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Leadership and Sustainable Development

Leadership for Sustainable Development complete e-Dialogue (pdf)

Sustainable development, the process of reconciling ecological imperatives with social and economic imperatives (including the political and organizational dimensions), in effect, proposes a new paradigm of decision-making for all sectors of society. It entails developing new perspectives on present-day issues and challenges and requires a deeper appreciation of the complex interconnections between the environmental, social, economic, organizational, and political forces currently shaping modern society. At the same time, information communications technologies (ICTs) are changing the nature of expertise, information and knowledge, coupled with globalization. All of these realities have profound ramifications for leadership in the 21st century.

This e-Dialogue with managers of the future, RRU learners from the Bachelor of Science EM322, will explore the following questions on Sunday, January 25, 2004, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., P.S.T.

1. What does living in an increasingly inter-connected and interdependent world, ecologically, mean for Canadian leadership?

2. How does one lead and/or manage in such a world?
 

Background complete e-Dialogue (pdf)

Over the past year, Canadians have been sharing their views in RRU's Post-Kyoto public forum. Many aspects of sustainble development have been discussed in this forum, many of which lead back to the issue of leadership:aspects of leadership that are present or not, and approaches we as Canadians can take to facilitate creating sustainable futures. The following quotes illustrate a range of views taken from the forum. The e-Dialogue, to be held on January 25, 2004, will draw from comments made in the public forum in effort to gleam further insight on moving forward in the 21st century.

Heather Hamilton
Executive Coordinator, Canadian Biodiversity Institute

"We have an unshirkable responsibility to all life."

Maurice F. Strong
Chairman of the Earth Council and of the World Resources Institute

"The argument that Canada will be disadvantaged in a post-Kyoto era does not stand up to hard analysis."

Yuill Herbert

"My challenge to every Canadian is to reduce personal energy use by at least 50 per cent. Kyoto is one small step on the long journey that will stabilize the climate. As Gandalf tells Frodo, we cannot choose the times in which we live, we can only make the best of them."

Jim Stanford
Economist, Canadian Auto Workers

"Will we work towards our Kyoto commitments by doing less, or by doing more?"

Thomas d'Aquino
President and Chief Executive Officer
Canadian Council of Chief Executives

"Kyoto… is both ineffective … and unsuited to Canada's circumstances."

Ian Urquhart
Associate Professor of Political Science
University of Alberta in Edmonton

"Economies can grow and prosper while energy use is reduced."

Lionel Hurst
Ambassador or Antigua and Barbuda
IUCN, The World Conservation Union

"Human behaviour, which leads to global climate change, seems innocent. What could be more innocent than cooking your food, taking a shower, making your home warm in winter, taking a train to work, turning on your computer?"

Jock Finlayson
Executive Vice President - Policy
Business Council of British Columbia

"Among Canadian business leaders there is a growing recognition that a sustainable future rests on relentless innovation, a commitment to market principles, and forward-looking public policies."

Robert T. Watson
Chair Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

"Poverty alleviation and sustainable economic development are two of the major challenges facing humankind. Both are threatened by human-induced climate change."

Guy Dauncey
Consultant- Sustainable communities,green buildings,author

"We will not drift towards success. We are already drifting - but along with the rest of the world, the current is carrying us the wrong way, towards greater emissions, not fewer. We have to steer, power and finance our way towards success - and that will require a very firm hand on the wheel of the good ship Canada. That's what leadership should be all about."

 

Moderator complete e-Dialogue (pdf)
Ann
Ann Dale, Professor, Science, Technology & Environment Division, Royal Roads University.


Panelists

Murray Ball, Waterworks Operator, Village of Neilburg, SK.

Jennifer Black, Reclamation/Construction Adminstrator, Canadian Natural Resources Limited, AB.

Antoinette Bragnalo, Environmental Projects Coordinator, City of Thunder Bay, ON.

Cassandra Caunce, Environmental Department, Teck Cominco Limited, Vancouver, BC.

Dave Ewanishin, Industrial and Specialty Lubricants Laboratory for Shell Canada Limited, Calgary, AB.

Kurt Fehr, Project Manger, Foreshore Technologies, Inc., Vancouver, BC.

Erin Gorman, Water/wastewater Treatment Plant Operator, Loyalist Township, ON.

Karen Larson, Environmental Health Officer,Interior Health Authority, BC.

Lynne Magee, Field level Public Health Inspector, Quesnel, BC.

