The Role Culture Plays in Sustainability Efforts

As Chief Sustainability Officer for Wight & Company, Lois Vitt Sale likes to describe her role as keeping her head in the clouds and her feet on the ground.

Wight & Company connects architecture, engineering, construction, and transportation services to deliver exceptional solutions that activates its clients’ missions and makes the communities they touch more vital, sustainable, and equitable. Vitt Sale is a practicing architect who sets direction for the company and its projects in order to maximize opportunities to lessen the environmental impact of their operations.  

Vitt Sale brings that expertise to Northwestern Engineering’s Master of Science in Executive Management for Design and Construction (EMDC) program, where she teaches Strategy for Corporate Sustainability. She recently talked about the course, misunderstandings about sustainability, and the role culture plays in effective sustainability efforts. 

What does sustainability mean to you?

Sustainability is an attitude and a responsibility to deliver solutions in the built environment that maximize the potential for healthy places where people live. To thrive, our places need to partner with the natural environment. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Approaching each assignment with this attitude requires focus and creativity. The best results elevate both people and nature.

How did you first develop your passion and interest for sustainability?

Before the word "sustainability" was a thing, I had a love of nature, a longing for daylight and views, and a desire to feel inspired and well in the spaces and places where I lived, worked, and played. As a kid I had the good fortune to have lots of opportunities to be outside in nature. When I grew up, I wanted to feel as good inside as I did outside. 

What is the biggest misunderstanding about sustainability?

That it’s a separate discipline inside the building industry. Would you separate the "good" from good design? Would you ask someone to design a place and not expect it to be good? Do you want a place that isn’t healthy? Sustainability is good design. Period. 

What are the biggest obstacles most companies face in developing productive sustainability practices?

Not having a culture that fosters a commitment to sustainability.  

What are simple steps any organization can take, no matter the size, to better emphasize sustainability?

It starts with education and is followed by commitment. This is only as simple as each individual will make it. Do you throw your trash in the right bins? Turn off the lights when you leave a room? Ask yourself if you really need that straw when you have a drink? Wonder if you should put solar panels on your building? Think about the connection between your actions and climate change? If you have an attitude that sustainability is important, the associated actions of discipline, focus, passion, and commitment are relatively simple to implement. The Strategy for Corporate Sustainability course is geared toward creating a culture that supports this attitude. 

What is one thing you hope students learn in your class?

I hope my students learn to think about how to create an organizational culture that fosters sustainability. Each student will come to this course with a unique perspective and a set of career experiences that is all their own. I’m hoping that week by week, they will understand more fully the composite of elements that are essential to create a culture where they can elevate sustainability in their organizations and deliver sustainable solutions to their customers. This is not a “how to” course on the solutions themselves; this is a primer on developing an environment where their organizations can be reshaped to incorporate and maintain a commitment to sustainability. 

Why is it important for EMDC students to understand the principles and lessons you teach in your class?

Sustainability is important to our present and to our future. The sooner we all understand that each one of us has a role in this challenge, the faster we can create and recreate a built environment in which we can all thrive happily and productively.