Meet Adam Garfunkel, Co-Founder of Junxion Strategy

x+why member Adam Garfunkel is an experienced activist, writer and consultant, having spent over a quarter of a century helping organisations plan and deliver effective strategies and communications to further social and environmental goals.

{{divider}}

Based in London and working on projects internationally, Adam is MD of the London office, focused on sustainability planning and communications, as well as enterprise value and communication strategy. Adam specialises in helping companies find an authentic and compelling expression of the links between their business strategy and wider social impact.

{{divider}}

Tell us a bit more about your role and how you got into your Industry?  

{{divider}}

I’m one of the two co-owners of Junxion Strategy, which operates in Vancouver, Toronto and London. My business partner is mostly in Vancouver and I see him about once a year but we speak all the time. It works for us.  

{{divider}}

I run the London office – so all the finance and admin, hiring and coaching staff as well on leading on sales and client-facing projects. At Junxion we offer strategy and planning, branding and communications, and impact measurement and reporting.

{{divider}}

In terms of how I got into Junxion, I’ve been consulting around sustainability and social impact for over 20 years. Seven of those years were spent in a communications agency with an ethical niche from the mid-90s to the early 2000s. It was ahead of its time really and I set up the environmental communications subdivision there.

{{divider}}

It was eventually sold to a larger agency and rather than working for them, I became an independent consultant, which I did for 10 years. I took on Junxion about seven years ago, after having been connected via a mutual friend and people in the industry.  

{{divider}}

Before all that I was a fundraiser and campaigner for pressure groups like Greenpeace. I’m an activist at heart. It still serves me now, with my corporate clients I see my role as one of the ‘critical friend’ – I both support and challenge them. Collectively we all embody that activism I think. Recently, we wanted to work out how we could show up in the climate crisis in a meaningful way, but also meet our clients where they are. We've articulated this in our new strapline for Junxion – ‘lets be audacious together’.  

{{divider}}

‘Firemen don’t go into a burning building aiming to save 3 out of 5 people’ – do you think target culture poses a problem to the climate emergency?

{{divider}}

Broadly speaking – I agree with thrust of the argument that there is a risk that the target can become the goal. We need to remember that this is an on-going process and these are interim targets, that shouldn’t lead to losing sight of the overall ambition. It’s fine to have a milestone but always keep the end in mind.

{{divider}}

The way we try to make a real positive impact is by getting companies to imagine an ideal version of themselves 10 years into the future, and then work backwards from that. It’s an interesting visioning exercise using such a long time line. People don’t tend to imagine themselves in the same job, so we can remove questions around career risk, and focus on the disruptive rather than incremental changes necessary for taking bold action.

{{divider}}

Is it hard to envision and plan for the future, whilst also taking into account the exponential rates of progress and change?

{{divider}}

We are dealing with a lot of unknowns, but the science tells us that globally we need to be halving emissions by 2030, so companies have to make plans that are ambitious enough. There are now hundreds of B Corps planning to be net zero by that time, that is going beyond that 2030 targets, which helps to balance out the laggards. Not knowing how to do it, cannot stop us from trying to do what is necessary.  

{{divider}}

We know that the current system doesn’t work, it entrenches inequality, creates huge environmental harm, posing risks for both people and planet. One of the reasons I love running a Certified B Corporation is I that they explicitly show that business can balance profit and purpose and have a positive impact in the world.

{{divider}}

In order to achieve system change you need two conditions: firstly to recognise that the current system is broken, and secondly the illustration that alternatives exist. B Corps are the embodiment of that. I get a shiver down my spine thinking that I run a business that is a living breathing example of that thinking, and a proof point that another system is possible.

{{divider}}

Where did the name Junxion come from?

{{divider}}

It’s an intersection – the meeting point – of a sustainability mindset and strategic communications expertise.

{{divider}}

What sorts of projects have you worked on recently?

{{divider}}

There have been two flagship projects: one is Junxion being the consultancy that helped The Body Shop to become B Corp Certified, it was nearly a year and a half’s work and they’re the first UK-based multinational to have done so.

{{divider}}

Secondly, we wrote the communications strategy for the new UN-led initiative establishing the Principles for Responsible Banking.  It’s a call for the banking industry to align their business strategies with what the world needs, in the shape of sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.  

{{divider}}

It was founded by 30 banks, and we came up with the strategy that saw this grow to 130 banks at launch. That means a third of the global banking industry have now voluntarily signed up to these bold ambitions. The idea is for banks to show the world they understand the climate emergency and the dangers of widening inequality.

{{divider}}

They have made a commitment to address those issues as opposed to exacerbating them, which will in turn help to secure their legitimacy and the future of their business.

{{divider}}

Where do most of your clients find you?  

