In every company, there are these smart berds who’ve already done part of the work you're trying to get done. These nerds may not have the power to make big changes, but in their little corners, they’re pushing for it.

For example, instead of starting from scratch to make your services more sustainable, find these sustainability nerds in your organization. What do they know? What have they tried? What dreams did they have that they couldn’t realize because they didn’t have the authority?

The beauty of finding these internal nerds is that they know both the subject and the context of your organization inside out. An external expert might be knowledgeable about sustainability, but they'll lack the understanding of your organization's unique complexities.

Action question

How can you find out who the sustainability nerds are within your organization?

The inspiration behind this principle

This principle is based on a conversation I had with Michel Sterckx, a project manager working on a big sustainability project for the Salvation Army in Switzerland. The conversation was in French:

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

• Written with AI help: This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen. I then reviewed and improved the text by hand.