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Given the fact that achieving sustainability will require far-reaching social, cultural, psychological, economic, technological, and even spiritual changes in the fabric of our lives, there is ample room for a variety of approaches to leadership for sustainability. Recent research on this topic, including perspectives from the fields of history, sociology, religious studies / spirituality, business, literature, communication, psychology, political science, and the arts, will be published in the forthcoming volume Leadership for Environmental Sustainability, by Benjamin Redekop and Steven Olson (2010). Research on the narrative aspects of leadership suggests, for example, that leaders interested in sustainability are well advised to develop their storytelling abilities, since stories are one of the most powerful and engaging forms of human communication. We must imagine a sustainable future as a precondition for acting on it, and it is through stories that leaders can help constituents envision the way things can be.

Others argue that moving toward sustainability will require a spiritual transformation from materialism and consumerism to a more profoundly spiritual relationship with each other and the biosphere. Leadership for sustainability from this perspective involves the facilitation of spiritualities that help to transform behaviors in ways that are both more sustainable and more spiritually satisfying. Historians for their part have much to tell us about the successes and failures of past environmental leaders, while sociologists provide analyses of the social forces that impede or foster sustainable behaviors and the social constraints under which leaders operate. One of the bugbears of leadership studies is "attribution error," in which successes or failures are wrongly attributed to leaders instead of other social, economic, and contextual factors. A sociological perspective helps to clarify social factors that are beyond the control of leaders while also providing insights into the ways that leaders can help set the social conditions for sustainability.

Environmental psychology is a growing field of study that has much to offer those interested in leading for sustainability. For example, self-determination theory suggests that internal motivation is one of the best ways to promote pro-environmental behaviors, in part because it results in a cascading effect in which such behaviors are willingly spread to others. Autonomy supportive requests--in which leaders acknowledge the perspective of followers, allow choices (where possible) in how such requests will be fulfilled, and provide a rationale for such requests--are more likely to be effective than more coercive measures. Research has likewise shown that if fear appeals are to be effective, they must be accompanied by expressions of hope and a sense of how constituents can productively respond to the problem. Researchers have identified a personality variable termed "consideration of future consequences" (CFC) that predicts pro-environmental behaviors; they also have provided evidence that populations differ according to their willingness to cooperate in solving social dilemmas. According to this research, about 20 percent of the population are "cooperators," about 60 percent are "individualists," and 20 percent are "competitors." Cooperators and individualists can be convinced to engage in sustainable behaviors, whereas competitors may never willingly cooperate since they measure success in terms of gaining an advantage over others. Much work remains to be done to refine such data and incorporate it into our understanding of leadership for sustainability (Joireman 2005; Osbaldiston and Sheldon 2002).

Many business leaders have begun to make their influence felt on this issue. Scholars suggest that--in addition to leaders themselves modeling sustainable behaviors--successful business leadership for sustainability requires embedding sustainable perspectives, processes, and behaviors into every level of an organization. An important first step is the formulation of a corporate vision and mission statement that reflects deep-seated concern for the natural environment and sustainability. Also crucial are the creation of education initiatives that provide employees with the skills and resources to act on the organizational vision, and the formulation of a strong business case for environmental responsibility. Significant savings can result from increased efficiencies, and forward-looking business leaders devote such savings to further measures aimed at achieving sustainability. Among the many business leaders that could be mentioned, Ray Anderson of Interface Inc. (the world's largest producer of commercial floor coverings and carpets) stands out as one of the most prominent and influential business leaders on this issue, and his book Mid-Course Correction has been widely recognized as one of the more compelling personal testaments written by a business leader on the topic of environmental sustainability.

An "environmental leadership model" (ELM), originally proposed in 1994 by the scholars Brenda Flannery and Douglas May, specifies four important antecedents to an organization's environmental strategy formulation process, including the existence of moral norms and values for environmental responsibility, the environmental attitudes of top organizational leaders, stakeholder influences, and the perceived degree of control over regulatory, financial, and technological constraints on pro-environmental behaviors. Such models help to conceptualize how businesses and other organizations chart a strategic path toward sustainability, and they highlight the fact that business leaders operate in a larger system that both encourages and constrains pro-environmental behaviors--that is, that leadership is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the achievement of environmental sustainability. They also help to convey the scale and complexity of the leadership task, and the need for both industrial and postindustrial forms of leadership to confront the multifaceted sustainability challenge. Leaders in business and other fields will need to draw from many disciplines and perspectives in order to effectively lead on this issue. Scholars of leadership, for their part, must move the study of environmental leadership beyond its current "fledgling stage" (Egri and Herman 2000, 599) if they wish to play a productive role in the increasingly urgent quest for sustainability.

Bibliography:

1) Egri, Carolyn P., & Herman, Susan. (2000). Leadership in the North American environmental sector: Values, leadership styles, and contexts of environmental leaders and their organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 43(4), 571-604.

2) Flannery, Brenda, & May, Douglas. (1994). Prominent factors influencing environmental activities: Application of the environmental leadership model (ELM). Leadership Quarterly, 5(3/4), 201-221.

3) Joireman, Jeff. (2005). Environmental problems as social dilemmas: The temporal dimension. In Alan Strathman & Jeff Joireman (Eds.), Understanding behavior in the context of time: Theory, research, and application (pp. 289-304). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

4) Osbaldiston, Richard, & Sheldon, Kenneth M. (2002). Social dilemmas and sustainability: Promoting peoples' motivation to "cooperate with the future." In Peter Schmuck & Wesley P. Schultz (Eds.), Psychology of sustainable development (pp. 37-57). Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

5) Redekop, Benjamin W., & Olson, Steven. (2010). Leadership for environmental sustainability. New York: Routledge.

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