ABSTRACT
With the preceding overview of ecological worldviews and their implications in mind, the author shares what he found from his interviews with sustainability executives. The first major theme that stood out from his interviews was the majority of executives who described distinct life experiences that shaped their ecological worldview. They often shared stories at length when the author asked about their backgrounds and motivations for their work in sustainability. Collectively, these stories illustrate that how people think about nature can drive deeper motivation for careers in corporate sustainability. A significant life experience that sustainability executives brought up when asked about their motivation for sustainability was specific parts of their environmental education and the memorable teachers and mentors they studied with during this time. Many of the executives reflected on experiences in college or graduate school. There were a number of executives that described moments during their careers when they first perceived capitalism as a vehicle for environmental or social activism.