{{divider}}

Usually via word of mouth, or networking as I have been in the space a long time. We also write a weekly thought piece on our blog and people I don’t know personally contact us to say how much they enjoy it.

{{divider}}

We do proactively seek to target a couple of areas. We made a plan about a year ago, to see if we could shift more money to doing good and also to support the most vulnerable in society with the challenges they face. So we seek work in finance and in the broader social sectors.

{{divider}}

We have just started a project with an investment management firm that wants to become B Corp certified and the Vancouver office does a lot of work with healthcare and social service providers.  

{{divider}}

Why are you passionate about sustainability?  

{{divider}}

My father passed away last April, and it made me reflect on how much of him is in me. He was a Jewish refugee and I was brought up with a strong sense of social justice and equality – that people are people and human dignity is inviolable. My mother was always involved in youth work and volunteering organisations. So I guess like anyone I was influenced by the values I grew up with.

{{divider}}

These came together around environmental activism. I fell into working for Greenpeace by accident, after following a Canadian woman I’d met in a bar in Bruges in Belgium back to her native Vancouver. I emigrated to Canada with £400 in my pocket. I needed a job and Greenpeace were hiring. That was the beginning of my career – and that woman is now my wife!  

{{divider}}

I had always been impressed with Greenpeace, and working there made me realise just how much there is to do. It felt right to work on something that wasn’t just about me but had a higher purpose, which like I say, comes from the values I was brought up with and the experiences of my parents. That was thirty years ago…

{{divider}}

What Qualifications did you complete before securing the roles that you’ve had?

{{divider}}

I dropped out of my first degree in French and German, which was hard seeing as I was the first person in my family to go to university. But I did the door-to-door fundraising for Greenpeace in Canada and then back here, I volunteered with Friends of The Earth for nine months, before becoming a campaigner there which led on to working in that niche communications agency.  

{{divider}}

At 32 I did a full-time masters at UCL in Geography. I got onto the course because the professors saw value in my work experience, especially some of the campaigning I’d done and the media work for Friends of The Earth, because there were quite a few parallels with the course modules.

{{divider}}

What have been some of your career highlights?

{{divider}}

Establishing the Principles for Responsible Banking is up there. We used an endorser strategy, which worked so well, it was fulfilling to see it going from 30 to 130 banks in 10 months and I hope it will be as ground-breaking as it promises.

{{divider}}

In terms of corporate transparency, I spent 15 years being a consultant to Adidas and helped with the first sustainability reports. It was really quite ahead of its time for this kind of project. The first report came out in Spring 2001 and acknowledged the two sides to their world – the brand world versus the world where the products were made.

{{divider}}

Their suppliers’ factories in the Far East had questionable conditions. Adidas had established a code of conduct for suppliers but of course there were failures to comply. We encouraged them to be honest with people about this. In the report we had a table that showed country by country why suppliers there failed the code of conduct. Reasons like forced labour or lack of fair wages.

{{divider}}

To get a major brand to be so open, and to help shift the dial around disclosure and supply chain practices in businesses was hugely rewarding. Now they are the one of the leaders in this area, because they went first and have gone furthest.

{{divider}}

I also enjoyed lobbying on behalf of Friends Of The Earth for what became The Environment Act of 1995. I got to brief the opposition spokesperson on the issue of contaminated land. Making a difference to improving the access to information provisions in the Act is definitely another highlight.

{{divider}}

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned?

{{divider}}

That all of us are at our best when we lead with love. Which is hard to do consistently – to love the problem you’re faced with, and everyone you work with, in the deepest possible way. Then you can create real opportunities for the people you manage, along with real change in organisations for the better.

{{divider}}

How has what you do changed you as a person?

{{divider}}

It’s made me less selfish, and self-centred, as well as understanding the ways the world works more deeply than I used to. I have come to appreciate that we are interdependent and all part of a whole.  

{{divider}}

What’s your vision for the future personally and professionally?

{{divider}}

I want Junxion to make more of a difference in the world. I want to be part of leading that change. And I want to find a way to balance work with personal life so my family see more of the best of me.

{{divider}}

When working on your passion it can be difficult to put on the breaks and easy to burn out. How do you prevent this, and manage anxiety and stress?

{{divider}}

Spending time in nature, going for walks, playing 6-aside football, swimming, anything that takes your mind off it. I also enjoy seeing great art – either visual or performance, because art helps you understand the universality of the human experience. It de-stresses me to both remember and to feel that.

{{divider}}

Any books or blogs on your recommended reading list?

{{divider}}

The Junxion blog!

{{divider}}

What do you love most about X and Why?

{{divider}}

I love that it has a social purpose as a co-working space, that’s why I moved here. It’s got a clever variety of space – with the quiet space as well as the noisier part for meetings. And I do of course love the B Corp chocolate!

‍