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Avocado Toast and Climate Hope: Making Sustainable Action Easy with guest Cate Sabatini
Cate Sabatini's journey from leadership coach to climate advocate began with a moment of clarity in 2019 that was quickly followed by... nothing. Despite a clear calling to support climate leaders, Cate found herself stuck in a cycle of research, doubt, and inaction that many sustainability-minded individuals will recognize. What keeps us from taking meaningful steps toward climate action, even when we deeply care?
For Cate, the paralysis stemmed from a familiar fear: not knowing enough. "I didn't have the science behind it. I didn't really know if it would work," she explains about her climate initiatives. "I felt like I had to keep knowing more before I could share the idea with anybody that could actually help me make a difference." This expertise trap kept her spinning in circles for years, creating a growing disconnect between her stated values and her actions—especially noticeable when speaking with her children about environmental issues.
The breakthrough came when Cate realized that as a coach, her role isn't to be the subject matter expert on climate science. Her expertise in asking powerful questions and supporting leaders through complex challenges was exactly what sustainability champions needed. "If I can contribute my coaching skills to help leaders in climate make their best contributions, then that's my role," she shares. This shift in perspective, coupled with working collaboratively instead of alone, finally moved her from paralysis to progress.
Cate's message for fellow coaches and climate-conscious individuals is refreshingly practical: make sustainability fun, take imperfect actions, and celebrate what you're already doing. Whether it's using labeled jars for bulk shopping, bringing reusable bags to the grocery store, or simply acknowledging your efforts, finding joy in the journey makes climate action sustainable for the long haul. As she puts it, "The earth doesn't have time for us to wait to have all the knowledge we need"—so start where you are, with what you have, today.
Watch the full interview by clicking here.
Find the full article here.
Learn more about Cate Sabatini here.
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Welcome to Beyond the Page, the official podcast of choice, the magazine of professional coaching, where we bring you amazing insights and in-depth features that you just won't find anywhere else. I'm your host, Garry Schleifer, and I'm excited to expand your learning as we dive into the latest article, have a chat with this brilliant author here and uncover the learnings that are transforming the coaching world. Take some time to join our vibrant community of coaching professionals as we explore groundbreaking ideas, share expert tips and techniques and make a real difference in our clients' lives. Remember, this is your go-to resource for all things coaching. But for now, let's dive into this conversation.
Garry Schleifer:In today's episode I'm speaking with transformative leadership coach Cate Sabatini, who's the author of an article in our latest issue Climate Consciousness and Coaching ~ Making the Connection. Her article is entitled Avocado Toast and Climate Hope ~ Let's Make Action Easy. A little bit about Cate. She's a PCC and she empowers sustainability leaders to navigate emotions, build resilience and drive meaningful change. As a Founding Director in Pricewaterhouse Cooper's Leadership Coaching Center of Excellence, Cate coached executives across accounting, advisory and tax services. Not that exciting, but I'm sure it was fun.
Garry Schleifer:Yeah, she previously led organizational transformations as an executive, guiding senior dream teams through complex changes. Now Cate channels her passion for the planet into helping climate leaders overcome barriers, gain clarity and harness their strengths to create impactful, sustainable solutions while fostering their own well-being. Welcome and thank you for joining me, Cate.
Cate Sabatini:Thank you. It's so great to be part of this.
Garry Schleifer:Yeah, wow, great background. And I have to say you had me at avocado toast. No, I don't get it. I never heard of avocado toast before and I don't know if it was a California thing or whatever. But all of a sudden, what do I have every Sunday at our restaurant after the gym? Avocado toast.
Cate Sabatini:Avocado toast.
Garry Schleifer:Yeah, and there's avocados all over the place, but it's also partially because I'm eating ketogenically and avocado is a primary ingredient in most of the things, because it's a good fat, et cetera, et cetera.
Cate Sabatini:Good for you, good job.
Garry Schleifer:So you know, like I say, you had me at avocado toast, but tell me more. But what had you decide to write this article at this particular time? I know it was climate conscious, this article, but why did it reach out to you to do so?
