Articles & Blogs

An ever-evolving library of insights, provocations, and points of view from the Grounded team and guest authors.

Showing 12 of 46 articles

Sustainability Has a New Vocabulary. It Sounds a Lot Like Finance.

June 22, 2026

Hope Wehrli

After attending the 2026 Sustainable Brands conference, Grounded’s sustainability strategist, Paloma Jacome, noticed something—the language around sustainability is becoming financial. This wasn't a niche session or a side conversation. It was the strongest theme across the entire event. Rooms filled with iconic brands like PepsiCo and Sephora featured executives explaining their sustainability challenges in the context of broader business. The field has long been fluent in impact terms like “ESG" and "carbon neutrality," but boardrooms speak finance—and that translation gap is costing progress.

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Activating Brand Purpose and Sustainability

Why Do Sustainability Strategies Slow Down in Real Business Operations?

June 16, 2026

Hope Wehrli

Sustainability strategies look great on paper. Your team sits down in a meeting and communicates ideas that “will definitely work,” and everyone feels clear–– but in their own head. Yet, without complete alignment, the trust fall ends with someone on the ground.

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Activating Brand Purpose and Sustainability

The Fastest Way to Identify and Close Your Biggest Intention-Action Gaps

June 8, 2026

Hope Wehrli

Do you know how to Close the Gap Between Brand, Sustainability & Business Performance? Can you demonstrate and quantify the commercial return and competitive advantage you’re getting from your investments in ESG, sustainability and social impact?

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Activating Brand Purpose and Sustainability

The Founder Who Built a Billion-Dollar Purpose Brand…Then Got Fired From It.

May 26, 2026

Paloma Jacome

Jeffrey Hollender, founder of Seventh Generation, shares the hard truths behind scaling a purpose-driven business, navigating board conflict, radical transparency, ESG backlash, and why values-aligned growth is structurally harder than most leaders realize.

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Brand Purpose

Circular Cities in Action: On-the-Ground Learnings from Switzerland’s Urban Design Innovations

December 10, 2025

Paloma Jacome

I’ve spent years researching circularity, studying sustainability strategy, and helping brands close intention–action gaps. But nothing compares to being phy...

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Brand Purpose

Making Earth Day Every Day Shouldn’t Be This Hard | Kathleen Rogers

December 3, 2025

Paloma Jacome

In this episode of It Shouldn’t Be This Hard, we dig deep into the world's most renowned environmental day of awareness - Earth Day. Not just the event, but...

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Brand Purpose

Green Friday Brand Activation: Inspiring Sustainable Choices Instead of Black Friday

November 26, 2025

Paloma Jacome

Black Friday has long been a cornerstone of retail success… a high-voltage sales chaos that can make or break annual revenues. The shopping frenzy that erupt...

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Brand Purpose

A Future Without Cigarettes Shouldn’t Be This Hard | Jennifer Motles

November 25, 2025

Paloma Jacome

What happens when a sustainability leader steps into one of the world’s most controversial industries and decides to change it from the inside out?

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Brand Purpose

Circular Brand Activation in Switzerland: How QWSTION, ID Genève, and Zuriga Are Building Regenerative Brands

November 25, 2025

Paloma Jacome

I just came back from Europe and my mind is still buzzing. Not from the espresso (though plenty of that), but from witnessing how a handful of Swiss brands a...

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Brand Purpose

Fair Price for Coffee Shouldn’t Be This Hard | Bob & Michelle Fish

November 19, 2025

Paloma Jacome

The coffee industry is built on broken economics. Most farmers are paid less than the cost of production, forcing families off their land and trapping...

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Brand Purpose

Circular Economy in Switzerland: A Week Inside the World’s Most Circular Nation

November 19, 2025

Paloma Jacome

Anyone working towards more responsible business, operating with purpose, has encountered the ideal of transforming the global marketplace into a circular ec...

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Brand Purpose

Universal Flourishing Shouldn’t Be This Hard | Karimah Huddah

November 19, 2025

Paloma Jacome

Impact can’t be an afterthought anymore. Karimah argues that business, leadership, and sustainability must converge (not operate in silos) if we want to...

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