Chapter 4
The Four Essential Competencies
Beyond the sustainable mindset, Murphy identifies four distinctive competencies that set effective sustainability leaders apart: multilevel systems thinking, stakeholder inclusion, disruptive innovation, and long-term activation.
Multilevel systems thinking enables leaders to understand complex webs of cause and effect across market, social, environmental, and regulatory variables. This means seeing beyond immediate business impacts to recognize how decisions ripple through interconnected systems. When Duke Energy's Lynn Good approaches energy transition, she considers not just carbon emissions but also workforce retraining, community economic impacts, and grid reliability-understanding that these elements form an integrated system rather than isolated challenges.
Stakeholder inclusion represents the ability to engage effectively with diverse constituencies whose interests may initially appear to conflict. Joao Paulo at Natura exemplifies this by aligning people with both specific goals and the overall mission, persuading through logic and deeply-held beliefs that inspire his team to embrace company values. His approach is collaborative across all stakeholders-from sales consultants to government representatives. He extends collaboration to external partners, including competitors like Henkel, L'Oreal, and LVMH in a global consortium creating a transparent environmental impact assessment system for the cosmetics industry.
Disruptive innovation allows leaders to challenge traditional approaches, seeking exponential changes rather than incremental improvements. Zhang Yue, founder of China's Broad Group, demonstrates this through his revolutionary construction technology. With over 300 patents, Zhang has built a multibillion-dollar empire challenging conventional practices. His B-Core tubular stainless steel technology is 10 times lighter than standard steel with superior earthquake resistance, enabling the construction of a 57-story building in just 19 days. "Construction is one of the most polluting industries," Zhang states, "but I can make the most environmentally sound buildings for half the price and 10 times the speed of anyone else."
Long-term activation involves the courage and resilience to make disruptive investments and maintain course despite pressure from short-term-oriented stakeholders. Svein Tore Holsether of fertilizer company Yara International demonstrated this when commissioning the world's first autonomous all-electric ship, the Yara Birkeland, for $15 million despite numerous regulatory and technological challenges. "I'd rather be fired for taking too much of a risk and making a mistake than not acting soon enough," he explained, embodying the moonshot mindset that characterizes sustainable leaders.
Chapter 5
The Learning Quotient: Sustainability's Secret Weapon
Perhaps the most critical attribute Murphy identifies is what he calls the "Learning Quotient" (LQ)-the humility to learn and adapt quickly in the face of complex sustainability challenges. Leaders with high LQ don't just dig in their heels during crises but proactively gather new information and challenge themselves to innovate.
Regis Repko of Duke Energy evaluates team leaders on their comfort in three zones: green (established processes, clear playbooks), red (overwhelmed by change, frozen), and yellow (the sweet spot of partial understanding with enough ambiguity to stimulate learning). "If you're operating in the green, you're not learning," Repko explains. "If you're in the yellow, you have most of it down, but there is a bit of uncertainty which requires you to be in learning mode."
Leif Valdemar Johansson, former CEO of Electrolux and Volvo and chairman of AstraZeneca, has spent much of his career in this yellow zone. During the pandemic, AstraZeneca provided COVID vaccines at cost to developing countries despite intense scrutiny and political challenges. Earlier at Electrolux, a CFC refrigerator scandal became Leif's turning point as a leader when he realized critical environmental information hadn't reached him. "I am ashamed to say, I did not know," he admits. This experience transformed him into someone who actively sought uncomfortable feedback.
After the CFC scandal, Leif created conditions for employees to bring difficult news directly to him. "Somehow I was getting filtered information and it was clearly my fault," he admitted. "Executives must be able to bear criticism." He then educated himself extensively on environmental issues, reading books and seeking guidance from scholars including Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom.
