But our interviews showed that senior executives are also recognising their leadership role in the wider ecosystem around their organisation. They’re not just taking their external environment as a given they have to respond to, but something they have a role and responsibility in shaping actively – leading change in consumer and supplier behaviour, industry norms and government policy. Some are leading collaboratively with industry competitors, NGOs and government where challenges need to be tackled and only collective, systemic solutions will do.
helps all employees across an organisation prioritise action on sustainability. The chief executives we spoke to talked of seeing their own role in influencing change in their organisations in terms of opening up the space for others to behave differently – through the goals they articulated, and the rationales they developed for pursuing them; the stories and people they celebrated; the conversations they started; the questions they asked; what they were seen to spend their own time doing, and which individuals and groups got recognised and rewarded and for what. All this helped create space and safety for others in the organisation to depart from the norm and embrace action that helped achieve sustainability goals.
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