Leadership, Innovation, and Sustainability

Abstract

In this chapter, Verburg explores the leadership challenges associated with sustainability by highlighting the current research evidence on the links between leadership, innovation, and sustainability. There seems to be a lot of conceptual confusion in relation to sustainability leadership. Different authors offer different definitions, focusing on either specific traits, styles or behaviors that they associate with sustainability leadership. Others do not even focus on leadership roles or behaviors as such but highlight the importance of any individual’s personal proactivity in order to drive sustainability agendas. This conceptual confusion may be a significant obstacle to further the field of sustainability leadership. The purpose of this chapter is, therefore, to provide a better understanding of sustainability leadership to enable future studies.