured markers, like the ponytailed ad men he idolised at 17. But a lifetime orbiting two parental influences—his father, a Mad Men-era advertiser; his mother, a nature-loving artist—set the stage for a late, yet seismic pivot. Ten years ago, he walked away from a traditional agency partnership, abruptly exiting a system he realised was complicit in ecological harm.

Listen to the full podcast episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

That decision wasn’t born of sudden enlightenment. It was, as Kann describes, “an unpleasant epiphany.” Despite decades spent immersed in natural environments during his free time—diving, birdwatching, identifying flora—he had never connected his day job to the crises he deeply cared about. “It was embarrassing,” he says. “I was a cog in a system built on eternal growth at the cost of everything.”

Kann’s journey is a case study in the power of alignment. After leaving his agency, he joined sustainability communication firm Futerra. “It felt like walking into heaven,” he recalls, describing the excitement of collaborating with climate strategists and communication activists. For someone who once viewed advertising as “the highest level of cleverness,” this new chapter was about redirecting that cleverness towards survival.

 

From Fear to Worry: A New Emotional Lexicon

Central to Kann’s current mission is emotional literacy. Referencing Anna Townley’s earth.org article on emotional engagement in climate messaging, Kann zeroes in on a paradox: while fear can paralyse, “worry” motivates. “Worry creates support,” he says.

“Fear, when overused, leads to fatigue.”

He’s seen the arc first-hand. The early days of climate comms relied heavily on doom: melting glaciers, starving polar bears, flooded cities. While impactful, these fear appeals often backfired, overwhelming audiences. The lesson? Humans aren’t persuaded by science alone—we act when we feel. And the sweet spot is not terror, but tension. Worry, Kann argues, is just enough emotion to drive action without tipping into paralysis.

This insight aligns with behavioural psychology’s “Goldilocks principle”: too little emotion, and people shrug. Too much, and they shut down. But just the right amount—a simmering concern? That’s where change brews.

 

Killing the Cliché: Why Visual Language Matters

One of Kann’s most powerful critiques is aimed at sustainability’s visual status quo. “We’ve exhausted the tropes,” he says.

“Smiling families in green fields, hands cradling Earth—it’s all wallpaper now.”

He believes the biggest communications challenge isn’t inventing new facts—it’s disrupting stale aesthetics.

“The visuals need to change before minds do,” Kann argues. And he’s right: humans process images far faster than words, and emotional cues often come more from tone and imagery than rational argument. In this sense, sustainability comms isn’t just a content issue—it’s a design problem.

 

What Does Success Look Like Now?

For Kann, success is no longer measured in Cannes Lions or market share. “Success is making a real difference,” he says.

“It’s using creativity not for persuasion, but for transformation.”

His “magic wand” wish? A commercial world unshackled from short-termism. In such a world, brands would optimise for ecological continuity, not quarterly returns. “Nature restores quickly if you let it,” Kann notes. “But we need long-term thinking to let that happen.”

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Decoding Nature’s Balance Sheet: The Race to Quantify Biodiversity in Finance

Episode 105 | 16.6.2025

Decoding Nature’s Balance Sheet: The Race to Quantify Biodiversity in Finance

On this episode of The Responsible Edge, Cédric Olivares-Jirsell, Director of Sustainability Data at Matter, joins the show to unpack one of the most complex and urgent frontiers in ESG: making biodiversity legible—and investable.

Listen to the full podcast episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

Cédric’s path from traditional finance to biodiversity metrics is both a personal and professional evolution. With experience at institutions like Schroders, Russell Investments, and Matter, he brings deep quantitative expertise to an area many in finance still struggle to define, let alone measure.

But what if nature wasn’t just priceless—but priced?

 

🌿 The Biodiversity Blindspot in Finance

“Historically, the financial sector has treated biodiversity as too complex to touch,” says Cédric. “But the reality is that biodiversity underpins our economy in ways we haven’t even begun to quantify.”

While climate has clearer proxies (like carbon), biodiversity lacks a single, unifying metric. This has made it easy to ignore—and difficult to regulate. That’s changing fast.

Cédric’s team at Matter is responding to frameworks like the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and evolving EU regulation by building datasets and scoring systems to bring biodiversity into the fold of investment decision-making. They’re quantifying exposure, impact, and alignment with global nature goals—all while navigating significant scientific and methodological uncertainty.

 

📉 From Gut Feel to Data-Driven Risk

Biodiversity loss isn’t just an ecological tragedy—it’s a material financial risk. Supply chains fail when pollinators disappear. Insurance claims rise when wetlands that prevent flooding are paved over. But these systemic risks are rarely captured in quarterly reports.

