Sustainable Leadership

Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly Bestseller

Deliver Extraordinary Sustainability Results for Your Business

In Sustainable Leadership: Lessons of Vision, Courage, and Grit from the CEOs Who Dared to Build a Better World, accomplished leadership expert Clarke Murphy shares a can’t-miss toolkit for delivering remarkable sustainability results. You’ll learn what it takes to become a Sustainable Leader and how you can turn your sustainability promises into tangible action on the ground.

Drawing on the real-life stories of Sustainable Leaders from across the world, Murphy proves that sustainability success is within reach for every business executive. He debunks the myth that sustainability is at odds with profitability and reveals the inside track on how to make sustainability your new growth strategy.

You’ll find:

• A step-by-step framework on how to build your Sustainable Leadership legacy.
• Pragmatic examples of balancing the demands of shareholders and other stakeholders.
• Lessons from CEOs on how they stayed the course in the face of setbacks.

Strategies to prepare your up-and-coming executives to carry the sustainability mantle and help you hit your short and long-term sustainability goals.

An essential blueprint for CEOs, boards, founders, entrepreneurs, and other business executives, Sustainable Leadership also deserves a place on the bookshelves of Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG professionals looking for immediately actionable approaches to increase the long-term viability of their organizations.

Foreword ix

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction: A Meeting of Minds 1

Part I Why the World Needs Sustainable Leaders 13

Chapter 1 A Sense of Urgency 15

Chapter 2 A Shining Example 29

Part II Inside the Mind of a Sustainable Leader 43

Chapter 3 Born versus Made 45

Chapter 4 Moonshot Makers 59

Chapter 5 The Learning Quotient 73

Part III From Pledge to Practice 87

Chapter 6 Weaving It Through 89

Chapter 7 From CSO to CEO 107

Chapter 8 The Ecosystem 119

Chapter 9 The Money That Follows 137

Part IV A Sustainable Future 155

Chapter 10 Sustainable Startups 157

Chapter 11 A Generation of Nudgers 173

Epilogue 189

Notes 197

About the Author 203

Index 205

CLARKE MURPHY is a leadership thought leader and former Chief Executive Officer of Russell Reynolds Associates, a global leadership advisory firm with 46 offices in 26 countries. He co-hosts the award-winning podcast Redefiners, and his ideas and insights have been published in Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

It is a myth that sustainability is at odds with profitability. In truth, they go hand-in-hand. But sustainability initiatives must be executed with skill. In this timely guide for courageous leaders aspiring to make a positive impact on the world, you’ll learn the difference between good intentions and tangible sustainability results.

In Sustainable Leadership: Lessons of Vision, Courage, and Grit from the CEOs Who Dared to Build a Better World, renowned leadership and sustainability expert Clarke Murphy delivers an incisive and comprehensive exploration of how you can reimagine your organization and business model to deliver breakthrough sustainability results. He shows that sustainability is not an add-on to business strategy. It is the business strategy.

You’ll find a step-by-step framework on how to develop your sustainable leadership muscles—as well as how to identify and nurture these skills in your next-generation leaders—so you can set a vision for change, make bold decisions, and turn conventional wisdom on its head.

Drawing on the successes, missteps, and lessons of sustainable leaders from around the world, Murphy sheds light on how executives can balance the demands of shareholders and other stakeholders. You’ll find actionable examples of how to connect to your organizational purpose, stay the course in the face of setbacks, and hit your short-term and long-term sustainability goals.

Perfect for business leaders of all kinds, Sustainable Leadership is also a can’t-miss book for founders, entrepreneurs, human resources professionals, and sustainability experts seeking a one-stop resource to help them make sense of the latest—and most profitable—sustainability strategies.

Improve your organization’s sustainability legacy while growing your bottom line.

PRAISE FOR SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP

“By asking the questions others don’t think to ask, Clarke has discovered exactly the kind of mindset, skill set, vision, and drive it takes to lead a corporation into a sustainable future. Through rich storytelling and exclusive insights from the world’s most influential CEOs and the next generation of leaders and startup pioneers, he details the steps we can all take to move towards our sustainability goals.”
—ADENA T. FRIEDMAN, President and CEO of Nasdaq, Inc.

“Based on in-depth research, Clarke offers a groundbreaking, inspiring and practical picture of what it takes to be a leader who does their part to build a better future. Full of concrete examples and stories, Sustainable Leadership is an indispensable book for this critical time.”
—HUBERT JOLY, former Best Buy Chairman and CEO; Author of The Heart of Business; Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School

“Clarke shares a powerful lesson on why sustainable leadership is so important to corporations—and the world. This is an essential guide for any executive looking to kickstart their impact today and the next generation of leaders looking to accelerate sustainability action tomorrow.”
—SANDA OJIAMBO, Assistant Secretary-General and CEO, United Nations Global Compact

“Clarke draws on established firms and start-ups, rising star CSOs and visionary CEOs to offer a simple, but powerful set of competencies that will become a new ‘core curriculum’ for sustainable leaders across the world. An invaluable read for people across the career journey who aspire to make meaningful change.”
—JASON JAY, Senior Lecturer and Director, MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative

“The characteristics of a successful sustainable leader exist within most executives; Clarke’s book is an invitation to seek them out. He spotlights leaders from across industries who are daring enough to harness those innate skills in the face of significant challenge and provides a toolkit for those looking to shape the next generation of purpose-driven business.”
—JIM COULTER, Founding Partner and Executive Chairman, TPG; Co-Managing Partner, TPG’s The Rise Fund