An Interview with Sarah Kuhnell, Director of Corporate Sustainability, Worthington Enterprises
In the manufacturing world, sustainability is often framed as a technical challenge, a matter of carbon math and supply chain logistics. But for Sarah Kuhnell, the real transformation happens at the intersection of behavioral science and a 70-year-old corporate philosophy. At Worthington Enterprises, sustainability isn’t a new “bolt-on” department; it’s the modern evolution of the company’s founding “Golden Rule.”
We sat down with Sarah to discuss how she navigates the gap between US and European expectations, the psychological power of the “White Rhino,” and why the best sustainability teams are the ones that act like internal consultants.
The Transatlantic Tug-of-War
Operating an international company means managing different drivers of change. In Europe, Sarah observes a “steady pace” driven by legislation like CSRD. In the U.S., the momentum is fueled by a different engine: customer pull and operational efficiency.
“Europe often benefits from long-standing infrastructure and a deeply rooted cultural focus on land stewardship,” Kuhnell explains. “In the U.S., the landscape is different, our systems are not as developed, and we often have to build the logistical ‘muscles’ for sustainability from scratch.” To bridge this cultural difference in the way people think about sustainability, Worthington chooses to focus on connecting employees directly with sustainability, embedding sustainability activity like deskside recycling and on-site composting into the daily corporate office workflow and an Environmental Excellence program in facilities that links sustainability goals directly to impactful initiatives.
Radical Relatability: The “White Rhino” Metric
One of the biggest hurdles in industrial sustainability is data fatigue. Most employees struggle to visualize “metric tons” or “CO2 equivalents”; the numbers don’t mean anything. So, Worthington leans into the approach of radical relatability, making the invisible visible.
When Worthington’s corporate office began their corporate composting and recycling journey, Sarah didn’t just report the tonnage diverted from the landfill. She translated it into visual mental anchors. “We equated the waste we had diverted to the weight of a male white rhino or the Liberty Bell,” she says. “You might not be able to picture tons, but you can picture that big rhino. It turns a KPI into a connection point with employees.”
Transformation as the “Gateway”
For many US-based manufacturers, “sustainability” can still feel like a buzzword. Sarah navigates this by leaning into the concept of Transformation.
“We’ve been doing sustainability for a long time at Worthington; we just knew it as transformation,” she notes. By framing energy reduction or material waste as “efficiency,” the business case becomes clear. Today, this is formalized through processes where sustainability criteria are baked into various operations whether that be product design and development or how production materials are recycled.
The “Alien” Strategy: The Future of Lean Teams
What does the next five years look like for the industry? Sarah believes the future of the industry lies in specialized, high-impact teams that empower the rest of the organization to lead.
In this model, the sustainability team functions more like internal consultants or, as Sarah puts it, “internal aliens.”
“When an alien gets dropped on Earth, everything is new, so they point out the things everyone else has become blinded to,” she explains. By sitting outside specific business units and functions, whether it’s R&D, operations, or logistics, sustainability leads can ask the “why” questions that lead to breakthroughs. This fresh perspective often uncovers efficiencies that might be naturally overlooked, proving that sometimes the best way to see the path forward is to look at it through a completely different lens.
Quick Tips for Industrial Sustainability Leaders
The Field Trip Effect
- Take your teams to a landfill or recycling center. Seeing where “away” actually is changes a person’s relationship with waste.
Anchor Your Data
- Stop using abstract numbers. Find a visual comparison or local landmark (like a Rhino or a Liberty Bell) that makes your wins tangible.
Leverage Your Heritage
- Don’t invent a new “Green Vision” if your company already has a strong philosophy. At Worthington, the “Golden Rule” is an anchor for our focus on sustainability.
Empower Affinity Groups
- Move away from being the “Green Police.” Foster employee-led groups where the passion for sustainability comes from the floor, not just the C-suite.
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