LF25 Part 2 of 3 - Why Are We Still Having This Conversation?

When Smart People Keep Repeating Themselves

Here’s a question I didn’t expect to still be asking in 2025: Why are we having the same conversations about sustainability we had in 2010?

I say this with deep respect for the people doing the work. I’ve been in the rooms—at conferences, in board meetings, on project sites. I’ve seen the depth of expertise, the discipline, the passion. But I’ve also seen something else: a pattern of conversations stuck in loops.

• We need to make the business case.

• We need to bring the skeptics along.

• We need to get better at storytelling.

Sound familiar?

Meanwhile, the technical capacity for sustainable change has grown. The tools, data, and frameworks exist. The urgency is not in question. And still, the meetings feel like Groundhog Day.

Let’s name what’s really going on here: This isn’t a messaging problem. It’s a resistance ecosystem.

The Real Fatigue Isn’t Climate Fatigue. It’s Leadership Fatigue.

We talk a lot about "climate fatigue" or "change fatigue." But what I see most often in senior teams is leadership fatigue:

• Fatigue from trying to move forward without alignment.

• Fatigue from having to "make the case" over and over.

• Fatigue from doing the work and defending the work at the same time.

This is the fatigue of carrying both the vision and the burden. And it’s not because people don’t care. It’s because the system keeps asking leaders to prove what should already be shared truth.

You can’t innovate inside a room that keeps resetting itself to zero.

The Storytelling Myth: We Haven’t Forgotten How to Persuade

Here’s a line I’ve heard at every sustainability or leadership conference in the last decade:

"We need to get better at telling our story."

But let’s pause here. Humanity didn’t suddenly forget how to tell stories. We know how to persuade. Marketing teams do it every day. Retail has perfected it. Politics thrives on it. We’re not short on storytelling muscle. We’re short on aligned purpose.

What’s really happening is that:

• We don’t agree on who the story is for.

• We don’t trust the audience to care.

• We’re using storytelling as a proxy for courage.

Because telling the story is easier than naming the real resistance.

Resistance Is a System, Not a Personal Failing

Let’s be clear: Resistance isn’t just stubbornness or lack of awareness. It’s structural.

It lives in:

• Misaligned incentives

• Decision rights that don’t match accountability

• Competing definitions of success

• Cultural habits of deferral and perfectionism

So when we keep trying to "make the case" with another infographic, another case study, another emotional appeal—we’re applying storytelling to a systems problem. That’s why it keeps sliding off.

What looks like inaction is often protection. People aren’t confused. They’re exhausted, cautious, or constrained. And they’re rarely persuaded by being told to feel differently.

What If We Stopped Selling and Started Surfacing?

Here’s a different approach:

Instead of trying to sell change harder, start surfacing what’s really in the room.

Try asking:

• What are we afraid of losing?

• Who benefits if this doesn’t move forward?

• What invisible work is already happening under the radar?

• What tradeoffs are we not willing to name?

This isn’t about confrontation. It’s about clarity.

Sustainability practitioners aren’t just messengers. They’re systems interpreters. And our job isn’t just to pitch better—it’s to surface what’s unsaid so that the system can see itself more clearly.

Because once the real tensions are visible, people can choose. But if we keep shielding the truth behind better decks and shinier metaphors, we’re complicit in the stall.

From Persuasion to Practice: What Leadership Looks Like Now

The future of sustainability leadership isn’t about selling ideas. It’s about building environments where:

• Tradeoffs are named.

• Decisions are contextualized.

• Tensions are not pathologized, but explored.

• Learning is prioritized over positioning.

This requires more than storytelling. It requires facilitation, transparency, and systems fluency.

The leaders I see moving the needle aren’t the best speakers. They’re the best pattern recognizers. The ones who say:

"Here’s the real tension. Here’s what’s true. Here’s what we can do."

That’s the kind of story that sticks.

Closing Thought: If You Feel Stuck, You’re Not Alone—You’re Seeing Clearly

If you're frustrated that you keep having the same conversations, that doesn’t mean you’re failing. It probably means you’re seeing the system more accurately than others are ready to admit.

And that’s not a reason to go quiet. That’s a reason to go deeper.

Not louder. Not shinier. Clearer.

Because in this moment, what we need is not more persuasion. We need more truth-telling.

And truth, it turns out, is the most powerful story we have.

Leadership Reflection Prompt

What resistance are you trying to sell your way around—instead of surfacing it and naming it together?

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Jennifer Diamond is a managing consultant, educator, and longtime change strategist with over 35 years guiding leadership teams through transformation across industries. Founder of Maypop Grove, she brings a human-centered, systems-savvy approach to sustainability, strategy, and resilience. Her work blends curiosity, clarity, and deep operational fluency—whether in executive sessions, university classrooms, or reflective garden paths.

"The Gourd Series" is her three-part exploration of leadership in a time of disruption: moving from exhaustion to renewal, and from resistance to clarity, with gratitude to the participants at ILFI's Living Future 2025 and the Lan Su Yuan in Portland.

Learn more at www.maypopgrove.com