There is growing consensus that novel strategies are needed to address the grand challenges we face as a global society. Climate change, poverty, global health, social inequality and racial justice, among others, are complex problems, characterized by radical uncertainty.
Addressing these challenges will entail technological innovation, but even more importantly, it will require deep institutional transformation in the financial, corporate and public sectors, which implies profound changes in corporate strategies, business models, financial approaches, investment practices, accounting rules, public policies and consumer behavior. Indeed, the transformation will require a rethinking of the very role of business in society and a shift from just attempting to minimize the negative social and environmental impacts of business to proactively leveraging business as a force for good in society.
The IESE Sustainable Leadership Initiative advances interdisciplinary research on this transformation to help companies, and their stakeholders, navigate the transition to a more sustainable form of capitalism.
The initiative was introduced at IESE’s 2021 Global Alumni Reunion, a two-day event focused on understanding how organizations can develop the SustainAbilities needed to tackle our sustainability challenges and featured high-profile executives and thought leaders. An IESE Insight special report provides an inspiring and in-depth summary of the key outcomes from the event.
Home to a growing number of research and collaboration platforms, including IESE Cities in Motion and IESE’s involvement in Business Schools for Climate Leadership, the initiative aims to advance business knowledge at or above the pace of change.
Purpose
IESE’s Sustainable Leadership Initiative is dedicated to generating rigorous, impactful knowledge to prompt leaders across sectors to create economic, social, and environmental value for their organizations and for society. We believe that a more enlightened form of capitalism, which some refer to as stakeholder capitalism, is not only possible, but is already happening across the global economy.
IESE recognizes that business schools play a fundamental role in helping to achieve a more prosperous, equitable, and greener world, and we aim to accelerate that global movement. In this spirit of sustainable leadership, the initiative brings together scholars from different disciplines together with business and community leaders to map avenues to impact through multi-sector dialogue and action.
