Episode Details

With numerous competing business priorities demanding attention, and government policy decisions often pushing sustainability to the back of the agenda, organizational communication professionals play a critical role in keeping sustainability front and center. We are uniquely positioned to connect sustainability to the organization’s purpose, values, and long-term success, ensuring it is viewed not as an isolated initiative but as an integral part of the company’s identity. Through strategic messaging, storytelling, and the consistent integration of sustainability into internal and external narratives, communicators can make environmental goals relevant to every employee’s role and decision-making process. We can spotlight progress, celebrate champions, and translate complex sustainability metrics into compelling, human-centered stories that inspire action. By making sustainability a visible, shared priority across all levels of the organization, communication professionals can help ensure it not only survives but also thrives, despite shifting external pressures.

Four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) gathered on August 21, 2025, to share their expertise and experience communicating sustainability during these fraught times. The international panel featured Zora Artis, Brent Carey, Bonnie Caver, and Martha Muzychka, with Shel Holtz serving as moderator.

About the panel:

Although Zora Artis began her career outside the communications field, she has had an outsize impact on the profession since entering it more than 20 years ago to as an account director and then strategic planner with branding and integrated marcomms agencies. Since then, she has led her own brand and communications consultancy and served as CEO of a 20-person creative, digital, and strategic communication firm. In 2019, formed her current management consulting practice bringing together strategic alignment, brand, and communication expertise. She has received five Gold Quill awards. Her significant contributions to the profession and the body of knowledge include her original research with IABC colleague, Wayne Aspland, on strategic alignment, the role of communications and leadership – the first substantial research effort for the reconfigured IABC Foundation – and co-authoring a subsequent white paper, “The Road to Alignment,” supported by 27 senior communicators from five c