I never set out to build a career in communications. I just liked writing; first stories, then essays, then anything that helped me make sense of ideas. It wasn’t a grand plan; it was simply something I enjoyed.
Studying English Literature and Publishing in Oxford sharpened that instinct. I started to pay more attention to clarity, structure, and how the right words make complicated things feel simple.
My early twenties took me to Inner Mongolia, where I taught English. That was probably the first real lesson in communication: if I didn’t understand the point, my students definitely wouldn’t. No jargon. No clever tricks. Just connection.
China became home for many years after that, and leading the Asian Editorial team at PR Newswire forced me to understand how reputations shift; sometimes with a headline, sometimes with one missing piece of context. It was also the first time I saw sustainability becoming a strategic function. We were handling more copy about renewables, green energy, and the early wave of companies repositioning themselves for a different kind of future.
Eventually, that path pulled me deeper into sustainability: first at The Consumer Goods Forum, and now at Cascale. And that’s when something clicked. Sustainability is, at its heart, a communication challenge: complex, emotional, systemic and often overwhelming for the people who need to explain it.
Two decades in, these are the lessons that continue to shape how I communicate, and why I’m building My Green Comms.
1. Clear beats clever, every time
The best communication isn’t the most polished or poetic. It’s the message people can repeat accurately without needing a script.
In sustainability, clarity isn’t a stylistic preference. It’s part of the responsibility.People deserve to understand what you’re actually doing.
2. If you don’t understand it, you can’t explain it
This sounds obvious, but it sits behind most communication failures.
I’ve lost count of the number of times someone has said, “Can you just make this sound good?”But if the strategy or data isn’t understood internally, no amount of wordcraft will fix it externally.
Sometimes the most important role of a communicator is to push upstream and ask the questions others avoid.
3. Most organisations are more afraid of saying the wrong thing than excited to say the right thing
This is especially true in sustainability.
I’ve worked with teams who genuinely want to speak openly about issues like forced labour, emissions, chemicals or supplier risks, but hesitate because they worry that acknowledging complexity will be seen as admitting guilt.
And in global supply chains, no one can guarantee perfect certainty. That makes organisations nervous about transparency; not because they don’t care, but because they don’t want to be criticised for being honest about what’s still unresolved.
That’s exactly why credible communication matters.
4. People don’t trust perfect stories; they trust honest ones
If you present a flawless narrative, people instinctively doubt it. But if you share progress, challenges, context and uncertainty, people lean in.
Credibility comes from imperfection handled well.
5. Internal alignment matters more than external polish
If people inside the organisation don’t understand the message, no one outside will.
Your team is the first place your narrative lives. If they’re confused or hearing mixed signals, everything downstream collapses.
6. Communication is a strategic function, not a finishing touch
It took me a while to realise this myself, and not every leader sees it yet.
When communication is involved early, clarity shapes decisions. When it’s brought in late, you’re fixing confusion instead of guiding direction.
This is especially true in sustainability, where complexity multiplies quickly. The earlier communicators are involved, the more honest and grounded the narrative becomes.
7. The best communication feels like a conversation, not a campaign
People don’t want slogans. They want humanity. They want to feel like a real person is talking to them; not a legal team or a committee.
This is one of the reasons AI fascinates me. Not because it replaces authenticity, but because it gives more people the confidence to find theirs. It simplifies the noise and helps individuals express themselves without needing a big team behind them.
Why this matters now
I’ve been in communications long enough to know that most people genuinely want to do the right thing. They just don’t always know how to talk about it, or where to start.
That’s why I’m building My Green Comms; not to make things perfect or corporate, but to give small businesses, NGOs and sustainability leads a clearer, calmer way to talk about the work they’re already doing.
Credibility isn’t a luxury. And everyone deserves communication that feels human, trustworthy and real.
Comments