Cate Sabatini:Well, it was kind of a combination of things where I was doing some, in another program, around coaching for me to be coached and receive some help a nd get some courage to get out there and do things.
Cate Sabatini:And I was actually in a class on creating a speech, so I created a speech around this article, basically. And while I was there, my coach was saying, this is going to just lead to other things, just be open. Said ok. So I still haven't delivered the speech but that week a friend of mine just said you know your journey is so interesting and you should just write about your journey. I'm like, ok, well, that I can do. I don't have expertise in climate per se or anything like that kind of thing, but I said I write about my journey. So it just kind of tied together with thinking through it from a speech format but then really having the opportunity to share it. So, yeah, it was just great timing.
Garry Schleifer:One of my coaches always said book the theater first, so meaning when are you having your speech?
Cate Sabatini:Well, you're very right, Garry.
Garry Schleifer:Getting coaching on this call.
Cate Sabatini:Well, I actually have a target in mind for August, so that's my first like I put in a request, or you know I'm available, type of thing. We'll see if they take it up, but yeah.
Garry Schleifer:Awesome, so you have a date on the calendar.
Cate Sabatini:I have a potential date on the calendar but was like just go do it.
Garry Schleifer:Well, maybe you can consider this your first speaking about it.
Cate Sabatini:Thank you, you're absolutely
Garry Schleifer:Right? Like so, without giving away, I still want people to read the article, and it's called Beyond the Page, so things that you thought about after. But without giving away the trade secret of your article, just tell us a little bit about your journey. I'm particular, I have to say, I really resonated when you said I'm one of those people who has been a covertly but overtly being a recycle person and you're afraid of driving your kids crazy. I do that here, okay.
Cate Sabatini:Oh well, I think so many of us do. It's just hilarious. A lot of people did reach out to me that have read the article so far and say I do that too. So my journey just was really leading a women's group back in 2019. And at that time I just had a bunch of friends actually that seemed to be kind of stuck in where they wanted to go in life. So I pulled us all together and created this nine month program and led them all through it and for me, I just was doing the work alongside it and really got this lightening rod purpose. It was just like go help climate leaders, that's how you can help.
Cate Sabatini:And I went to the airport right after that and walked into a bookstore and there was this light shining right on a magazine that said climate leaders in crisis or something like that, because of the state of politics and things at the time, and I was like, okay, well, I don't know how much more of a sign I'm supposed to get than that.
Cate Sabatini:So it's very clear that I should should get on that.
Garry Schleifer:But you didn't get on it right away, did you, Cate?
Cate Sabatini:I didn't get on it right away. I didn't get on it right away. I didn't get on it right away for a few reasons, a couple justified, and then the rest is why I needed coaching. That was 2019, and then 2020 happened, right, so the pandemic just kind of. I wasn't even on about climate at that particular time.
Cate Sabatini:You know, as we all were in what the heck is this yeah uh, and then um a couple years following that, we had some crisis in our family that I was just helping be a part of and support and deal with, so it kind of just it was always right there and I did keep talking about it.
Cate Sabatini:I want to do this, I want to do this, but I was just not there. But when I freed up, I still kept talking about it. So I really, and partly for me, the talking about it is just, it really bothered me because I don't like to not match my actions with my words, and so I sat on that long enough to drive me crazy to take action.
Garry Schleifer:I love it. Well, you know, one of the things that you know you wrote in your article was what's stopping you and the one that resonated with me and I've heard a lot through the articles, reading articles and interviewing other authors was fear of not knowing enough. Tell me how that impacted you.
Cate Sabatini:It was big because I've actually had this other side idea for quite a long time, about the same amount of time, but I didn't have the science behind it. I didn't really know if it would work. I didn't have the technology behind it. I didn't know. I didn't know, I didn't know and I felt like I had to keep knowing more before I could share the idea with anybody that could actually help me and make a difference. I shared it, like I said, with family and friends. They're like great idea, what are you going to do about it?
Cate Sabatini:So it kept being this I have to learn more, I have to become more credible. I have to know more before I share this idea or before I can even go put myself out as a climate change coach. So I just stayed in that for a very long time and then it just almost became a little bit more paralyzing than like uh, it just got in the way of knowing even a small action to take.
