We are facing a crisis of leadership in the corporate world which is severely hampering business from becoming a real force for good in society.
While there are examples of companies seeking to embed sustainability beyond the corporate responsibility departments into core strategy, in most cases business leaders are burying their heads in the sand when it comes to addressing issues ranging from climate change to the collapse of biodiversity.
Given business is fixated with the phrase that “what gets measured gets acted upon” perhaps we could find a way of measuring how visionary our business leaders are.
One metric might be to think how many inspiring business executives you could name.
I would be a very wealthy man if I were given £1 for every time someone mentioned Unilever chief executive Paul Polman. But I may end up in abject poverty if my living were to rely on people naming more than a handful of other sustainability leaders amongst the many thousands of CEOs around the world.
Interface founder Ray Anderson, of course, would win me some coins but unfortunately is no longer with us. So too would Sir Ian Cheshire but he is bowing out as head of DIY giant Kingfisher at the end of this year.
Many are worried that there is not a rush to fill their places. Of course, it was good to hear Apple CEO Tim Cook raise his voice recently about the dangers of climate change, and well worth the delicate negotiations with his team to convince him to speak out. But where are the others?
I was approached by a business group the other day asking for advice on how to activate more CEOs. I came up with a few practical suggestions but in my heart of hearts, I believe this will only happen when CEOs find the strength within themselves to stand up and be counted.
It is with all this in mind that Guardian Sustainable Business is re-focusing its attention on exploring the leadership skills we so desperately need and how we can embed them into the coming generation of up and coming executives.
I recently wrote an article about six reasons why CEOs feel powerless to act, and was challenged to come up with how they can stand in their true power. These are ones that came to mind
1. Life is more important than profit
True leaders know they are in service to life, rather to something as one-dimensional as purely making money.
2. Strike true
My father’s last words to me were to “strike true.” Through a haze of drugs and pain, he managed to say it twice. At the moment of his death he managed to sum up the reason for living.
3. Empathy
Do not confuse sympathy with empathy. The only way to help someone out of their particular hell is to sit there with them in silence and know that place in yourself.
4. Be authentic
There is nothing more powerful than being who you say you are. If you are that person, you actually don’t need to say that much.
5. Humility
Know that everything you are is the result of everyone who has come before you. Never fall into the trap of thinking it’s all down to you.
6. Be aware of future generations
When you say you couldn’t look your children in the eye if you were not acting with future generations in mind, take time to literally look them in the eye and ask if it is true.
7. Do not always lead from the front
The greatest leaders are those who recognise that sometimes it is more effective to collaborate and follow than always think they have to be at the front of the pack.
8. Slow down
When everything around you is changing at an ever faster pace, it is important to slow down and recognise what endures.
9. Be a visionary
Vision is about building a bridge across an abyss that no-one knows how to traverse. You do so not for yourself, but so that others can follow. It is an act of courage and generosity.
10. Be flexible
Know that whatever you believe to be right, is almost certainly going to be wrong or at best, only partially true. Always be ready to change your mind when the facts change, which they invariably will.
11. Harness the power of your ego rather than let it dominate you
We all have an ego but don’t pander to its siren call that life is all about winning and feeling superior. All this does is create an addiction to a narrow view of success and force others into the position of being losers.
12. Don’t allow wealth to ruin you
Wealth can often lead to feelings of separation and superiority. What keeps us sane and happy is to stay connected. We have all heard of the lonely CEO. It doesn’t need to be that way
13. Learn from leaders in society that we hold in high esteem
No-one ever likes or respects a tyrant. Look at every person that is held up as an example of the light of humanity and understand what motivated them and how they created movements that shaped the world.
14. Do not give in to fear
When you break our world down to its two core building blocks, we are always choosing either love or fear. Love opens us up, while fear leads to contraction, defensiveness and conflict.
15. Nurturing
Have a deep sense of care for your employees who want nothing more than to be seen, understood and recognised for who they are and what they do.
16. Always imagine you are speaking to yourself
Business can be tough and there are times when difficult truths need to be spoken. But when you do so, imagine yourself looking in a mirror and think about how you would like to be spoken to.
17. Don’t lock yourself away in an ivory tower
Do not stick yourself in a big office surrounded by people who only know how to say yes. The answers to problems are rarely found in the boardroom.
18. Those shouting the loudest do not always deserve to be heard
Those who shout the loudest do not necessarily have the best ideas. Search for the “oddballs” lurking quietly in the corners, for they may well have the most valuable solutions. If you can’t find any, start hiring some.
19. A company as a living being
Act in a way that recognises that a business is not a mechanical object but a wonderful and complex organism, with its own personality and extraordinary web of relationships.
20. Tell the truth
Telling the truth means never having to remember what you say. People have a sixth sense and know whom they can trust.
21. Be passionate and have fun
There are far too many business leaders who go around looking as though they are strapped in a straightjacket and sucking on lemons. We all thrive when we are having fun. It’s our natural state of being.
22. Be open to different ways of knowing
Relying on our conscious intellectual mind as our only navigational tool paradoxically makes no rational sense. Get in touch with your intuition and learn how to snatch inspiration out of what appears to be thin air. There is nothing to beat the exhilaration of a eureka moment.
23. Take a multi-disciplinary approach
What can be more dispiriting than sitting in a room full of business executives, when you know that outside the corporate walls are psychologists, philosophers, artists, anthropologists and spiritual leaders who could enhance your understanding of your work and your life.
24. Be vulnerable
We have created a business culture that views vulnerability as a weakness to be hidden away from prying eyes. Yet it can be the most powerful weapon at our disposal when spoken with an open heart.
25. Recognise there is no such thing as a neutral thought
It is not just our actions that we need to be aware of, for at the core, it is our thoughts that lead to the actions that make our world.
26. The power of not knowing
There is a belief we get more fixed in our thinking as we get older, but it does not have to be so. Life is a mystery, made more joyous through the power of not knowing. Always remember Einstein’s words that the definition of madness is to do the same thing time and time again and expect a different answer.
27. Don’t wait to create your legacy
Some executives wait till towards the ends of their careers to think about leaving a legacy and giving back some of what they have taken. Surely it is better to leave a legacy in every moment of your career.
28. Recognise the sacredness of the earth
Do not needlessly use the resources of the earth for by doing so we destroy the very basis of our life
29. Recognise the power of love and all it brings
Author Khalil Gilbran’s wrote in The Prophet that “all work is empty save when there is love…..Work is love made visible.”
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