We need more phenomenal CEOs.
Originally posted on the CSRwire website.
By CSRwire Contributing Writer Elaine Cohen
Some women manage to do it all and succeed at all they do, despite those who say it’s not possible. “Turning down the noise of negativity” is the clue to great achievement. This is a lesson more CEOs could do well to learn when advancing and embedding sustainability.
In the 2010 CEO study by the UN Global Compact and Accenture, “A New Era Of Sustainability,” 766 CEOs surveyed pointed to the key challenges of embedding sustainability. Listed among the top 10 issues identified as key barriers to embedding sustainability are lack of board support, lack of recognition from financial markets, employee resistance, difficulty in engaging with external groups and failure to recognize a link to value drivers. The negativity around sustainability can be a real barrier to progress and may immobilize an organization. The complexity of driving sustainability across the business, on several fronts, through a range of processes, internally and externally, can be quite overwhelming. In order to succeed in life and business, you have to “turn down the noise of negativity,” as Kathy Ireland puts it in an interview on how she got started in her business venture, and get on with doing what’s right. CEOs aspiring to embed a program of sustainability might gain inspiration from this insight.
