Global Leadership for Sustainability

Abstract

Given the social and environmental challenges facing all organizations, there is a need for new leadership models, methods, and tools for implementing organizational change for sustainable development. Toward that end, we review current approaches to leadership for sustainability in terms of their conceptual frameworks and extant research, which all advocate a balanced stakeholder approach to leadership to address the social and environmental issues related to sustainability and sustainable development. Then, drawing from spiritual and being-centered leadership theories, we offer a model of Global Leadership for Sustainability (GLfS) that incorporates and extends the conceptual domain beyond current approaches to leadership for sustainability. In doing so we propose that spirituality, through the qualities of self-transcendence and interconnectedness, is critical for sustainability and is foundational for GLfS. We also emphasize the importance of cultivating a Global Mindset for Sustainability, which incorporates two ethical principles—an ethic of remote moral responsibility and an ethic of care and compassion. As a result, global leaders for sustainability become more committed to moving beyond satisfying stakeholders’ demands for economic returns, toward a more sustainable, triple bottom line, balanced approach. Finally, we discuss implications for theory, research, and practice of GLfS.