Bernard Looney, CEO of energy giant bp, similarly exemplifies this approach. Upon becoming CEO in February 2020, he committed to an unprecedented transition to cleaner energy-investing billions in renewables, reducing oil and gas output by 40% by 2030, and targeting net-zero emissions by 2050. Despite skepticism from critics who accuse bp of greenwashing, Bernard remains receptive to feedback. "You have to engage, you have to listen," he says. "You have to be humble. You have to be prepared to learn." Bernard openly admits what he doesn't know, saying "I will say 10 times a day that I don't know the answer to something."
Chapter 6
From Words to Action: Embedding Sustainability
The gap between sustainability rhetoric and reality remains substantial and increasingly concerning. Research reveals a significant "say/do divide" between leadership claims and employee perceptions across industries. While 43% of C-suite executives believe their organization has clearly communicated and acted on sustainability strategies, only 29% of employees agree - a stark 14-point disconnect. Similarly, 51% of executives claim their CEO is personally committed to sustainability progress, but merely 26% of employees concur, highlighting a critical credibility gap in organizational leadership.
Closing this divide requires embedding sustainability throughout the organization rather than treating it as a peripheral initiative or PR exercise. As Alan Jope of Unilever emphatically states, "Sustainable business isn't a strategic priority. It is our strategy." Unilever's comprehensive "Compass" framework expands through multiple interconnected layers: starting with operations and workforce transformation, extending through the value chain partnerships, leveraging brand influence and consumer engagement, and finally engaging wider society through strategic partnerships and policy advocacy. This integrated approach ensures sustainability permeates every business decision and operational process.
Accenture has made embedding sustainability central not only to its own strategy but to its client services worldwide, demonstrating how consulting firms can drive broader market transformation. CEO Julie Sweet challenged her leadership team to pursue bold net-zero goals without relying primarily on carbon credits - a common corporate shortcut. She strategically positioned sustainability as both a significant business opportunity and crucial talent retention strategy, embedding it across all functions from recruitment to client delivery. Accountability was established through a comprehensive "shared success scorecard" for 500 top leaders and an innovative priority-setting framework for 9,000 managing directors who must choose personal sustainability goals alongside inclusion, diversity, and equity commitments. This approach ensures sustainability metrics directly impact compensation and career advancement.
Hiring for a sustainable mindset at all levels has proven crucial for embedding sustainability throughout an organization's DNA. Peter Vanacker, CEO of LyondellBasell, specifically prioritizes character traits like balanced egos, active listening skills, and the demonstrated ability to work effectively in diverse environments. During his previous role as CEO of Neste, candidates underwent rigorous evaluation of their authentic passion for sustainability through detailed behavioral questions and real-world scenarios. The company implemented a comprehensive sustainability training program requiring all employees to complete 24 hours of focused learning on environment, health, safety, and Neste's operational footprint. Those who failed faced mandatory retesting, ensuring a baseline of sustainability literacy across the organization. This systematic approach to talent development has become a model for other companies seeking to build sustainability capabilities.
The most successful organizations recognize that embedding sustainability requires simultaneous transformation across multiple dimensions: strategy, operations, culture, talent, and governance. Companies like Microsoft have gone further by incorporating internal carbon pricing into business decisions and making sustainability achievements a factor in executive compensation. These leading examples demonstrate that closing the say/do gap demands comprehensive organizational change rather than isolated initiatives.
Chapter 7
The Ecosystem Approach: No Leader Stands Alone
Sustainable leaders recognize they cannot achieve transformative goals in isolation - success demands orchestrating complex networks of partnerships and collaborations. Aurelia Nguyen's leadership of COVAX provides a masterclass in ecosystem leadership during crisis. As Managing Director, she oversaw an unprecedented $10 billion in pledges to deliver billions of vaccine doses to 145 countries, coordinating hundreds of teams across business, nonprofit and government sectors. The initiative required aligning pharmaceutical companies, logistics providers, NGOs, and government agencies across continents. Despite feeling occasionally overwhelmed by the scale of the challenge, Nguyen approached her role as a "collaborator-in-chief," recognizing that sustainable leadership requires extensive relationship networks, refined diplomatic skills, deep logistical expertise, and the humility to know when to ask for help.
