“Without a doubt, I’d give Lawrence Ellis of Paths to Change an A+ for his consulting work.”
— Thomas Rice, CEO Emeritus, Interaction Associates (consulting firm hired to support the Initiative)
Outcomes of the work:
- Identified as having developed the most effective Key Working Group in the entire initiative, masterfully leading the group to a high level of performance;
- Co-designed and co-implemented a major, multi-year national anti-pollution initiative, the results of which were:
– Helped to shift the national conversation on pollution, resulting in subsequent shifts in policy, culture and behavior across the U.S.;
– Generated over twenty-five demonstration projects, many of which became mainstream cultural norms. Examples include: local land-use tax incentives, public education programs, and reduced interest rates and insurance premiums for farmers who reduce agricultural pollutants.
– Contributed to significant changes in the language of a major national environmental-protection legislative bill.
Situation Summary
The quality of our environmental resources is one of the most pressing issues, deeply affecting everything from human health to the health of other species and ecosystems.
In the early to mid-1990s, the American public was deeply concerned about the quality of specific vital environmental resources. However, research showed that a vast majority of Americans assumed that most pollution could be traced to easily identifiable sources, such as factory effluent, smoke stacks, or hazardous-waste dumping.
However, much of the pollution in the U.S. was — and still is — attributable to a variety of ‘everyday’ sources, such as agricultural pesticides; oil, grease, and toxic chemicals from urban sources; automobile emissions; hospital-generated infectious waste; and lawn-maintenance chemicals.
In the midst of this national wave of concern, two of the most respected — even revered — environmental organizations decided to take action, cosponsoring this pollution-mitigation initiative.
Over a period of a few years, the initiative brought together major players from every sector of American society: governors and other elected officials, heads of major environmental organizations, CEOs of major corporations, leading activists, scientists, educators and others – including, of course, everyday citizens.
The aim of this initiative was to generate and implement a range of non-regulatory strategies — such as market incentives, scientific projects, and education programs — for dramatically reducing a specific form of pollution.
From Thomas Rice, CEO Emeritus of Interaction Associates
Thomas Rice shares his perspective on his experience of working with Lawrence Ellis, Founder of Paths to Change:
“Without a doubt, I’d give Lawrence Ellis of Paths to Change an A+ for his consulting work.
In the early to mid 1990s, a confidential client comprised of two of the most respected mainstream environmental organizations spearheaded a national anti-pollution initiative.
The client did a competitive search for a team of highly regarded consultants, ultimately choosing Interaction Associates. As the consulting-engagement manager, I immediately selected Lawrence Ellis, Founder of Paths to Change, for the team.
We advised the client to structure the project with a high-level Blue Ribbon Panel, and Working Groups comprised of internationally respected experts in key areas.
Our client convened a Blue Ribbon Panel that included governors, CEOs, environmental leaders, activists, educators, scientists, and others who leveraged their networks and resources in support of the aims of the initiative. The Panel met every few months and made final decisions on the recommendations from several different Working Groups.
The multiple Working Groups met regularly — each with a dedicated consultant, including Lawrence — doing research, analysis, problem-solving, and benchmarking best practices, ultimately generating many phenomenal ideas and projects.
Month after month, one particularly high-performing Working Group stood out more and more, so much so that everyone involved with the project — from Blue Ribbon Panel members to members of other Working Groups — wanted to know why this one group was SO high performing.
It became clear that much of this Working Group’s success was the result of Lawrence’s consulting leadership.
Through Lawrence’s masterful leadership, this diverse group of individuals from various organizations and geographic locations became an extremely cohesive, synergistic team. He led them through highly effective group processes, and provided impeccable consulting, such that time after time, they produced outstanding results.
In between group sessions, he was a consummate coach and project manager, inspiring individual members to greater heights of excellence and keeping the whole team connected and accountable to the larger mission.
Their ongoing stellar performance became “the buzz” of plenary meetings with the Blue Ribbon Panel. At one point, on behalf of the Panel, the leader of the entire initiative publicly praised Lawrence for his work and the success of his group in setting an incredibly high bar for the rest of the initiative.
Beyond just his working group, Lawrence contributed skillfully as our consulting team designed and executed key strategies to keep the entire initiative — including the Blue Ribbon Panel and Working Groups — engaged, coordinated and highly productive.
This was no small feat, given that we had scores of individuals from different sectors and levels of society, often with viewpoints and agendas that were divergent, if not in outright conflict with each other.
Then there were the more broad-reaching results of our work.
The ultimate yardstick of our success was whether this initiative’s efforts provided a platform for a different national conversation, with ensuing policy shifts, cultural shifts, and changes in behavior, and indeed they did.
For example, there was a significant change in the language of a major environmental-protection regulation. The new language, almost to a word, came from this Initiative.
Also, this initiative generated over twenty-five demonstration projects. Many of them continued for years, starting as leading-edge pilots that were later incorporated into mainstream society as the ideas they embodied became cultural norms.”