The seven unsustainabilities of mainstream leadership

Abstract

In the face of limited progress on a range of social and environmental issues, many proponents and analysts of corporate action on sustainable development issues are calling for more leadership for sustainability – a call to which this book responds (Redekop, 2010; Adams et al., 2011; Evans, 2011; Gallagher, 2012; Metcalf & Benn, 2013; Shriberg & MacDonald, 2013). Such calls for leadership reflect a desire for greater and swifter change. In that context, researchers and educators can explore what is useful knowledge to enable such change. In this chapter, we suggest that some assumptions about the meaning of the term “leadership” may hinder, not help, that process of change.