Garry Schleifer:Yeah, well, it's funny because I've been thinking about that as well, and before I started working on this issue, I never saw coaching and climate consciousness in the same conversation, and at once I started down that path, all of a sudden, it's like all of us that are writing and talking about this. It's like, uh yeah. M ost interestingly, what I heard from Charlie Cox when I interviewed her about her article was, as coaches, we don't need to be the experts in this. And there's a feeling, though, that we need to know about what is climate change and what are the changes, and it's like, but that's not our role. Our role is to ask questions about how the person feels about that, and you've given those clues throughout your article. So thank you for that reminder that we're not the expert in our clients' lives. If we have an umbrella conversation or an opportunity that says, hey, we're open to talking about climate change and sustainability and whatever that means to you, okay, let's dive in. So thank you for that great reminder to think about it that way.
Cate Sabatini:ll, thank you and Charlie Cox, I read her book. It's right here actually. It's one of my Bibles. It's a fantastic book, really great coaching skills embedded in it as well.
Garry Schleifer:Well, if you have it right there, can you pull it up, cause she didn't have one.
Cate Sabatini:Oh, she didn't?
Garry Schleifer:No, she didn't have a copy of her own book. There we go a reminder to our listeners Climate Change Coaching by Charlie Cox.
Garry Schleifer:So thanks, Cate.
Cate Sabatini:You're welcome and thank you, Charlie, but I read her book and it actually did help me just to reset my expectations about I am a coach and that is when I had the thought even it is like, if I can contribute my coaching skills to help leaders in climate make their best contributions, then that's my role. And it did get kind of confused with how do I even get in the climate industry. I better have something to say before I go in, or how do I write this thing without some kind of climate knowledge? So, yeah, I think it's just go do what you know how to do and see how you can contribute
Garry Schleifer:Well, and I have to ask you this how do you now brand or market yourself as a coach like how does climate change come into your marketing conversation?
Cate Sabatini:Well, I am mostly on LinkedIn, just kind of setting it that way. When I meet people now, I say that I'm a leadership coach, which I am. That's generally the focus that I have and that I am moving my focus of my leadership toward climate leaders, toward sustainability leaders, and here's why. And so that's just pretty easy. I think where I, with the climate coaching, some of the things that when I was in a climate coaching class, I got a certification on that, and they talked about introducing climate in the initial conversation and to bring that in, and I was really stuck there too on well then, I'm bringing my agenda into the coaching conversation. If it's not a climate client, they might not have any interest in that at all, and even then that it was where I'm a leadership coach, mostly my focus is climate, if that's of interest to you, and how we bring that bigger stakeholder into our coaching conversations and that's how I lead into just finding out their interest and if that would be beneficial to them.
Garry Schleifer:Yeah, and this is what I love. The consistent reminders that it's not about bringing your agenda, it's opening the opportunity for people to talk about it.
Garry Schleifer:It's like any other topic. Like I introduce diversity, equity, inclusion, because when I'm coaching women, as particular women of color, I say, okay, I'm that white, cis male guy that's probably driving you crazy. Don't worry about talking to me about that. I have no problem talking about that because I know what we're like. So why not introduce right? So, to your point, I'm going to go forward and perhaps start with LinkedIn and put something in there that I'm open to the conversation about sustainability and climate change.
Garry Schleifer:I'm more around the sustainability myself. I'm a reduce, reuse, recycle kind of guy. So you know it's takes me a long time to get rid of anything. Like if I print on one side of the paper and then I don't need it later, I turn it around and flip it and throw it in the printer so it prints on the other side and then I shred it and it goes into the recycle. So I'm just like I'm always looking for ways to not fill the landfill.
Cate Sabatini:I love it. I love it. I saw something yesterday on Earth Day, and it was sustainability is thinking about the future every single day with respect to the earth, and so that's what you're doing, and it's however that shows up for any of us, as long as you know for me that we do have that lens to just see what we can do right.