“We need to move from qualitative guesswork to decision-useful, quantitative data,” Cédric explains. “That means mapping corporate activity to actual biodiversity outcomes.”

Matter’s approach doesn’t just look at direct biodiversity impacts (like deforestation), but also indirect dependencies—such as water use or habitat fragmentation. The result? A far more granular picture of nature risk exposure.

 

🧠 Complexity Is a Feature, Not a Bug

Cédric is quick to caution against oversimplification.

“You don’t solve biodiversity the same way you solve carbon. It’s not a single figure; it’s a web of interdependencies. But that’s not a reason to give up—it’s a reason to lean in.”

Indeed, Matter’s work reflects a new kind of ESG thinking: one that embraces nuance and uncertainty, rather than papering over it with vanity metrics or green gloss.

 

🧭 What’s Next? Rethinking Value Itself

When asked what he hopes the industry will look like in 5–10 years, Cédric is clear:

“I hope we’ve moved past the idea that nature is an externality. It’s foundational. And our financial systems need to reflect that.”

That means not just better data—but better decisions. Capital must flow away from extractive business models and toward regenerative ones. That shift is already underway—but tools like Matter’s Natural Capital & Biodiversity Framework will be essential to accelerating it.

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Data Can’t Save Us — But Collaboration Might

Episode 104 | 11.6.2025

Data Can’t Save Us — But Collaboration Might

On this episode of The Responsible Edge, sustainability strategist and former TalkTalk executive Will Ennett offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at what actually drives corporate environmental progress. Hint: it’s not just targets, dashboards, or reporting software.

Listen to the full podcast episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

Will isn’t just another voice in the ESG crowd. He’s been on the inside, designing sustainability strategy, engaging boards, and wrestling with the brutal complexity of telecom supply chains. And he’s refreshingly honest about what does and doesn’t work.

“The target’s just the start. It’s the action behind it that matters.”

In conversation, Will makes a compelling case: true progress demands that we escape our own organisational silos and rethink where value actually comes from—often in places overlooked by traditional ESG frameworks.

 

💡 Forget the Net Zero Checklists—Think Industry-Wide Standards

During his time at TalkTalk, Will led efforts that cut emissions by 58% in just four years. But he’s quick to point out that individual corporate action isn’t enough.

“We had to look beyond the four walls of the company. That meant getting competitors, regulators, and suppliers around the table.”

That effort led to one of the most ambitious initiatives in UK telecoms: a cross-sector collaboration representing £50 billion in annual revenue. The goal? Create minimum joint standards to address Scope 3 emissions—a problem that no single firm can solve in isolation.

Key Outcomes:

  • 85% of suppliers (by spend) now have science-based targets

  • A roadmap for reducing upstream emissions shared across the industry

  • Ongoing work with Ofcom to align regulatory frameworks with sustainability priorities

This isn’t ESG as branding. It’s ESG as systems change.

 

🧠 Why ESG Reporting Misses the Point (and What to Do Instead)

Will’s critique of standard ESG reporting is incisive. He doesn’t reject it outright—but he’s sceptical of the weight it carries in decision-making.

“Reporting on ESG metrics is often about satisfying frameworks. But that doesn’t necessarily lead to change.”

So what does?

  • Board-level engagement that links sustainability to commercial risk

  • Simplicity and clarity over 80-page reports

  • A shift from defensive disclosures to forward-looking strategy

His approach also included mandatory ESG training for TalkTalk employees and Carbon Literacy Training—a first in the sector.

 

🌐 What’s Next: A Commercial Lens on Sustainability

After nearly 12 years at TalkTalk, Will is shifting his focus to consultancy, bringing a commercial mindset to ESG challenges in other industries. He sees massive untapped potential for mid-sized firms—too often overlooked in policy discussions.

“The companies that are going to move the dial are those that see sustainability not as a cost, but as a catalyst.”

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We Don’t Need More Awareness—We Need Agency

Episode 103 | 7.6.2025

We Don’t Need More Awareness—We Need Agency

In a powerful episode of The Responsible Edge, we hear from Katie White, a strategist-turned-founder, who’s reframing how we address one of society’s most unyielding injustices: sexual violence. Rather than centring on institutional reform or incremental awareness campaigns, Katie is working to redesign the experience of reporting itself. Her mission? Make it easier for survivors to act—and harder for perpetrators to hide.

Listen to the full podcast episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

Katie is the co-founder of enough., a new venture launching later this year that aims to empower survivors of sexual violence with a revolutionary new form of reporting. But this isn’t just a tech solution. It’s a design rethink of the power dynamics, pain points, and psychological weight that survivors face—often alone.

“The problem is not a lack of awareness anymore,” she explains. “We’re asking people to take on so much responsibility in a broken system. What if we redesigned the experience instead?”

