What makes a Transformational Leader? Four key questions we need to ask ourselves to create a sustainable future

In celebration of Earth Day 2022 , I had the pleasure of spending some time with PWC’s Leo Johnson for a ‘fireside chat’ for our Microsoft UK employees, on the future of sustainability and the challenges (and opportunities) that we face ahead of us.

Speaking to Leo as an expert in sustainability and sharing the experience with our wonderful colleagues was a real privilege. As well as leading PWC’s Disruption & Innovation practice, Leo co-presents the Radio 4 series “FutureProofing ”, exploring the impacts of exponential technologies on business and society. ?Leo is also the co-Founder of the advisory firm Sustainable Finance and a Visiting Business Fellow at the Smith School of Enterprise & Environment at Oxford University.

Exploring the future – ‘there are no knights in shining armour’

During the hour, we discussed the Global Climate Challenge we all face and the evidence of the planet being on the axis of multiple tipping points – ecosystems collapsing, requirements for huge scale acceleration of decarbonisation, the poverty and inequality gap ever-rising, even more so post Covid, global political unrest, a potential food crisis… The list keeps growing. With Earth systems evidencing that they’re fraying with a relatively small window in order to reverse and stop the impact of being within a 1.5-degree climate rise, we’re facing huge scale change, such that we’ve never known in modern history.

And whilst there is lots being done with much, much more to do, Leo had a fascinating insight on what it’s going to take, from within us all, to step-up to the challenge ahead.

The task is to find the leader within us all that can step-up to solve what we can control

In the face of so many complex and intimidating global problems, it’s tempting to absolve ourselves as individuals to the government or the regulator or The Shareholders or the direct leadership around us every day, to solve these issues. However, there are no “knights in shining armour” arriving to find solutions and fix what is an extraordinarily complex system with multiple levers. No one system can be solved in isolation, nor without us all working in unison. And so, the focus needs to shift even more so from the external to internal and different view of what leadership is. The task is to find the leader within us all that can step-up and solve what we can control around us from a sustainability perspective.

And for that, we all need to strive to be Transformational Leaders within our own span of control.

The litmus test for The Transformational Leader

When identifying if we hold the traits of the Transformational Leader, there are four key questions that we should be asking ourselves;

1.???How good is my line of sight? ?

Do I have great foresight or am I being wilfully blind to the issues in front of me? Is my radar only trained on selective spots and am I missing the difficult areas – the things that seem too difficult or incalculable, or too far off to worry about, or just too ‘fuzzy’ to be able to deal with now?

The Transformational Leader embraces critical uncertainty and positions themselves where one can see can implications of various scenarios, and so becomes fluent in anticipating possible futures and how to navigate them.

It takes courage to see and confront the data and not sweep it under the carpet. It calls for the Transformational Leader to bring clarity to the challenges and then build a plan to how we respond. ?

???2. What’s the intent that I bring to a challenge? ?

Is my radius of intent limited to my own success? Who do I care about and how limited is it - is it broader than my immediate interests or am I looking at others beyond myself? Are we asking ourselves the question about who else needs to be in our radius of intent and what are the trade-offs that we’re willing to make to widen it?

This brings to question how we all define success, especially in the area of sustainability which – as we know – is a wide and deep topic. Which then leads to how we define overall success in the broader ESG sense.

???3. Have I got a concrete plan??

The Transformational Leader is working against a concrete plan and is looking across all horizons of innovation that they can use to accelerate and collaborate on that plan. It’s a plan that is clear and concise and is split into smaller chunks with accountability for people to deliver on step by step, looking at the bigger picture in the round.

?????4. What am I doing to motivate people? ??

The Transformational Leader is helping envision a mission that people care about. They get people behind a challenge that they want to solve by being able to tap into each individual’s desire for purpose. They have the skills and abilities to bring a group of people together – not just within their direct organisation – but a wider group of collaborators, focussing on a mission that resonates globally. The Transformational Leader can expand the value set of their organisation to embrace purpose and are highly skilled in bringing teams of people together around that purpose to drive outcomes.

?

We are all living in an extraordinary moment in time. And whilst there is no one silver bullet that can fix all of these issues, we can find a way through by getting as many diverse thinkers as possible together and focusing on the same outcomes, and together, unlocking the solutions that we need to find. And with technology underpinning innovation, we have all the tools we need to see a brighter future.