SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS LEADERSHIP IN 2022
R&C: Could you provide an overview of how socially conscious leadership has grown as a concept in recent years? How does such leadership help an organisation become a catalyst for social change?
Loeb: Servant leadership is an essential predicate to empowering socially conscious leadership. To be clear, servant leaders focus primarily on the growth and wellbeing of people and the communities to which they belong. They put the needs of others first and empower people to perform as ideally as possible. Sadly, despite the rhetoric on their websites, most companies continue to operate as pyramidal structures in which the bottom line defines them. Large organisations routinely champion their environmental, social and governance (ESG), corporate social responsibility (CSR), diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) initiatives, among others, but it is clear that our most critical workforce is not buying it. According to recent studies by Deloitte and others, both generation Z and millennials believe – 70 percent and 69 percent, respectively – that business places profit over purpose. Young workers are powerfully pragmatic on economic and social issues and eager to work with organisations that make a genuine impact by living their socially conscious values. These companies include FedEx, Marriott, DuPont, Amazon, The Container Store, Mittal, Nordstrom and Starbucks, among others.
Jan-Mar 2022 Issue
Argyle