As recently as the beginning of this decade, it might just have been possible to lead a company or a business unit with only a cursory knowledge of sustainability – perhaps by ignoring the relentless evidence for anthropogenic climate change and the impact of biodiversity loss, or by surface level compliance with increasingly sophisticated regulatory frameworks. Such an approach is now quaint if not outright irresponsible. But even for business leaders who have already embraced a sustainability mindset, global boundary conditions are now changing at such an accelerating rate that a steady, professional guide has become a necessity. Whether you fall into the first or second category, Leading the Sustainable Organization: The Quest for Ethical Brands and a Culture of Sustainable Innovation is for you.
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Peter McAteer has been helping companies transform in the face of changing external conditions ever since the tech boom of the 1990s. This skill took a turn towards sustainability when he joined the United Nations Development Programme, and he later began spreading the word as the Managing Director of Harvard Business School Publishing. This, his latest book, is a practical, up-to-date, no-nonsense user manual for emerging leaders who are striving to operate their businesses in a world where climate change and biodiversity wield the greatest impact on the future of business.
The book introduces two core concepts early on: the role of boundary conditions and the importance of a specific, articulated statement of purpose – a North Star, as McAteer calls it. These topics, along with a strong underpinning of ethical behavior, return throughout the book. The chapters run through the fundamentals of leading sustainably, establishing a practical knowledge base, and the how-to’s of navigating the transition, through to innovation, collaboration, and telling the company’s story.
The section on transitions is the best in the book, not only outlining a clear methodology to develop a more sustainable business, but helping to analyze potential pitfalls. While the lengthy list of failures has the potential to be demoralizing, it is better viewed as a reality check on the enthusiasm of the previous chapters. Indeed, a few of the author’s pronouncements about opportunities for differentiation can come off as naive optimism. For example, McAteer’s early assertion that the artificial intelligence boom “will require not only sources of alternative energy, but products designed to be much more efficient, with a substantially reduced waste stream, capable of being recycled, remanufactured, or reused” could have come from an analysis funded by Big Tech.
The second half of the book is more nuanced, and takes a hard look at slippery, vital topics like collaboration, storytelling, avoiding derailment, and future-proofing.
These areas are unevenly fleshed out. While there are many excellent examples of sustainability promises gone awry, it is difficult to find the type of clear instruction that characterizes the earlier chapters. Meanwhile, one tantalizing section touches on the fascinating topic of using social rituals to reinforce sustainability, but leaves the reader hanging when it comes to what this might look like in practice. Likewise, the chapter about storytelling quickly drills down into reporting while ignoring most other communication channels.
Overall, this is a solid, mainstream textbook-style guide for people in conventional business environments. Each chapter begins with a quote from a prominent personage such as Richard Branson or John F. Kennedy, ends with a helpful checklist and point scoring system, and includes several diagrams from the “words in ovals connected by line arrows” school of design. The author presents a satisfactory mix of examples from legacy businesses and smaller start-ups, and includes a rich variety of clear, actionable to-do lists.
This extreme focus on practicality throws into sharp relief the very last appendix of the book. It comes after a surprisingly in-depth glossary of sustainability buzz-words – not just greenhushing but greenbleaching – and a list of useful databases, many of which have survived the recent Trumpian cull.
This final appendix, entitled “Eight Reflection Exercises to Refine Your Thinking”, does exactly what it promises. It is a rare business textbook that can make readers re-examine their own conclusions, but this one succeeds. Each of the cases uncovers the complexity and difficulty that faces a businessperson committed to ethical leadership, and offers knotty challenges to unsnarl. It is here that the intellectual depth and experience of the author is truly revealed. It also helps call forth the multiple examples from earlier in the book, from Asia, Europe, and North America in their various contexts.
It is here as well that the reader might wish that there had been somewhat greater variety in the preceding chapters: perhaps a philosophical musing, an interview transcript, or a photo to better illustrate one of the line-and-text diagrams. Nevertheless, this book has undoubted clarity and heft, and would be an excellent addition to the shelf of any modern business leader seeking to understand modern sustainability.
Leading the Sustainable Organization: The Quest for Ethical Brands and a Culture of Sustainable Innovation
Peter McAteer
2025, Anthem Press, 360pp
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