Leadership and sustainability

Key differences have been identified between leaders and managers. A leader sets a direction, aligns people and motivates them during the course. A manager plans, organises and recruits, without necessarily inspiring people; rather they help employees find solutions to problems or challenges.

Leaders inspire and support people to act together towards achieving a vision or ideal. Green leaders inspire people to act together towards achieving a better world. They are often seen as change agents as they initiate, enable or foster change. In sustainability, leadership is crucial in driving the change process. It is often mentioned that producing change is about 80% leadership and 20% management. In this light, the real gap seems to be the fact that we have hundreds of experts and, perhaps, green managers but not enough great leaders.

There are many suggestions and discussions about the key attributes a green leader needs, and also the fundamental principles they would have to follow. These may include interdisciplinary understanding, a strong vision, emotional intelligence and a long-term perspective. A sustainable leader is someone who thinks globally and towards the future; someone showing a caring attitude and who is ready to be radical. These abilities become even more complex, and rare to find in one person when you start exploring concepts such as strategic influence towards the change, visionary thinking (think strategically and creatively to find new ways) or building networks through empathy and high interpersonal understanding.

If you now think that this is already difficult enough to achieve, the best is yet to come! The crucial aspect for a great green leader is to understand that the focus must not be on the list of abilities and their importance (taken as a single unit/element) but rather on how these characteristics are linked to each other. Like branches of a tree, each of these aspects supports and reinforces the others, in a dynamic and solid interconnection.

The focus here is not on the comprehensive listing of all possible skills and functions of a green leader, but rather on the interconnectivity of these abilities, and how each can and does strengthen other parts of the same system.

Activity

Do a little research using Twitter by searching using the hashtag #sustainableleader and identify who a person or company who you consider to be a sustainable leader. Quote tweet the post and include four words that describes the work they do and add the hashtag #RMITsustainableleader

If you are unsure how to use Twitter, see the guides in the See Also area.