Brent Couper

Director
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I get really disturbed when…

• I think about the degradation of our natural environment and loss of species that has occurred in my own lifetime
• I see organisations with ‘responsibility' in their value statements clearly behaving irresponsibly
• I meet employees who, for some reason, hate work and have no real sense of purpose despite the well intended efforts of their bosses

I get really inspired when…

• I walk through the Daintree rainforest or the Blue Mountains and think about how important it is to ensure that our natural heritage survives & thrives
• I read of organisations that want to "do well by doing good", and then actually demonstrate that it can be done
• I think of the enormous opportunities my grandchildren and their grandchildren can have if we can build sustainability into all our decisions and actions… right now

This is why I help organisations adopt sustainability practices. “Most of my working life has been spent helping organisations to improve their performance, become more resource efficient and be better places for people to work. I believe these aspects go hand in hand. The recent focus on ‘triple bottom line' reaffirms that organisations can and are becoming stronger economically, by becoming stronger socially and environmentally… that improving their environmental and social performance is a competitive advantage, not just a cost.

The Natural Step provides a great set of core principles and tools that any organisation or community (public or private, large or small) can use to become more sustainable. But these alone are not enough. Organisations and communities need a range of related tools, techniques and skilled assistance on their journey. They may also need a partner to help them along the way. To this partnership, our EcoSTEPS team brings diverse knowledge and skills, creative problem solving and coaching, and above all a passion for sustainability.

Background and Experience

Brent is a founding director of EcoSTEPS, has qualifications in science, engineering and an MBA and is trained in The Natural Step. For over twenty years Brent has worked for international consulting firms helping clients make sustainable performance improvements. His initial work was mainly in the manufacturing, mining and engineering industries. Subsequently his experience has included a wide range of industries, in Australia and overseas, particularly Asia. His role includes business development, managing and conducting large scale consulting assignments for multinational companies, and product/service development. He specialises in assisting clients to design and implement major change programs to improve business performance and develop organisational capability and culture. This work includes helping managers to focus and deploy their strategic plans, identifying and improving core business processes, and implementing ongoing continuous improvement programs. The work often requires training and coaching of internal consultants to help institutionalize the changes, as well as one-to-one mentoring of senior executives.

Welcome to the EcoSTEPS Team