Being “net positive” in Wakefield and the world

First published in the Wakefield Daily Item, April 19, 2022.

You can change the world.

I know, my more skeptical, conservative friends are rolling their eyes right now, thinking: “There he goes again – Jeff, the starry-eyed optimist lib.” But actually, I couldn’t be more of a hard-nosed realist in making that statement. In fact, all of you reading this are already changing the world.

Think about it. Everything you do makes a small impact on the world, like the proverbial ripple in the pond after you throw in a stone. Every conversation you have affects the thoughts and feelings of the person you’re conversing with. So does every text or email or comment on social media you write. Every action you take – driving to work; going shopping at Market Basket; paying your taxes; holding the door open for the person behind you (or not) – changes the world, even if ever so slightly.

I’m a book editor and I was fortunate recently to work on a book called Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take by Paul Polman, the former CEO of Unilever, and Andrew Winston, one of the world’s leading thinkers on sustainable business. Their core argument is that business – the primary source of economic growth and prosperity, as well as so many of the worst negative impacts on the environment – can and must step up in helping to solve the world’s greatest challenges. Leaders and companies must go beyond merely reducing their carbon footprint or ensuring there are no poverty-wage sweatshops in their supply chain (though of course, at a bare minimum, they should do these things). Given the dire state of our planet, both environmentally and socially, being neutral or “net zero” is not enough. Rather, companies must accomplish their goals and deploy their resources in ways that solve big problems rather than create them. They should be motivated by the question: Is the world better because my business is in it? This is what net positive means. 

While the book is focused on business, it occurred to me that this net positive concept could be applied well beyond business. Towns & cities can be net positive. So can schools and universities, sports teams and public parks, book clubs or country clubs, you name it.

So can individuals. What you bring to the world every day is up to you. Okay, I can tell you’re still skeptical. I can practically hear you asking: “But how can I do this when it’s just me? How can I, one person, make the world better?” It’s not hard. As I pointed out earlier, you’re already changing the world with every single thing you do, whether you like it or not.

Think of being a net positive person in terms of impact and energy: the impact your individual actions have on the natural and social world; and the energy that you bring to your interactions with others. As you go about your day, ask yourself: “What’s the impact this decision or action will have on the environment or on people’s circumstances?” Also: “Am I bringing a positive, constructive attitude and energy to this conversation, helping it to move forward?”

Some specific opportunities for impact: After you read your Wakefield Daily Item, do you recycle it? If your car is getting older, are you considering replacing it with a hybrid or electric vehicle? With groceries, do you look for opportunities to buy local? If you see trash on the sidewalk while walking around Lake Quannapowitt, do you pick it up and throw it away? If you have neighbors who are people of color, immigrants, or LGBTQ folks, do you look for opportunities to connect with and support them? When you see prejudice against these folks or women or others who are systematically disadvantaged in our society, do you call it out?

Specific personal energy questions to ask yourself when interacting with others: How am I coming across to this person? What can I say that will help the people in this conversation feel better about themselves? Am I helping to find a way forward or just complaining? Am I helping to increase understanding or just trying to prove I’m right? I’m having a frustrating day – am I venting that negative energy onto those around me?

You may have noticed that there’s a common element or prerequisite for all of these actions and decisions: a base level of self-awareness. This is actually the first of three key elements or steps for being a net positive person: the first step is being mindful, having an awareness of your actions and how they affect others and the world. The second is taking responsibility for the impact you’re having. Third, if you recognize that you’re having a negative impact or bringing negative energy to those around you, try to consciously change this to positive impact and energy.

Now, some may feel like this kind of self-awareness would be paralyzing. It’s not. Actually, it’s empowering. Every day you wake up and ask yourself: “Am I going to have positive impact and bring positive energy today? Or the opposite?” You decide.

It’s not a political decision. Though I suspect some conservative folks might interpret my idea of living a net positive life as political, calling it “virtue signaling.” But this is a projection on their part: conservatives tend to view suspiciously anyone trying to solve public problems or correct social wrongs, claiming they’re merely trying to make themselves look good; but what this really signals is a self-centered view of the world, an inability to imagine or understand anyone doing anything that goes beyond looking out for oneself.

Also, I suspect a concept like net positive might conflict with conservatives’ idea of individual freedom. I remember some years ago when a young woman in Wakefield proposed a bylaw banning single-use plastic bags, and how upset conservatives were over this. They complained: Why should our freedom of choice to use plastic bags be constrained in this way? That young woman was trying to bring Wakefield closer to being net positive. What she recognized was that the choice to use plastic bags is not free – it has a cost, a negative impact on the environment. What the upset conservative folks failed to see is that their idea of freedom is really about freedom to do what one wants without considering the consequences for the world we all live in – freedom without responsibility. Of course, this doesn’t just apply to plastic bag use, but also to the way we power our cars and homes, to guns, to masks and vaccines during a global pandemic, and countless other items and habits we may not think much about.

The truth is, the survival and health of our society and our world depends on each one of us. Whether here in Wakefield, or New York or New Mexico, in Italy or India, it depends on our being net positive – our ability to be mindful of our impact on the environment and on each other, to take responsibility for this, and then to do something about it, to make it a positive impact.

How will you change the world today?

© Jeff Kehoe