Climate or sustainability leadership is a type of leadership that aims to strive for (organizational) change whilst taking into account planetary and societal boundaries. Sustainability leadership is based on dialogue, inclusion, collaboration, and participation. This type of leadership requires particular skills and these include:
- Systems thinking. Addressing climate issues requires understanding complex structures and seeing the interconnections between social and natural systems.
- Collaboration. To effectively work on complex issues you need others to determine an effective approach. Sustainability leaders guide others in navigating this complexity by facilitating dialogue and collaborative sensemaking and decision-making processes.
- Self-reflection. Sustainability leaders are self-reflective professionals, who are aware of the values that drive them and align their work with these values.
This course has three types of meetings. These are Lectures, Masterclasses, and Seminars. The lectures aim to teach you the basics of the climate crisis, leadership, and social systems change. During the masterclasses, we will invite climate leaders from society and invite a scientific leader to provide a scientific perspective. The masterclasses cover a wide range of areas in which climate leadership can be expressed. This includes Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s), Start-ups, Law, Activism, Geo-engineering, Art, and Government. The seminars will have a more open format in which we will reflect on the masterclasses and work on the group assignment.