An overview of the capabilities of an economically successful sustainability leader.
Faculty Advisor Name
Dr. Margaret F. Sloan
Department
School of Strategic Leadership Studies
Description
1.0 Introduction
In 2015, the UN adopted the 2020 agenda with a new focus on sustainable development with the three paradigms of social goals, economic goals as well as environmental goals (THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development, n.d.). Many definitions of sustainability exist today, however for this study I will define sustainability as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (White, 2013, p. 213). Intentional leaders are therefore an important link between the well-being of organizations and environmental needs which has led to appreciation of a sustainable leader who not only consider profit but also the natural environment (Green & McCann, 2011).
It is evident sustainability leadership has been studied in many ways, however several gaps still exist to better understand the field. According to Juknys et al. (2014), working towards economic success while driving environmental sustainability remains a hotly debated topic. The purpose of this study is therefore, to determine the capabilities of an economically successful sustainability leader (ESSL) who not only focuses on sustainability but also the economic success of a firm. The study will contribute to the growing field of sustainability leadership that has been receiving increased interest by researchers since 2017 (Kharchuk & Oleksiv, 2023).
2.0 Literature Review
According to Smet et al. (2018), leaders need to transform their mindset to be able to achieve success with consideration of the following capabilities:
1) Shifting from reactive to creative mind sets
An ESSL needs to develop agility by shifting their mindsets from reactive to creative (Smet et al., 2018). A creative mindset experiences the world by creating the reality they desire through their passion and purpose unlike a reactive mindset that focusses on what can go wrong causing fear and frustration in the organizations. Organizations alike should own their journey of how they got to where they are with an expression of the passion of those leading and implementing their initiatives (Denning, 2019). According to Joiner (2019, pg 142) leadership agility is defined as “the capacity of an organization’s leaders to foster strategic and operational agility, to create an agile leadership culture, and to adapt personally to changing, interdependent conditions and aspirations on a daily basis.”
Agility in leaders is dependent on the clear articulation of vision, mission with organizational support (Theobald et al., 2020). The four types of agility where leaders are most effective include, (1) context setting agility. (2) stakeholder agility. (3) creative agility. (4) self-leadership agility.
3.0 Conclusion
It is evident that organizations have a growing need for economical sustainable leaders to guide how to achieve their sustainability goals that are critical to survival of firms while ensuring profitability is achieved in the market today (Green & McCann, 2011). Therefore, a better understanding of the capabilities of an ESSL will be a valuable contribution to both the organizations and leadership to achieve their sustainability goals effectively.
References
Denning, S. (2019). Lessons learned from mapping successful and unsuccessful Agile transformation journeys. Strategy & Leadership, 47(4), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-04-2019-0052
Green, D. D., & McCann, J. (2011). Benchmarking a leadership model for the green economy. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 18(3), 445–465. https://doi.org/10.1108/14635771111137804
Joiner, B. (2019). Leadership Agility for Organizational Agility. Journal of Creating Value, 5(2), 139–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/2394964319868321
Juknys, R., Liobikiene, G., & Dagiliute, R. (2014). Sustainability of catch-up growth in the extended European Union. Journal of Cleaner Production, 64, 54-63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.07.014
Kharchuk, V., & Oleksiv, I. (2023). The Intellectual Structure of Sustainable Leadership Studies: Bibliometric Analysis. In Z. Hu, Y. Wang, & M. He (Eds.), Advances in Intelligent Systems, Computer Science and Digital Economics IV (pp. 430–442). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24475-9_37
Smet, A. D., Lurie, M., & George, A. S. (2018). Leading agile transformation: The new capabilities leaders need to build 21st-century organizations.
THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development. (n.d.). Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from https://sdgs.un.org/goals
Theobald, S., Prenner, N., Krieg, A., & Schneider, K. (2020). Agile Leadership and Agile Management on Organizational Level—A Systematic Literature Review. In M. Morisio, M. Torchiano, & A. Jedlitschka (Eds.), Product-Focused Software Process Improvement (pp. 20–36). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64148-1_2
White, M. A. (2013). Sustainability: I know it when I see it. Ecological Economics, 86, 213–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.12.020
An overview of the capabilities of an economically successful sustainability leader.
