Sustainability

Over the last decade, issues involving clean technology, renewable energy and sustainability have moved from the periphery to the center of the global economy.  Public and private organizations of all sizes are striving to understand what it means to be a responsible corporate citizen in their specific sectors and markets, and to understand the demands of their stakeholders and customers.  Many organizations are realizing that their first challenge is to identify the right leadership within their organizations to proactively address sustainability issues, and turn them into growth opportunities.

A Growing Opportunity

Definitions of “clean” and “green” and “sustainable” extend beyond the diverse array of companies focused on developing clean technologies, alternative/renewable energy and more environmentally-friendly products and services. 

Sustainability in its broadest sense is a strategic leadership issue in virtually every industry, whether business-to-business or consumer. Businesses must meet consumer expectations for cleaner, greener or organic products, and more environmentally friendly ways of conducting business and delivering goods and services.  This can mean rethinking everything from product design, to materials and components, and facilities and distribution strategies—often doing so in conjunction with evolving regulatory developments, increasing scarcity of resources, and rising costs.

Governments around the world have made sustainability initiatives and the technology needed to achieve them a key component of both environmental policy and economic development. International non-governmental organizations work to further drive sustainability initiatives at the local and global level, partnering to deliver relevant programs. 

Leadership in the Sustainability Generation

Many organizations are appointing chief sustainability officers to proactively address these issues and turn them into opportunities for growth. Effective sustainability leadership requires knowledge and experience across legal, compliance, marketing/communications, IR and R&D, resulting in a unique set of competencies that can be difficult to find in a single individual. The nascent state of the industry means there are very few senior executives who have a proven track record at scale.

We help CEOs and boards proactively meet the growing demand for this kind of expertise by:

• Identifying leaders that understand this emerging industry and are experienced with navigating rapidly changing markets.
• Bringing in proven entrepreneurial leaders who know how to lead the development and commercialization of new technologies and business models.
• Integrating executive and cultural assessment into the recruitment process to ensure the right leaders for your organization are presented for long-term success. The in-depth analysis of senior executives affirms that candidates have the required leadership competencies to address your organization’s challenges and are aligned with your current or desired culture.
• By assessing and benchmarking of the talent pool from within and from outside of the organization, and across a range of industries to help identify and cultivate the right leaders for sustainability initiatives.