A growing number of corporations are moving sustainability up their agendas. For example, earlier this year, McKinsey and Co. conducted a study that found 36 percent of surveyed CEOs called sustainability one of their top three priorities, with 13 percent calling it the top priority (up 5 percent from last year). Yet many sustainability professionals encounter resistance when trying to establish senior leader support for implementing a sustainability strategy.
Whether poor alignment to the core business, differing definitions for sustainability and perceptions of business risks, or missed connections between brand opportunities and sustainability, the reasons senior leaders have doubts and hesitation for executing a sustainability plan can vary. Here are a few behaviors sustainability professionals can adopt to support the engagement of senior leaders in sustainability.