Sustainability is increasingly becoming part of the corporate lexicon, finding a home in strategic plans, shareholder communications, and investment proposals. It’s not greenwashing, it’s a growing awareness that companies don’t need to sacrifice profits to take action that improves the world – and in fact, doing good helps companies do well. It is no surprise that as this issue grows in importance, it is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the boardroom agenda.
Russell Reynolds Associates recently launched an in-depth study of nominations and governance committee (NomCo) chairs, including surveying 147 chairs from leading companies across industries and around the world (see methodology note for demographic details). NomCo chairs hold a unique leadership role on the board, influencing everything from who becomes CEO, to who joins the board, and which directors hold leadership positions. Sustainability was one of many subjects these board leaders talked to us about. Here are three big takeaways from what they told us:
Read the full paper, co-authored with Jemi Crookes, Dean Stamoulis, and Joy Tan.