Very belated happy valentine to you – the least romantic day of the year has passed chez Kane without a murmur once again.

Last week, on a session about my Green Jujitsu approach to engaging people in sustainability, I found myself talking about making an emotional connection with sustainability. Now while some people get a bit obsessed about the topic, I’m not really talking about emotion in a lovey-dovey sense. Rather I’m talking about connecting with people’s sense of identity.

So engineers love to solve problems, so get them solving sustainability problems. Healthcare professions care about their patients so talk to them about health, whether cycling to work or switching off unnecessary equipment in wards to help patients sleep. Accountants don’t feel happy without facts and figures, so give them the numbers. Business owners care about the competition, so tell them what their competitors are doing. Captains of industry care about their legacy, so play on that.

In every case you are tapping into the drive that gets these guys out of bed in the morning. That’s what I mean by an emotional connection.