 

🧩 Reframing the Challenge

Katie’s path to enough. wasn’t linear. She built her career in brand strategy, helping global firms innovate, position, and grow. But it was her own lived experience—and deep frustration with the status quo—that inspired her to step away from client briefs and into system-level change.

“This isn’t about replicating what exists or trying to make institutions slightly more efficient,” she says. “It’s about meeting people where they are, especially in moments of trauma, and creating something radically more human.”

With enough., survivors can document their experience in a way that feels safe, supported, and non-linear. The platform is built around behavioural science—acknowledging that trauma affects memory, decision-making, and timing. Reports can be time-stamped but held until a survivor is ready to act.

It’s not just empowering. It’s preventative. If a survivor chooses to release their report, the tool can alert others who have reported the same perpetrator, creating a network of patterns and protection.

 

🛠 What Happens When You Design For Survivors?

Katie describes how much of the current system is built around protecting institutions—from HR departments to law enforcement. But her lens, honed from years in innovation consulting, flips the script.

“I wanted to create something that protects survivors instead,” she says. “We can use design as a form of justice.”

Her approach is iterative, not prescriptive. During beta testing, Katie and her co-founder worked closely with a diverse group of users to prototype features, gather feedback, and refine their tone and timing. One insight? Survivors often want to share their experience—but not necessarily with authorities. So, enough. supports anonymous documentation, giving survivors a form of control even when they’re not ready to pursue action.

It’s a reminder that systems aren’t just broken because of bureaucracy—they’re broken because they weren’t designed with the user in mind.

 

🔮 What Would It Look Like to Shift the Culture?

Katie’s work intersects with a broader reckoning across sectors—from business to media—around how power operates. But what makes enough. stand out is its unwillingness to wait for cultural change. Instead, it builds micro-actions that could shift the ecosystem.

“We talk about ‘culture change’ all the time,” Katie says, “but culture is made up of small systems, actions, and choices. If you change the experience, the culture will follow.”

As her team prepares to launch in October, Katie hopes the platform can become both a tool and a statement. That we don’t need to wait for institutions to evolve—we can create new tools, new language, and new rituals for justice.

And if we’re serious about responsible business, perhaps this is what responsibility really looks like: not just acknowledging harm, but designing systems that make it harder to do harm in the first place.

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Lost at Sea, Leading with Purpose: Seneca Cottom’s Journey from Survival to Sustainability

Episode 102 | 5.6.2025

Lost at Sea, Leading with Purpose: Seneca Cottom’s Journey from Survival to Sustainability

From the Atlantic Ocean to boardroom influence, Alshaya Group’s Head of Sustainability, Seneca Cottom, proves that clarity often comes in the darkest depths. Her story is one of radical empathy, systems thinking, and redefining waste as value.

Listen to the full podcast episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

There’s the kind of story you expect on a business podcast—and then there’s the kind Seneca tells. Her career-defining moment didn’t start with a sustainability framework or an MBA thesis. It started in the Atlantic Ocean. Alone. At night. Having just been flung from a sinking boat.

The experience left her with PTSD, temporary memory loss, and a recalibrated view of value—personal, professional, and environmental.

“I realised I couldn’t just make money—I had to leave a legacy,” she reflects.

That moment didn’t just mark her survival; it sparked a transformation.

Today, as Head of Sustainability at Alshaya Group—one of the Middle East’s largest retail franchise partners—Seneca isn’t just driving ESG from within; she’s reimagining what sustainability leadership looks like when it’s grounded in lived experience and systems insight.

 

🔄 Circular Thinking in a Linear World

At the core of Seneca’s philosophy is a simple but powerful idea: most waste isn’t rubbish, it’s misrecognised value.

Drawing on the article “Zero Waste Isn’t Just an Environmental Strategy—It’s a Business Strategy,” she underscores how waste—whether plastic, packaging, or people’s time—starts with procurement decisions. “Buy smarter, waste less,” she says. It’s not just about being lean. It’s about being honest.

Seneca recounts a pilot with Ericsson that slashed landfill waste by nearly 40%. Scale that, and you’re looking at over a million dollars in savings.

“But it still took me nine months to convince the right people,” she notes.

That delay? Not cost. Not tech. Just the drag of disbelief.

Her magic wand, if she had one? Not more regulation. Just awareness. “I’d wave it and everyone would go: ‘Ahhh.’ That’s the shift. That moment of realisation.”

 

🛍️ The Myth of the Virtuous Consumer

Seneca’s realism extends to the market. She’s seen enough to know that sustainability doesn’t sell itself.

“Consumers say they care—but they still shop for value. That’s not hypocrisy. That’s human.”

