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2020 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

13. Finding Your Personal Influencing Platform

Up Close: Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon on Using His Platform to Energize an Organization and Put Business and Sustainability on a Global Stage

Authors : Henrik Henriksson, Elaine Weidman Grunewald

Published in: Sustainability Leadership

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

For corporate sustainability leadership, purpose and platform go hand in hand: daring to demand bold action, and taking risks and standing for something you believe in despite the potential for backlash. With the rise of the activist CEO, being neutral is no longer enough, nor is cleaning up problems after the fact. Successful leaders use their platform to shine a spotlight on important sustainability issues, and form cross-sector alliances with unconventional partners to get tough things done. They know their facts, match their position with meaningful and consistent action, and engage fairly, transparently, and constructively to influence the conversation with the end goal of achieving sustainability goals. We feature cases from Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon; Rickard Gustafson, CEO of SAS; and Osvald Bjelland, founder and CEO of Xynteo.

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Metadata
Title
Finding Your Personal Influencing Platform
Authors
Henrik Henriksson
Elaine Weidman Grunewald
Copyright Year
2020
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42291-2_13

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