Leadership for Sustainability

It is almost cliche to say this, but environmental-problems are people-problems and overcoming sustainability challenges such as climate change requires more than science and technology. Ultimately, sustainable development requires collaboration and action by individuals, teams, organizations, and institutions. Leadership is a celebrated topic in public administration and business management, but less so in environmental, engineering, and sustainability circles, perhaps because of tendencies in these fields to fixate on technical problems with technical solutions. This chapter summarizes a subset of leadership theory relevant to the wickedness of environmental and sustainability challenges. It also introduces relevant leadership tools, practices, and perspectives. Ultimately, the chapter is a homage to Bryan Norton and his prescient and powerful call for trusted, flexible, and creative processes for adapting to change as we create a desirable place to live in the future.