Lori Marchand, Senior Chemical Analyst,Canadian Food Inspection Agency, BC.

Jennifer Maxwell, Drinking Water Source Assessment Officer, BC. Ministry of Water,
Land and Air Protection, Victoria, BC.

Matthew Paisley, Senior Analyst, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Calgary, AB.

Shannon Pagotto,Water Resources Division, Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, AB.

Joanne Roach, Administration/Research, Wastewater treatment, Salt Spring Island, BC.

Rae-Ann Shaw, Project Manager, Department of National Defense-CFB Esquimalt environment projects, Victoria, BC.

Dan Sonmor, Contaminated Sites Assessment, Public Works and Government Services
Environmental Services Canada, SK.

Dave Warner, Environmental Affairs, Lehigh Northwest Cement Limited, Delta, B.C

Deb Webster, Forestry Extension Assistant, North Island Woodlot Association, Courtney, BC.
 

Readings complete e-Dialogue (pdf)
On-Line Readings

*Note: EBSCOhost ( http://www.epnet.com/ ) offers fulltext and bibliographic databases online. EBSCOhost requires a subscription, and is subscribed to by many libraries. If you are a Royal Roads University learner or staff, you can access EBSCOhost at:http://library.royalroads.ca/ - Search for Articles link.

 

Ackoff, R. 1998. A Systemic View of Transformational Leadership. System Practice and Action Research. Vol.11, No.1. (pdf).

 

Barker, R. 1997. How can we train leaders if we do not know what leadership is? Human Relations. Vol. 50, No. 4 (pdf).

 

Basler, D. April 17, 2002. Leading from the Middle.Speech to managers in Fisheries and Oceans Canada,Victoria, BC.

 

Bregha. 2002. Governance Models for Sustainable Development. A Final Report. Stratos Strategies for Sustainability. Ottawa.

 

Chopra, D. 2002. The soul of leadership: by looking inward, any individual has the capacity to rise to greatness. School Administrator (online).

 

Doppelt, B. 2002. Overcoming the Seven Sustainability Blunders. The Systems Thinking. Vol 14, No. 5.

 

Eisenbach,R. Transformational leadership in the context of organizational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management. Vol 12, Issue 2. (online).

 

Field, R. 2002. Leadership Defined: Web Images Reveal the Differences between Leadership and Management. School of Business, University of Alberta. Submitted to the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada 2002 annual meeting in Winnipeg, Manitoba (online).

 

Gini, A. 1997. Moral Leadership: An Overview. Journal of Business Ethics Vol, 16, Issue 3 p. 323-330 (pdf).

 

Groen, J. 2001. How Leaders Cultivate Spirituality in the Workplace: What the Research Shows. Adult Learning; Summer, Vol. 12 Issue 3, p20, 2p.

 

McMichael, J. 2003. New Visions for addressing Sustainability. Science. Vol, 302, p. 1919.
Books & Articles  

Bolman, L., Deal, T. 1995. Leading with Soul. An Uncommon Journey of Spirit. Jossey-Bass Publishers. San Francisco. 195 pp.

 

Brookfield, S.D. (1987) Developing critical thinkers: challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting. Jossey-Bass Inc.Publishers, 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, California, 94104. 293 pp.

 

Chopra, D. (1995) The way of the wizard: twenty spiritual lessons for creating the life you want. Crown Publishers, Inc., 201 East 50th Street, New York, New York, 10022. 169 pp.

 

Dale, A. 2001. At the edge. Sustainable developement in the 21st century. UBC Press, Vancouver, BC.

 

Miguel Ruiz, Don. 1997. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom. Amber-Allen Publishing, US.

 

O'Toole, J. (1996). Leading change: the argument for values-based leadership. Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers. 282 pp.

 

Rost, J.C.1991. Leadership for the Twenty-first century. New York: Praeger. USA.

Stanfield, B. 2000. The Courage to Lead. Transform Self, Transform Society. New Society Publishers. Gabriola Island. 258 pp.
Websites  

Hosking, D.M. Social constructionism: some possibilities for leadership and leadership training http://staff.abs.aston.ac.uk/dmh/ltrgfin.html

 

Macnamara, D. 2002. Exploring the 'Social Contract' we have with our Senior Leaders. http://www.banffexeclead.com/articles/clarion%209.pdf

 

Royal Roads University - Public Forum

http://www.rrupublicforum.ca

 

Royal Roads University
Science, Technology & Environment Division
edialogues@royalroads.ca