Successful partnerships can scale social and environmental impact far beyond a corporation's footprint, as demonstrated by several groundbreaking initiatives. Marc Benioff, Salesforce's founder and co-CEO, exemplifies this approach by applying his leadership and technological skills to ocean conservation. After reading about devastating marine wildlife loss, he reached out to UC Santa Barbara professor Doug McCauley, eventually appointing him to lead the Benioff Ocean Initiative. This collaboration created innovative AI-powered solutions like whale detection systems to prevent ship collisions, reducing whale deaths by 75% in pilot areas. The initiative has since expanded to address ocean plastic pollution and illegal fishing through similar technological interventions.
In Rajasthan, India, a powerful ecosystem partnership is transforming lives through innovative guar bean cultivation programs. The Sustainable Guar Initiative (SGI), led by Solvay CEO Ilham Kadri in partnership with L'Oreal, Henkel, and the NGO TechnoServe, has empowered over 1,500 women farmers in Bikaner, with plans to reach 5,000 more. This drought-resistant bean, essential for numerous industries from food processing to cosmetics, grows well in desert conditions, with 80% of the world's supply coming from India. Beyond improving yields by 125%, the initiative focuses on climate-smart agricultural practices, teaching women to plant kitchen gardens averaging 300 pounds of annual produce, significantly improving family nutrition and creating additional income streams.
When Solvay CEO Ilham Kadri visited the initiative in Bikaner, she discovered that empowering female farmers required addressing multiple interconnected challenges in the local ecosystem. One woman explained how the initiative transformed her from feeling "invisible" to becoming a proud and independent farmer earning her own income. Beyond agricultural training, the program tackled fundamental issues like menstrual hygiene, with TechnoServe teaching women about basic biology while Henkel employees established a sustainable supply chain for sanitary products. When Kadri learned these women couldn't access banking services without male accompaniment, she initiated blockchain-based solutions for financial inclusion, working with local fintech startups to create secure digital wallets. The initiative now serves as a model for holistic ecosystem approaches to sustainable development, demonstrating how addressing interconnected challenges requires coordinated action across multiple stakeholders.
Chapter 8
The Financial Case: Sustainability Pays
The financial case for sustainability has strengthened dramatically in recent years, evolving from a nice-to-have initiative to a core business imperative. Following COP26 in Glasgow, where organizations collectively pledged over $130 billion to fight climate change, ESG-linked financing became increasingly available and attractive. EY secured the first ESG-linked revolving credit facility among the Big Four accounting firms in the UK, with interest rates directly tied to performance on carbon reduction, workforce diversity, and societal impact targets. This innovative financing structure has since been replicated by numerous organizations, creating a virtuous cycle of sustainable investment.
A sophisticated investor ecosystem has evolved around sustainability, from specialized asset managers like Robeco and Impax to mainstream giants like BlackRock with its expanding portfolio of SDG-themed funds. By 2020, approximately one-third of global assets under management were ESG-based, representing over $40 trillion. Neuberger Berman, an early adopter of sustainable investing, had integrated ESG considerations into 86% of its assets by 2021, up from just 25% in 2016. Their thorough, data-driven approach to sustainability analysis, including proprietary ESG scoring systems and engagement tracking tools, helped them become one of only three US asset managers permitted to operate in China's vast market.
Following the principle that "what gets measured gets managed," sustainable leaders are implementing increasingly rigorous metrics and reporting frameworks to demonstrate progress on their sustainability goals. 3M requires all new products to include a sustainability value commitment, measuring and reporting environmental, social, and economic impacts annually through a comprehensive scorecard system. Finnish energy company Neste has embedded sustainability in its KPIs across all business units, prioritizing projects that advance emissions reduction targets and circular economy initiatives. Their sustainability metrics influence everything from operational decisions to strategic planning. PepsiCo incorporates environmental sustainability criteria into its capital expenditure filter for all requests over $5 million, requiring detailed analysis of water usage, emissions impact, and waste reduction potential.
