16 September 2025 - Lindsay Hooper, CEO at CISL, discusses the tension shaping business leadership today: the promise of innovation and momentum toward sustainability versus the systemic risks and political instability threatening progress. Drawing on conversations with senior leaders, Lindsay explores how ambition, resilience, and strategic influence are vital in navigating this space.
Right now, two conflicting stories are shaping the future of business and sustainability. One says the transition is inevitable – with many of the solutions we need already in play and building significant momentum, and an extraordinary innovation and scaling opportunity ahead. The other says business action is being outpaced by looming systemic risks – that past approaches have failed, and opponents of action are eroding the very mechanisms we rely on – policy incentives, science, multilateralism, public trust – and sowing doubt about whether markets can deliver change at all. Leadership today happens in the space between these stories. As one senior leader I spoke to put it recently:
“On one side, I have an incredible hopefulness about what human ingenuity can do; on the other, a deep impatience that if we know a better world is possible, why not realise it tomorrow?”
When I speak to business leaders – whether at board or exec level – I hear the tension of that space clearly. They know many business models are unsustainable and want to change them, but their licence to act still depends on delivering commercial results now. They are frustrated by political flip-flopping and the lack of honesty about costs and trade-offs that limits confidence in long-term investment. Targets that once gave momentum now feel like compliance burdens. Yet they also see the very real risk of being displaced if others move faster.
At the same time, they face geopolitical shocks, supply chain disruptions and trade wars. They worry about social fractures – inequality, polarisation, the mood among the next generation. They are grappling with technology reshaping both business models and societies, knowing its deployment will shape their competitiveness - and our collective futures.
And they recognise that nothing is neutral anymore: leaders cannot ‘stay in their lane’ if they are to fight for their businesses’ future. Markets and politics are inseparable, effective political engagement is unavoidable. As one board chair I spoke to said: “We can’t ignore politics and politics can’t ignore business. We have to find a way of working cooperatively and cohesively.” As our report, Competing in the Age of Disruption highlighted, that means finding smart strategies to change the rules of the game. As one leader put it: “We should ask: what can we do that is radically different to change the rules – even by a few degrees – that compound over time?”
But what comes through most strongly is ambition. Leaders are impatient with fatalism. They know business can do almost anything with the right incentives. They are competitive – wanting to be the best, or at least to outpace their peers. In Europe, many are tired of constant talk about decline. In Africa, the tone is often more pragmatic and positive - resilience shaped by experience of complexity, and a belief in progress despite constraints. Everywhere, they know we need a new economic story and want to be part of building it. One leader said to me: “It all feels a bit horrible right now. There are a lot of angry people. We want to be part of getting us to a better place.”
This is why we run the Business & Sustainability Programme. It is for leaders who refuse to sit back in the face of systemic risks – and who know the danger of being displaced by faster movers. They know that leadership today isn’t just about navigating disruption or surviving volatility, but about shaping the agenda - defining the rules of the game, the story of competitiveness, and the markets of the future. One person I spoke to described it effectively:
“Leadership isn’t just reacting to change, it’s creating the change that’s necessary.”
The programme is for those leaders who want to turn ambition into strategy, and strategy into competitive advantage. And who want to be part of building the momentum to reshape markets to ensure these strategies deliver in commercial terms. Within the programme and in subsequent network engagements we focus on:
Strategy and markets:
- Facing disruption head-on, engaging with the interrelated forces impacting industries and markets – climate, nature, inequality, geopolitics, technology – and testing strategies against multiple possible futures.
“Leadership is about being willing to have the tough discussions, not putting your head in the sand. Acknowledge the trade-offs - surface them, debate them, and explain decisions in their light.”
- Seizing commercial innovation opportunities in carbon- and resource-constrained worlds – and avoiding being displaced by faster movers.
- Aligning incentives across complex value chains to enable rapid scaling of solutions and to catalyse positive tipping points – as well as driving sector level engagement so that early movers aren’t punished commercially
- Making the case for long-term investments in future competitiveness and resilience and mobilising finance to back them.
Influence and impact:
- Positively influencing policy and politics to shape enabling conditions for bold innovation and investment – and how to engage effectively without simply drawing fire.
- Countering misinformation while building trust, credibility and momentum with employees, customers and communities by aligning vision and values with strategy – even in markets that reward only value.
- Engaging boards and investors to build confidence in ambitious transition plans.
Leadership and resilience:
- Strengthening resilience and voice – equipping leaders to sustain clarity, influence and competitiveness under pressure.
- Reflecting on values and purpose to build the courage to lead through volatility.
- Joining a high-trust peer network to share dilemmas, learn across sectors and geographies, and shape the future together.
