My  personal challenge is to engage and excite more senior leadership about how to and why to integrate sustainability in their portfolios and departments. Being in the financial sector, there are often constraints on time, work, financial targets and regulation which must always come first – however, although this may be used as a reason, I accept the challenge to change that notion.

Although there have been great strides made in the sustainability agenda around Operations, HR, and Communications, I feel there is a certain level of skepticism amongst senior leaders as the whole concept is not deeply understood. Part of this disconnect is due to belief that to be sustainable requires forsaking profit or more importantly, involves a cost.

My personal feeling is that this is the last generation of management for whom sustainability is not business as usual. The next generation of leaders would have not only studied the concept at secondary or tertiary levels – but they will actively promote the agenda because it makes good economic, commercial and social sense. But until then, to achieve the changes needed in the organisation and the region, I have to deal with polite skepticism.

I have identified this as my challenge as it allows me to take a fascinating look at the psyche of a leader – and more importantly how to be viewed as one because let’s face it, leaders listen to other leaders. The notion of a leader is somewhat subjective, you may be viewed as an influencer by your peers or the organisation, but amongst senior leaders you may not be considered as one of them. Therefore to continue my journey, I would like to take my observations and apply it to my development plan over the course of the year to illustrate how they can be turned into formal learning.