Natura, the Brazilian beauty product manufacturer, has created one of the most comprehensive accountability systems for sustainability targets, extending from truck drivers to C-suite executives. The company tracks over 100 sustainability indicators monthly, and executive compensation is directly tied to meeting measurable SDG goals, with no bonuses awarded if sustainability targets aren't met. This commitment was dramatically demonstrated in 2011 when, despite achieving financial targets, executives received no bonuses due to missed sustainability goals. This decision sent a powerful message throughout the organization that sustainability performance is non-negotiable and equal in importance to financial results. The company has since expanded its metrics to include biodiversity impact, community development, and supplier sustainability performance.
The financial benefits of strong sustainability performance are increasingly clear, with studies showing that companies with high ESG ratings typically enjoy lower costs of capital, reduced regulatory and environmental risks, and enhanced brand value. Investment funds focused on sustainability have also demonstrated superior performance, particularly during market downturns, reinforcing the business case for sustainable practices.
Chapter 9
The Next Generation: Leadership's Future
The future of sustainable leadership is already emerging from unexpected places. Blanca Brambila Perez's sustainability journey was catalyzed by her father's kidnapping in Mexico. This traumatic event gave her a heightened awareness of life's fragility and deepened her desire to create positive change. After working with an NGO supporting crime victims, Blanca joined Heineken Mexico's sustainability department in 2015, quickly rising to become director of sustainability. Her successful "Every Drop Counts" initiative helped make Mexico Heineken's most water-efficient operation globally, using just 2.6 liters of water per liter of beer.
At Heineken, CEO Dolf has created a culture nurturing future sustainable leaders like Blanca and Hector Garcia Montemayor. Internally called the "generation of nudgers," these young leaders drive change from within. Hector, inspired by pollution on his family farm, applied circular economy principles to Heineken Mexico's uniform supply chain, calculating that 200,000 uniform pieces were discarded yearly, with one pair of jeans consuming 5,000 liters of water. He engineered a solution where 40% of garments could be reprocessed, partnering with a Vietnamese company to recycle truck drivers' uniforms.
Many leaders interviewed for the book report that sustainability discussions with their children sparked their own environmental awakening. Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture, credits her children's school education on climate change for igniting her passion for environmental goals through mealtime conversations. Similarly, Leif Johansson, AstraZeneca's chairman, recalls a transformative moment in the 1990s when his teenage daughter challenged his defense of Electrolux's CFC-emitting refrigerators, advising him to "use your intelligence to argue what can and should be done rather than try to defend the wrong thing." Johansson now recommends the "breakfast table test"-if you can't explain your actions to your family, change course.
The book concludes with essential takeaways for both current executives and next-generation leaders. For CEOs and board directors, Murphy emphasizes personal responsibility, wholesale embrace of sustainability, willingness to learn, avoiding perfectionism, building effective teams, making sustainability everyone's job, setting high expectations, collaboration, listening to younger generations, and developing future sustainable leaders.
For aspiring leaders, he advises making their voices heard, demonstrating business cases, seeking global experiences, pursuing cross-functional paths, developing specific sustainable leadership credentials, embracing learning, and not fearing mistakes. He ends with AXA CEO Thomas Buberl's powerful warning that "fence sitters" can't hide in the medium term-they must commit to measurable sustainability action or be left behind.
As Pericles wisely noted centuries ago, true legacy isn't found in stone monuments but is "woven into the lives of others." The sustainable leaders profiled in Murphy's work understand this profound truth-that their decisions today will ripple through generations to come, either enabling or constraining the possibilities available to those who follow. Their courage to reimagine leadership for a sustainable future offers hope that business can indeed become a powerful force for planetary and human flourishing.
