Do you think the whole ‘green’ thing is just a hyped up scam, probably started by the Chinese? Then you’re probably an absolutistic ‘Navy’ thinker type, trying to understand sustainability through your dichotomous right/wrong, good/evil worldview.
OK, let me back up.
As a sustainability marketer, I don’t have to agree with the skeptics, but it sure helps to understand them a little better. To this end, John Marshall Roberts introduced the room to the 8 Graves Colors of Thinking Types, a colour coded system of segmenting worldviews, from our barely self-aware hunter-gatherer ancestors (Tan) to the fully realized holistic thinkers of tomorrow (Indigo).
Each group views the world differently and will experience a different type of cynicism that defines their green skepticism. Have a look at these four points of view and see if you recognize yourself or anyone you know:
- Navy (Absolutistic) Life is a test. “Global warming is a scam. It’s ridiculous liberal propaganda. It’s arrogant to think that man could change the climate.”
- Copper (Individualistic) Life is a game. “It’s not my job to take care of the weak, the lazy and the incompetent. They’ve got to suck it up and learn to take care of themselves”
- Jade (Humanistic) One human family. “Earth is a fragile system which is collapsing due to corporate greed.”
- Gold (Systemic) Life is a system. “Why am I always the only grownup in the room? This is exhausting. Maybe I should just say ‘to hell with it’ and get stinking rich before the world collapses”
So as a sustainability marketer, how can you better understand the worldview types you may encounter? In one empathy exercise, we were tasked to write a paragraph from a different coloured point of view from our own, as if they were stuck at a sustainability conference against their will. Then we were asked how we might encourage them to stay engaged. Here is my ‘Copper CEO Complaint’
“I can’t believe I am here wasting my time. The corporate jet can’t fuel up fast enough, this fast-talking new-age freak is really getting on my nerves. Can’t he see the bottom line is really the only judge of any business decision? I’d like to see him try pedaling this rainbow crap to the executive! Maybe I can find some way to write this off.”
To counter, Roberts advises framing the discussion with metaphors and language appropriate for the worldview. Copper thinkers fear being low status or losing control. They are also competitive ‘gamers’. So a response to the diatribe above might go something like this:
“Well, Chief, there are bottom line considerations here that may not be evident at first. You know our customers don’t always think like the executive, and we don’t want our competition getting a head start on this sustainability stuff before we do.”
Here are a few more notes on the four worldview types:
Navy Thinkers:
- Associate the word green with hype, crap, scam, lie,nothing, political propaganda
- Value protecting their families (eg, against toxins)
- Hate China
- Eat a lot of organic foods, yet care less about a company’s environmental record. It’s about purity
Copper Thinkers:
- Top enviro concerns: population growth, resource scarcity
- “If we don’t do it, they’re gonna, and then where will we be?”
- Like fast cars
- Fair Trade (living wage) is most important in product sustainability
Jade Thinkers
- Judge through networks, friends, 3rd parties
- Likely to change if their kids tell them to
- Fear being selfish, of losing social connection
Gold Thinkers
- Look at processes, not brand names
- Choose the environment over personal comfort
- Gold sees everything as a possibility
- Chameleon like qualities of gold thinkers make them hard to pin down
For more on Roberts Worldview, or their recent study co-authored with the Shelton Group, visit their websites.
http://www.worldviewthinking.com/
http://www.sheltongrp.com/
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