One Thing: Amelia Woodley

16 January 2024

Today the blog kicks off a new occasional series. Called One Thing, it asks an industry professional which single change or development would help their business, their customers, or the hire sector in general. It could be through legislation, people's attitudes, influencing politicians, shaping industry practices - something that would make a real and significant difference. 

I'm delighted to say that the first response is from Amelia Woodley, Executive Team ESG Director with Speedy Hire plc. Amelia (above) devised the company's Decade to Deliver strategy which was launched last July and details Speedy's ESG (environment, social and corporate governance) strategies.  

My one thing is to challenge the status quo.

I came across a wonderful quote recently, which said: “Wherever what was begins to fight against what is, they both jeopardise the future of what can be.”

The ‘what was’ is business pre-ESG and the ‘what is’ is the ESG transition that we see now in business.

The role of the ESG Director is to delicately manage the balance between the two so we don't jeopardise what can be.

So, we all need to challenge the status quo so that we don't jeopardise what is, and what we can be, because our destination point is very different to what it was, say, five years ago.

● Read about how Speedy Hire is challenging the status quo on its Net Zero journey in the earlier interview with Amelia here.