Round Table on Sustainable leadership in Boards

On June 13, Chapter Zero Netherlands hosted a round table with Hans Reus and Stephan Veen from Russell Reynolds Associates and a group of non-executive directors (NEDs) of large Dutch companies on the subject “Development of sustainable leadership in the Executive Board and Supervisory Board”, which covered in-depth discussions on:

1. Sustainability and specifically climate change
2. Risks and opportunities tied to climate change for the companies supervised by the participating supervisory director
3. Personal dilemmas of the participants regarding their own sustainable leadership style, how to become a sustainable leader and also how to select sustainable leaders
4. Best practices on sustainability related interaction between the Executive Board and Supervisory Board

The round table was accompanied by Lara Luten, representing Blikverruimers, who brought enlightening insights to the table including:

1. Businesses should provide profitable solutions to the problems of people and our planet, instead of making a profit which leads to problems for people and our planet.
2. We need to move towards lower capital costs for sustainable investments compared to non-sustainable investments.
3. Polarization is counterproductive.
4. Sustainable leadership will need to become a higher selection criterion in appointing (non) executive directors.
5. It is key to keep challenging yourself in your role e.g. are you still the right NED for this company? Is the Board composition based on sustainable and adaptive competences? Are future generations well represented in decision making?

Some of the key dilemmas during the round table covered the following:

1. To which Sustainable Development Goals can your company add the most value, without harming the other Sustainable Development Goals?
2. Should investors pull out of non-sustainable industries or should they perform a challenging role?
3. How can the heavy focus on compliance and reporting be better balanced
4. How do we ensure a pipeline of upcoming sustainable leaders within businesses?
5. Is our strict position having a negative impact on our international position and what role does the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism play?
6. Should a sustainability committee be added to the Supervisory Board, should a Chief Sustainability Officer be appointed in the Executive Board?

A very successful round table as we look forward to the next one post summer.