Sustainable Leadership: Driving Positive Change from the Top Down

Founders and leaders of purpose-driven organizations have an enormous opportunity – and responsibility. By leading with vision, intention, and mindful actions and behaviors, we have the power to affect transformational and lasting positive change.?The decisions we make don't just improve the bottom line, but also the company’s culture, our staff’s engagement and success, and the sustainability of our communities.?

What does it mean to be a sustainable leader? It’s about recognizing that the company exists within an interconnected system of stakeholders – employees, partners, customers, and society as a whole. It's about considering the long-term effects that the choices we make today will have on not just financial gains, but the future welfare of humanity and the planet.

The Ripple Effect of Sustainable Leadership?

How do the choices we make ripple through every area of our companies? As the ones setting the vision, mission, strategy, and direction of our business, our commitment to sustainable leadership manifests in many ways. Here are a few examples.

• Operations and Offerings that uplift people and protect the planet, aligning processes, policies, and even product and solution design with ethical practices.?
• Culture and Engagement that foster an inspiring, collaborative, and innovative work environment where teams feel connected to purpose and empowered to make an impact.?
• Reputation and Relationships that build trust, influence, and relationships with all stakeholders through authenticity, transparency, accountability, and conviction.?

When leaders step up, entire organizations reorient around purpose over profits. Just look at the conscious culture created by leading brands and certified B Corps like Patagonia , Ben & Jerry’s , and TOMS Shoes . Employees remain enthusiastically engaged with the vision. Consumers become brand devotees and partners. Investors line up to fund growth.?Returns are realized in many ways that enable the company to continue to grow when profit is looked at as an outcome, not the goal.?

Your business doesn’t have to become a certified B Corp to be purpose-led. The truth is, the more good we all do in everyday business activities, the more capacity we build for the greater good in our circles of influence. And it starts at the top.?But it cannot stop there. To prevent lip service and disengagement, we must enroll our teams at every level so they understand our purpose and why this matters to them – and to everyone. The good news is, guiding our teams with purpose and sustainable leadership will also foster greater engagement and overall job satisfaction.?

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Overcoming Perceived Tradeoffs?

Of course, the commitment to sustainable leadership still gives some leaders pause:??

• Won't margins suffer if we invest heavily in ethical practices or green operations???
• Must we sacrifice shareholder returns or stakeholder expectations to expand social impact??What will shareholders say??

The assumption that prioritizing purpose over profit will hold the company back doesn’t reflect reality. With strategic, sustainable leadership, being purpose-led benefits the company in important ways. Study after study backs this up: purpose-driven companies also benefit competitively and financially – experiencing faster growth, expanded market share, increased productivity and profitability.?

To quote Peter Fisk, author of People, Planet, Profit :

“Purpose-driven companies are more ambitious, they attract the best talent, inspire richer innovation, make faster decisions, are more trusted, have greater loyalty, and attract more investment.”

And according to “Why business must harness the power of purpose ”– a report by Ernst and Young – research by author Raj Sisodia found that “companies that operate with a clear and driving sense of purpose, beyond the goal of just making money, outperformed the S&P 500 by a factor of 14 between 1998 and 2013.”

If purpose-driven leadership resonates, and you’d like to discuss implications for your company – or if you have any questions – please reach out . We love meeting like-minded colleagues and always learn from the conversations as well..

Sagent is a certified B Corp , established in 2004 as a purpose-driven marketing agency dedicated to helping create a healthier, safer and more sustainable world.