1.0 Introduction
In 2015, the UN adopted the 2020 agenda with a new focus on sustainable development with the three paradigms of social goals, economic goals as well as environmental goals (THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development, n.d.). Many definitions of sustainability exist today, however for this study I will define sustainability as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (White, 2013, p. 213). Intentional leaders are therefore an important link between the well-being of organizations and environmental needs which has led to appreciation of a sustainable leader who not only consider profit but also the natural environment (Green & McCann, 2011).
It is evident sustainability leadership has been studied in many ways, however several gaps still exist to better understand the field. According to Juknys et al. (2014), working towards economic success while driving environmental sustainability remains a hotly debated topic. The purpose of this study is therefore, to determine the capabilities of an economically successful sustainability leader (ESSL) who not only focuses on sustainability but also the economic success of a firm. The study will contribute to the growing field of sustainability leadership that has been receiving increased interest by researchers since 2017 (Kharchuk & Oleksiv, 2023).
2.0 Literature Review
According to Smet et al. (2018), leaders need to transform their mindset to be able to achieve success with consideration of the following capabilities:
1) Shifting from reactive to creative mind sets
An ESSL needs to develop agility by shifting their mindsets from reactive to creative (Smet et al., 2018). A creative mindset experiences the world by creating the reality they desire through their passion and purpose unlike a reactive mindset that focusses on what can go wrong causing fear and frustration in the organizations. Organizations alike should own their journey of how they got to where they are with an expression of the passion of those leading and implementing their initiatives (Denning, 2019). According to Joiner (2019, pg 142) leadership agility is defined as “the capacity of an organization’s leaders to foster strategic and operational agility, to create an agile leadership culture, and to adapt personally to changing, interdependent conditions and aspirations on a daily basis.”
Agility in leaders is dependent on the clear articulation of vision, mission with organizational support (Theobald et al., 2020). The four types of agility where leaders are most effective include, (1) context setting agility. (2) stakeholder agility. (3) creative agility. (4) self-leadership agility.
3.0 Conclusion
It is evident that organizations have a growing need for economical sustainable leaders to guide how to achieve their sustainability goals that are critical to survival of firms while ensuring profitability is achieved in the market today (Green & McCann, 2011). Therefore, a better understanding of the capabilities of an ESSL will be a valuable contribution to both the organizations and leadership to achieve their sustainability goals effectively.
References
Denning, S. (2019). Lessons learned from mapping successful and unsuccessful Agile transformation journeys. Strategy & Leadership, 47(4), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-04-2019-0052
Green, D. D., & McCann, J. (2011). Benchmarking a leadership model for the green economy. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 18(3), 445–465. https://doi.org/10.1108/14635771111137804
Joiner, B. (2019). Leadership Agility for Organizational Agility. Journal of Creating Value, 5(2), 139–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/2394964319868321
Juknys, R., Liobikiene, G., & Dagiliute, R. (2014). Sustainability of catch-up growth in the extended European Union. Journal of Cleaner Production, 64, 54-63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.07.014
Kharchuk, V., & Oleksiv, I. (2023). The Intellectual Structure of Sustainable Leadership Studies: Bibliometric Analysis. In Z. Hu, Y. Wang, & M. He (Eds.), Advances in Intelligent Systems, Computer Science and Digital Economics IV (pp. 430–442). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24475-9_37
Smet, A. D., Lurie, M., & George, A. S. (2018). Leading agile transformation: The new capabilities leaders need to build 21st-century organizations.
THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development. (n.d.). Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from https://sdgs.un.org/goals
Theobald, S., Prenner, N., Krieg, A., & Schneider, K. (2020). Agile Leadership and Agile Management on Organizational Level—A Systematic Literature Review. In M. Morisio, M. Torchiano, & A. Jedlitschka (Eds.), Product-Focused Software Process Improvement (pp. 20–36). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64148-1_2
White, M. A. (2013). Sustainability: I know it when I see it. Ecological Economics, 86, 213–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.12.020
