Red saves planet

 

Anyone else up early thinking about climate change in this heat?

Having recently spent time on personal development and being preoccupied with sustainability the intersection of the two is filling my mind as the heat keeps me awake.

Sustainability is often considered in terms Water resources, , scopes 1 to 3, embodied carbon, materials, demolition, reuse, the circular economy, biodiversity An environmental protection. We rarely considered how personality types, and their communication preferences, impact carbon footprint.  Yet every email we craft, send, store, forward, and archive has a carbon footprint. Individually tiny, collectively significant;

The carbon impact of a single email is tiny, but globally we send hundreds of billions of emails every day. Longer emails, large attachments, unnecessary CCs, and years of retained messages require more storage, transmission, and processing.

If you could see "the cloud" from above, it would resemble:

• Massive warehouse-sized data centres
• Thousands of miles of fibre-optic cables
• Undersea cable networks connecting continents
• Mobile towers and internet exchanges
• Power stations supplying electricity
• Cooling systems removing heat

Perhaps there is another reason to embrace concise communication.

By various tools, my personality type is red-blue, INTJ and ‘Plant’. In emails and question responses brevity comes naturally. Reds tend to be decisive, direct, action-oriented leaders who value clarity and outcomes. A short email is often a sign of respect for people's time as much as it is efficiency.

Of course, every colour brings strengths.

🔴 Reds focus on results and momentum.

🔵 Blues value accuracy, detail, and evidence, ensuring decisions are well-informed.

🟢 Greens prioritise relationships, harmony, and support, creating cultures where people thrive.

🟡 Yellows bring energy, optimism, creativity, and the ability to inspire others around a vision.

The best leadership teams need all four perspectives. Too much red can feel abrupt. Too much blue can create analysis paralysis.

During recent leadership development training (a reminder that leaders should never stop updating their skills), I was surprised to find I now align more closely with INFJ.

Perhaps 13 years of parenthood has something to do with it.

The strategic thinking remains, but experience has deepened empathy, patience, and a greater focus on people alongside outcomes. An interesting reminder that personality frameworks are not boxes; they are snapshots of how we show up at a particular stage of life.

So maybe there are two lessons here:

Write shorter emails.

And remember that great leadership is not about staying the same — it's about continuing to evolve.

#Leadership #Sustainability #ClimateChange #PersonalityTypes #MBTI #LeadershipDevelopment #Communication #EmotionalIntelligence

This is one reason digital sustainability experts encourage:

• Concise communication
• Link sharing instead of large attachments
• Deleting unnecessary files and emails
• Efficient digital workflows