The Future of the CSO

You need to prepare to be a game changer. We are challenging/revealing the status quo and looking at how things are done. We’re saying, “There could be a better way of doing this.” You need to be brave and prepared to fight many uphill battles. But it will pay off because once those points of why those changes are needed are understood, then people start to get on board. Once they see results, the level of satisfaction is out of this world.

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​“The changes are all around taking a holistic view of business and being able to translate that into a vision, into a strategy and practical actions. The requirements for the Chief Sustainability Officer have exploded and we have to be able to do all of those things, all of the time.”

​“Sustainability is something that should be embedded in everyone’s functions within the company and everyone should take responsibility for their part.”

“Lose the emotion, lose the triple bottom line - it’s not about being pragmatic, it’s asking if your business is sustainable and if not why not.”

​"Doing what I do is the best job in the world."

“It’s now much more about working together. If you lead a team, it’s about finding cross-functioning teams, upskilling people and getting the right experts within the company on board. It’s about being the glue and facilitator, being consultative and empowering others - This is more important now than ever before."​

​If the world is going to get towards net zero, if we are going to solve many of these wicked problems, whether it be climate change, whether it be world hunger, we have to engage Asia.

​"One call to action is to work across the company, work across your value chain and don’t be afraid to be bold. Make bold commitments and think bold."

​“We need to train young people to be creative with the planning and with the execution of strategies that are either creating opportunities or creating risks”

​“In order to perform on such a level, you need to have past experience in sales, stakeholder engagement or supply chain - there are various areas of the business that interrelates with sustainability. The more background you have, the better it is”

"​To be able to play your part alongside your peers in a leadership team, it helps to have business acumen. My advice would be to try and find a way to get that capability and insight as it’s so important. If you want to be strategic and play that strategic role, everything we are doing is about embedding it into a business strategy."

"​When you get in your lane and you’re really curious about something there’s no stopping you. If you continually read and think about things in your life, you can build that picture of how you want to make an impact through your career."

​"When you are thinking about the Chief Sustainability Officer role, you have got to be curious - read, engage with others. I spend a lot of time reading different forms of media and other people’s opinions from different areas to really understand the big emerging macro-level issues."

"​In my view, the one person who is actually the Chief Sustainability Officer of a company is the CEO or the Managing Director. They have a viewpoint of what the customers are asking about from their head offices and marketing department, and therefore know what changes need to be made.”