Last week, I spent time with a client working through a “Why” workshop. It always stuns me how powerful these workshops are. From small teams to large corporations, there is always an “aha” moment, in which the team gets it in their gut (pun intended for those of you who have read “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek). Those moments are priceless and change the shape of thinking in a company – not just about marketing, but about the direction a company is headed, processes, and customers. I love watching this evolve.

I bring this moment up because I have seen a shift happening in solar over the last few years. Yes, we’re in solar. Fundamentally, there is a triple-bottom-line component to solar at its roots as an industry. It’s what drew me to it in the first place, and kept me on the solar coaster. But, as an industry, we’ve lost our way in the process of growing up. Short-term profits rule over longer-term thinking, damaging our newly thriving industry’s reputation as a whole.

It comes back to us, as an industry, to refocus back to the core of what solar means. What it means to us, individually, for our companies, and for the entire industry. We can discover or reaffirm our Whys. By doing so, we can focus beyond last quarter’s results and truly thrive in a way that is beneficial to people, planet, and profit. I love being part of this collaborative solar journey!

—Aimee Tuck