Carlo Giardinetti
Carlo Giardinetti is a trusted Agile advisor for C-level executives and their executive teams on topics such as collaborative leadership and psychological safety. He is a visiting professor on leadership at Harvard university since 2017. He drives global sustainability coalitions and initiatives at the Vatican and the UN and is a seasoned expert on climate emergency plans, decarbonization and the circular economy in the fashion industry. He also advised multinational organizations on implementing ambitious environmental metrics and achieving decarbonization journeys along with net-zero plans.
Talk - Building Bridges as We Walk on Them - The New Sustainability Paradigm
A recent survey conducted by Deloitte for CXOs globally, revealed that executives in organizations currently both see and experience climate change and other pressing sustainability challenges. They believe we are at a tipping point, but still immediate and bold action could limit the worst impacts. The survey also tells us that CXOs experience today increased pressure form government, boards, investors, employees, customers. They see it, believe it, have pressure to do it –
but…
They still struggle to really get going, and the CXO’s tell us that their main hurdles are short term obstacles: it is hard to measure impact, there is insufficient supply of sustainable or low emission solutions , too costly, there is still a dominant focus on near term business issues demanded by investors and shareholders and the magnitude of change is too large and overwhelming.
When looking at this from a leadership and organization design perspective, we recognize the complexity leaders face in embracing a powerful sustainability agenda. We suggest it can be beneficial to be working on three levels:
- The mindset and courage to act within boards and leadership teams. A new type of courage – building the bridge to the next «normal»
- The organization: New ways of working, agile and purpose driven – allowing to build the bridge as we walk on it
- 1+1 = 11 Eco-system thinking: working for transformative partnerships producing new solutions with exponential impact
All organizations globally are embarking in a massive discovery phase aiming at unfolding their next version, a fully sustainable company successfully operating in a sustainability centric economic paradigm. Agility offers operating models and processes that well serve this transformation phase.