Garry Schleifer:Yeah, exactly. You just reminded me of something too.
Cate Sabatini:What was that?
Garry Schleifer:I have forgotten I have these reusable net bags in the trunk of the car and I forget to take them into the grocery store and we've been using those thin plastic bags. So it's like I'm getting back on that. So it's again like it's not a perfect world. You do your best, you try something and I think the best part of your article, okay, it's all great, don't get me wrong but the one that I know, because you started with avocado toast, but the last thing you said was make it fun. So I gave an example yesterday, but I have no problem repeating it.
Garry Schleifer:We have a chain of stores up here called Bulk Barn, so it's bulk foods. Anything from candies to chocolates, to spices, to teas it's all scoop it and you put it in. If you bring your own container, they will weigh it and then deduct the weight when you go and check out and to me that's fun.
Garry Schleifer:And to remember, though, you do what's fun for you, right? Do something that's fun. Like you know, somebody was saying that they liked doing trains versus planes. Oh, it was Charlie actually and taking the family. But you know, if it's not fun, don't do it. Think of something that's easy. Like you said, let's make action easy.
Cate Sabatini:Yeah, yeah. Well, climate change and sustainability is such a heavy topic so we can be in very serious conversation and depressing conversation, and rightfully so when you get into the real depth of some of the issues. And for me, I just know that motivates me on the one hand to pay attention and do something, but it doesn't really motivate me to go out and have a lot of energy towards something per se. And I know everybody's different, but for me fun's always been one of my top values. I'm just like what are your values? Fun and then family, but also, just from a coaching perspective, or the energy we have towards something. If it's something you're going toward and you can make it fun, then you're more likely to do it and bring others along with you and engage people. So that's just it. It's realizing it is a serious conversation, but how can we find fun and joy in life while we pursue it?
Garry Schleifer:Don Mariska wrote a book about it, The Three Different Ways That You Can Get Involved, and it was just picking something that resonates with you. Like for me, the jars. It's weirdest thing. Okay, but I love jars and I put labels on the jars.
Garry Schleifer:I'm like yeah, okay, over the top.
Cate Sabatini:Kind of reminds me of, like you know, back in the olden days, when you, you know had to go to the country store. That's the image I'm getting.
Garry Schleifer:Yeah exactly, exactly.
Garry Schleifer:We talk a lot about all of this stuff, but you know, you once felt very stuck and unsure and overwhelmed. What did you do and what's one step you would suggest for those that are listening to this take?
Cate Sabatini:Well, I think it's to really notice that you're feeling stuck and overwhelmed.
Garry Schleifer:Be self-aware okay.
Cate Sabatini:Yes, but the thing is it felt normal I guess. I don't know how to let me think of a different word, but being in that mode for me of worrying and doing some more research or procrastinating or whatever that was, it just was like I was just in it, so I couldn't really see it.
Cate Sabatini:You know, okay, it was the piece for me of I am missing my integrity here, like I'm saying I care and I'm not doing. But it was when that hit me really as strongly as it did, especially in talking to my children, that I'm like oh, that's like you're starting to talk to somebody who can help you tease this out. And so that was partly, it was like one notice, really being able to notice it, and I think when you're coaching or being coached, you're in your game, you're in your story. It's hard to actually see yourself in that. So what's the thing that helps you step back and go, Oh, my goodness, I'm not making any progress here. So it was that and then really getting a coach.
Cate Sabatini:I do laugh at myself for having that take so long. Like yeah totally dumb moment and being willing to be in that conversation, pursuing it, doing the actions and being open and honest with myself and my coach about what's in my way and it really was a lot of things of not knowing enough. Driving a car that uses gas, all those kinds of things, and so what she helped me realize really was I was working alone, so I'm just in here talking to myself.
Garry Schleifer:Right.
Cate Sabatini:My work work I get out and I talk to people. But this was I was still keeping this very close, so it was just me and myself and I talking to myself, and that didn't get me very far.
Garry Schleifer:Well, you probably always had agreement.
