Sustainable leadership cannot and must not simply be a passing trend, but must represent the new approach to entrepreneurship, aimed at combining financial profit with the long-term preservation and development of the community.
In the current global economic environment, more and more companies are placing the pursuit of sustainability goals at the centre of their strategy.
This new perspective requires entrepreneurs, directors and those in charge of running a company, to take a different approach to businessthan in the past.
This is where the concept of sustainable leadershipcomes in, which can be defined as carrying on a business activity that combines the pursuit of financial results in the short to medium term with the preservation and development of the common good in the long term.
There are essentially three pillars on which sustainable leadershipis based.
The first of these is environmental sustainability. New leaderscan no longer limit themselves to the mere – albeit important – enforcement of environmental protection legislation. In fact, sustainability in this area requires awareness and knowledge not only of global and local environmental issues, but also of the impact of the individual organisation and its products on the planet, as well as the long-term implications of their decisions and actions, so that long-term strategies and business practices can be adopted for its protection.
From this perspective, “sustainable leaders” will not be able to act alone, but will necessarily have to create synergies with the entire supply chain and the local community so that the organisational models adopted within the company to protect “green issues” do not remain confined to them and are instead supported by other organisations and the local area for more effective action.
For the development of the local area and the community in which the company operates, the new approach to business leadership must then also be based on solid ethical values, thus developing social sustainability, the second pillar of sustainable leadership.
With this in mind, leaders will be required to focus on fostering positive relationships between the organisation and society, understood as people: from employees to workers in the entire supply chain, to local communities and customers.
In particular, it will be necessary to adopt ethical business practices, promote diversity and inclusion, safety at work, invest in local communities through corporate social responsibility initiatives, promoting and protecting, more generally, basic human rights while also providing the necessary tools to prevent and, where appropriate, manage any negative impacts of business choices on people and their rights.
The third pillar of new leadershipis economic sustainability, understood as the balance between profit and public interest.
In this respect, the “sustainable” leader employs ethical governance criteria, adopts responsible management of financial resources, prioritises the development of the local economy, invests in research for technological innovation, all with the aim of improving the lives of the community, consumers and all stakeholders affected by the company’s activities.
This new way of “doing business” is of course not without its challenges as sustainable leaders have to change established business models. Moreover, in this context, the pressures to achieve a given financial outcome and generate short-term profits together with the complexity of certain issues, such as global climate change and inequalities, can naturally be a significant obstacle to a paradigm shift.
Precisely for these reasons, new leaders, in addition to possessing a mindset open to innovation and a strong capacity for continuous learning, will have to create a climate of general mobilisation and motivation towards sustainability, involving the entire corporate population and beyond.
This could be done by means of training courses, awareness-raising campaigns, reviews of organisations and, why not, of the remuneration structure by introducing, for example, variable incentive systems conditional on the achievement of certain sustainability targets.
Involvement on these issues should not, however, stop at the corporate level alone. Indeed, sustainable leaders must be able to effectively and consistently disseminate the company’s sustainability values outside the company as well, without falling into greenwashing.
Continue reading the full version published in Il Sole 24 Ore’s Guida al Lavoro.
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