Leading the Sustainable Organization - (Anthem Environment and Sustainability Initiative) by Peter McAteer (Hardcover)

About the Book

Our current leaders have failed to move quickly or decisively to address the challenges of climate change, biodiversity, and sustainability. The book offers a blueprint for a new generation of leaders to transform industry and create a new, more equitable future.

Book Synopsis

● Who leads the next $100 trillion in GDP growth?
● Are we developing leaders for a more sustainable future?
● What does the next generation of leaders need to know to build a more sustainable future?

Leading a sustainable organization requires more than marketing slogans and good reporting. It requires identifying the value of sustainability for all stakeholders and the development of specific transition and change plans that deliver a different type of organization. Noble aspirations in treaties and policies are a necessary part of the picture, but leaders must create organizations that enable daily actions. Making sustainability happen is a series of leadership choices:
o Creating strategic differentiation to compete on sustainability business opportunities
o Crafting a purpose that inspires employees to give their best
o Building and sharing a knowledge model about why, what, and how to do sustainability
o Ensuring that sustainability efforts are woven into values and ethics
o Deploying a transition plan with clear action steps that move from compliance to alignment
o Making sustainability part of the culture and identity of an organization
o Weaving personal commitment to sustainability into team performance
o Telling the story of sustainable results in all business communication
o Maintaining commitment in the face of inevitable derailment factors
o Future proofing the organization to stay on the sustainability journey with a sense of long-term value creation
● The current generation of leaders has failed to make the progress needed to delay the worst effects of climate change and biodiversity loss, so the challenges become harder. The book offers a chapter-by-chapter blueprint of key actions that can be learned and shared. The goal is to enable business leaders to accelerate action, make better decisions, and ensure that sustainability becomes part of the DNA of any organization.

Review Quotes

I highly recommend this timely, practical and solution-oriented book for anyone seeking to create a sustainable enterprise. McAteer does a brilliant job of explaining what it takes to build a culture for sustainability--one that's innovative, collaborative, ethical, and values-based while still being competi-tive. -- Jeana Wirtenberg, Associate Professor, Rutgers Business School Executive Director, Rutgers Institute for Corporate Social Innovation

McAteer's book is a must-have resource for business leaders, entrepreneurs, sustainability profession-als, policymakers, and educators who are committed to integrating sustainability into their organiza-tional strategy. Leading the Sustainable Organization provides a practical framework for navigating the evolving landscape of environmental challenges, regulatory changes, and competitive pressures. -- Alex Casiano, Professor, Dean of Academic Affairs, Metropolitan Campus, Inter-American University of Puerto Rico

This work is essential for leaders looking to future-proof their organizations in today's rapidly evolving business landscape, equipping them with the tools to drive meaningful change and create long-term value for both shareholders and stakeholders.-- Manuel Vexler, Sustainability and AI Faculty, Cornell University, Executive Director AKFI Sustainability Association

If you want to read one book about business this year, make it this one. Peter has a talent for offering clear, insightful explanations of complex issues supported by real-world experience. Everyone wants to see their organization thrive, and with the advice offered in his latest book, ethical leaders will have new actionable strategies to employ. -- Carol Liffman, Director, Risk Advisory Services, DNV Energy Systems

This is a solid, mainstream textbook-style guide for people in conventional business environments. The author presents a satisfactory mix of examples from legacy businesses and smaller start-ups, and includes a rich variety of clear, actionable to-do lists. --Earth.Org

This book has undoubted clarity and heft, and would be an excellent addition to the shelf of any modern business leader seeking to understand modern sustainability.--Earth.Org

Timely, informative, realistic, essential, "Leading the Sustainable Organization: The Quest for Ethical Brands and a Culture of Sustainable Innovation" by Peter McAteer is exceptionally well written, organized and presented -- making it critically important reading for everyone with an interest in the subject of environmental economics and sustainable business leadership, management, and motivation.-- Midwest

I highly recommend this timely, practical and solution-oriented book for anyone seeking to create a sustainable enterprise. McAteer does a brilliant job of explaining what it takes to build a culture for sustainability-one that's innovative, collaborative, ethical, and values-based while still being competi-tive. - Jeana Wirtenberg, Associate Professor, Rutgers Business School Executive Director, Rutgers Institute for Corporate Social Innovation

McAteer's book is a must-have resource for business leaders, entrepreneurs, sustainability profession-als, policymakers, and educators who are committed to integrating sustainability into their organiza-tional strategy. Leading the Sustainable Organization provides a practical framework for navigating the evolving landscape of environmental challenges, regulatory changes, and competitive pressures. - Alex Casiano, Professor, Dean of Academic Affairs, Metropolitan Campus, Inter-American University of Puerto Rico

This work is essential for leaders looking to future-proof their organizations in today's rapidly evolving business landscape, equipping them with the tools to drive meaningful change and create long-term value for both shareholders and stakeholders.- Manuel Vexler, Sustainability and AI Faculty, Cornell University, Executive Director AKFI Sustainability Association

If you want to read one book about business this year, make it this one. Peter has a talent for offering clear, insightful explanations of complex issues supported by real-world experience. Everyone wants to see their organization thrive, and with the advice offered in his latest book, ethical leaders will have new actionable strategies to employ. - Carol Liffman, Director, Risk Advisory Services, DNV Energy Systems

This is a solid, mainstream textbook-style guide for people in conventional business environments. The author presents a satisfactory mix of examples from legacy businesses and smaller start-ups, and includes a rich variety of clear, actionable to-do lists. -Earth.Org

This book has undoubted clarity and heft, and would be an excellent addition to the shelf of any modern business leader seeking to understand modern sustainability.-Earth.Org

Timely, informative, realistic, essential, "Leading the Sustainable Organization: The Quest for Ethical Brands and a Culture of Sustainable Innovation" by Peter McAteer is exceptionally well written, organized and presented -- making it critically important reading for everyone with an interest in the subject of environmental economics and sustainable business leadership, management, and motivation.- Midwest

Earth.Org Author Interview

About the Author

PETER MCATEER is Managing Director of Sustain Learning LLC. He was also former Managing Director of Harvard Business Publishing and former Chief Learning Officer of the United Nations Development Programme.