Cate Sabatini:Yeah, you don't know enough. You still don't know enough. But then the thing about it was really just going what is for me, personally, a fun next step? What would be a fun conversation to have? And, as an example, a friend of mine who I used to work with and we just partnered so well on things she had totally different skills than I have and told her about this.
Cate Sabatini:I was trying to write an email. I wanted to write an email to this climate leader to ask him about this other idea I have, and I just wouldn't get it done. I just wouldn't write it, so she just goes. So we're on the computer together and she's helping me type it out, and she's typing some and I'm typing some and I have an email and I send it. But it was fun because she's hilarious and we laughed a lot and she made fun of me and I got the email sent. So it was micro actions that resonate with you. It might not be fun that you are seeing. For me I was and not doing it alone and just doing something and just forgetting about this whole I have to have it solved.
Cate Sabatini:The earth doesn't have time for us to wait to have all the knowledge we need, because it's going to change constantly.
Garry Schleifer:Yeah, exactly, and there are other people that have that knowledge and they can be the subject matter experts that we learn more from.
Cate Sabatini:Yes.
Garry Schleifer:Yeah, wow, great. Cate, what would you like our audience to do as a result of this article in this conversation?
Cate Sabatini:Check in with yourself and notice if you're having any fun and if you have energy toward what matters to you and if you don't, just either find some way to understand that about you or get some help, hire a coach, talk to a friend, somebody that you really knows can motivate you. But it's just this noticing of like how are you feeling about that thing that you're doing, and then take a small action, just a small action that doesn't require an imperfect action I would say. J ust forget it, just go have a conversation or go take your canisters and get some whole cream or something bigger. Have some courage, because it seems hard and then you go do it and people are like, hey, yeah, absolutely I'm going to help you. So I would just say notice yourself and how you're feeling about the thing that matters to you, and if you're not energized and motivated toward it in a positive way, then see what's in the way and go do something about it.
Garry Schleifer:Or go do something else.
Cate Sabatini:Well there yeah.
Garry Schleifer:What's also occurring for me when you said all that, thank you for those pointers by the way, is acknowledging what you're already doing. Some small way you're not not doing anything, you're doing something and celebrate and acknowledge yourself or have somebody acknowledge you for what you're doing.
Cate Sabatini:I love that. I love that so much. Even this conversation with you, Garry, and that choice took my article and that I drafted it off a speech I'm probably never going to give. I will. I'll give it in August.
Garry Schleifer:You are giving that speech. You are giving it right now. You're talking about your.
Cate Sabatini:All of those things I'm like yeah, but I'm still not, you know whatever, and this is exactly what you're saying. Oh my God, but look, I'm sitting here on this podcast with you because I decided to go try something out that I didn't know how to do, but it made me happy to do it.
Garry Schleifer:Yeah, you know, Cate, in a way, you can't not do the speech.
Garry Schleifer:It's just a matter of time.
Cate Sabatini:You're right.
Garry Schleifer:Well, think about it. We wanted our audience to know what your experience was. Our hope is that in some small piece, it resonates either as something that they're going through, they're in or want to know more about, and will inspire others to do so as well. So keep rippling.
Cate Sabatini:Okay, I will. Thank you. Keep eating avocado toast.
Garry Schleifer:Exactly. Well, you know it's strange you say that because there's an avocado sitting there with my name on it right after this. Okay, Awesome. Kate, what's the best way for people to reach you?
Cate Sabatini:If you just contact me on LinkedIn, look up Cate Sabatini on LinkedIn and just let me know you want to have a conversation. I'd be so happy to talk with you.
Garry Schleifer:And that's Cate with a C. C-A-T-E Sabatini, s-a-b-a-t-i-n-i. Great Thanks again, Cate.
Cate Sabatini:Thank you, Garry.
Garry Schleifer:That's it for this episode of Beyond the Page. For more episodes, subscribe via your favorite podcast app, most likely the one that got you here. If you're not a subscriber to choice Magazine, you can sign up for your free digital issue by scanning the QR code in the top right corner of my screen. If you're listening, you can go to choice-online. com and click the sign up now button. I'm Gary Schleifer. Enjoy the journey of mastery.