Referencing a BCG study showing the gap between climate concern and consumer action in the Gulf, she calls on brands to ditch eco-performative marketing. “Don’t lead with guilt. Lead with utility. No one pays more for less—no matter how green the packaging.”

Her call isn’t for less ambition—but more behavioural honesty.

 

🧠 Recovery, Systems, and Emotional Labour

What sets Seneca apart isn’t just technical competence—it’s her willingness to bring her full humanity to the table.

From navigating post-traumatic stress to completing Harvard Extension courses at 1am from Kuwait, she models a rare integration: academic depth, operational grit, and emotional insight. Every story she tells is a lesson in the unseen cost of change.

Whether it’s pushing back on inefficient legacy systems or holding space for team wellbeing, she sees transformation not as a directive—but as an act of seeing.

“Change doesn’t come from pressure alone,” she says. “It comes from people being able to see.”

 

Final Thought

Seneca’s leadership is quietly radical. She’s not broadcasting slogans. She’s modelling a different way of thinking—where clarity is hard-won, waste is reframed, and courage looks a lot like consistency.

In a world hungry for breakthrough solutions, her gift is something subtler: behavioural clarity forged through lived experience. Less hype. More vision. And a deeply human kind of wisdom.

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Empathy in the Feed: Rethinking Social Media from the Inside Out

Episode 101 | 2.6.2025

Empathy in the Feed: Rethinking Social Media from the Inside Out

What if ethical social media isn’t about better tech—but deeper accountability? In this episode, Josh Pizey brings hard-won insights from agencies, NGOs, and global brands to show how real change begins behind the screen.

Listen to the full podcast episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

The question isn’t whether social media is broken. It’s whether we’ve built the right teams—and asked the right questions—to fix it.

In this episode, Josh pulls back the curtain on life at the intersection of behaviour, branding, and burnout. As Global Head of Social at HX Expeditions—and with previous stints leading Unilever’s global Beauty & Personal Care output and digital comms at Save the Children UK—Josh has lived the highs and lows of the industry. He’s delivered Cannes-worthy content for global names and absorbed frontline pressure in moments of humanitarian urgency. That breadth shapes a rare kind of perspective: part systems thinker, part empathetic operator.

What drives this conversation is a hunger to reframe how social platforms—and the organisations behind them—approach engagement. Anchored in a provocative research paper on “Pro-Social Media,” Josh discusses an alternative feed logic: one that surfaces content not by sheer popularity, but by contextual relevance. Who is engaging, and why? What cognitive diversity might we introduce to nudge us out of algorithmic comfort zones?

“The platforms are doing exactly what we trained them to do,” Josh notes. “They mirror our psychology—particularly our bias towards outrage. But we never asked what it’s costing us.”

 

The Quiet Cost of ‘Always On’

For Josh, the biggest blind spot isn’t the algorithm—it’s the culture.

Across both commercial and non-profit sectors, he’s seen how social media teams often become reactive fire blankets rather than trusted strategists. “Don’t talk to them unless something’s on fire—that’s the norm,” he says. “But that invisibility comes at a cost. It’s real emotional labour.”

His solution is disarmingly low-tech: presence.

“Support isn’t a Slack channel. It’s someone in the room. Literally. Someone who understands the pressure and can hold space when things go sideways.”

This isn’t a wishlist—it’s hard-earned realism. And it speaks to a deeper point in the episode: if social platforms are behavioural ecosystems, then so are the teams managing them. Ignoring their emotional bandwidth is a systemic flaw.

 

Impact as Accountability

Josh’s lens sharpened significantly during his time at Save the Children. “You couldn’t just run a campaign for engagement’s sake,” he reflects.

“You were telling real stories—often about children’s lives. The weight of that forces you to rethink what success looks like.”

It’s here that Josh draws a line between metrics and meaning. Behavioural insights, he argues, should serve as connective tissue between a brand and its broader responsibility—not just as a shortcut to higher reach.

This realignment, he believes, is where social can regain its humanity.

 

Designing for Better (Not Just More)

Despite his honest view of ad-driven platform logic, Josh remains hopeful. “We might not be able to change the revenue model overnight,” he concedes, “but we can change what we reward internally.”

That might mean celebrating content that slows people down. Or labelling stories in ways that encourage reflection over reaction. Or simply asking: what does meaningful engagement look like if it’s not just a click?

Josh’s closing reflections speak less to marketing KPIs and more to human priorities. He dreams of a world where ESG is tied to financial markets—and where parenting well is seen as a leadership trait.

“If someone looks back and says I helped them be better—at work or in life—that’s the goal.”

It’s not a rebrand of social media. It’s a re-humanisation.

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