It’s a fantastic reflection on the progress society has made in the past decade to realize that our job is no longer to convince people that sustainability is important. The sustainability imperative has never been clearer and there is more and more evidence that sustainability is here to stay as a driver of innovation and change.

Sustainability is becoming more and more mainstream as corporations, municipalities, and civil society work to understand and adopt sustainability strategies within their organizations. From sustainable supply chains to life cycle analysis, from community sustainability planning and smart growth, and from sustainable procurement to packaging, there’s no shortage of activity underway.

So, if everyone understands that sustainability is important and that we all must understand and work towards it, can we all pack up and go home? Not yet. We have a long road ahead of us.

Sustainability is about long-term, transformative change. It’s about changing the way we think about our relationship with the planet and with each other. It requires a fundamental rethink of the way we design our products and services, the way we operate and govern our organizations, the way we engage our stakeholders, and the way we collaborate together to change the systems we live and work within.

If we are to succeed as a society in redesigning our future, it will take unprecedented leadership and long-term commitment. So what are the key characteristics of sustainability leaders?

In our experience, the best companies and the best leaders are no longer trying to address sustainability as a standalone issue or an add-on initiative. They are integrating sustainability into the core of their business strategies and the heart of their municipal planning efforts. The best leaders understand that sustainability must be embedded into the culture of an organization if it is to succeed. And that requires widespread employee training, engagement, and buy-in.

In The Sustainability Champions Guidebook, Bob Willard, a well-known sustainability expert and member of The Natural Step Canada’s Board of Directors, defines the characteristics of successful sustainability leaders.

Sustainability leaders are successful because they establish personal credibility not only as authentic champions of sustainability but also as successful leaders, Willard says. They are pursuing sustainability because they want their businesses or communities to thrive. And they are committed to the challenge and have the trust, integrity, and competence to lead change and mobilize commitment around them.

One of the most well known examples of this kind of leader is Interface’s Ray Anderson who’s “spear in the chest” moment has become known to so many of us in the sustainability field. Another great example closer to home is Kathy Bardswick, who as CEO of The Co-operators has made a commitment to embedding sustainability into the long-term strategy and operations of the Canadian insurance co-operative. Her commitment is felt not only throughout the company, but she is also a strong champion for sustainability throughout the insurance and finance sector. We need more voices like these.

Successful leaders also engage their employees and stakeholders through effective dialogue and communications. By educating employees and external stakeholders about what sustainability is and what it means to their business or community, leaders are able to harness the creativity and ingenuity of the entire company. Working together, they are better able to find solutions that embed sustainability into the culture of the organization and accelerate change toward sustainability.

A great example of this kind of leadership can be found at Landmark Group of Builders, an Alberta-based construction company that has been embedding sustainability into its core business strategy since 2009. Led by CEO Reza Nasseri and COO Bijan Mannani, Landmark recently held a workshop for all staff to engage them in the organization’s sustainability journey and achieved astonishing results. You can read about Landmark’s sustainability journey here.

Successful leaders build buy-in and create alignment around a shared vision for the organization. They understand that sustainability is not about incremental improvements over how we did yesterday. Rather it’s about imagining a new future where we have designed the root causes of sustainability out of the way we live, work, and play.

Effective sustainability champions help employees and stakeholders understand the gap between where they are today and where they want to be in a sustainable future. They help create goals to drive the innovation and strategic actions that will lead their organizations to a sustainable future.

These are some of the characteristics that Bob Willard outlines in The Sustainability Champions Guidebook. And these are the characteristics we recognize in the leaders that we’ve had the privilege of working with and learning from over the past 10 years in Canada. Leaders like I’ve mentioned above and other visionaries like Ken Melamed, Mayor of the Resort Municipality of Whistler; Ron Casey, Mayor of the Town of Canmore; and the team of CEO Randy Peacock, COO Randy Heaps, and Senior Urban Designer Terry Myles at ISL Engineering and Land Services. We congratulate their efforts and hope we will see many more like them in the years to come. 

But, of course, leaders don’t have to be CEOs. Leaders can be champions for change anywhere in the organization. Indeed, often sustainability efforts do not start in the executive suite. They often start with a committed and passionate champion or team of champions who build the buy-in they need to influence change within their organizations.

What gives us tremendous hope is the new generation of emerging leaders in Canadian universities and colleges across the country. In business schools and across all disciplines, this generation of young people entering the work force are passionate and ferocious advocates for a better world. We see huge opportunities in helping them to build their capacity to succeed in being effective change agents, and we're looking forward to launching a new pilot program for MBA students later this year.

At The Natural Step Canada, we help leaders create a better tomorrow, today. We invite you to become one of those leaders and join us on the journey toward sustainability. Learn more about our programs. Take one of our sustainability courses. Download one of our free toolkits. And get involved in sustainability in your organization. The journey to sustainability begins one natural step at a time.