CSO BACK STORY - Weinreb Group

Makings Of A Successful CSOWhat makes a successful chiefsustainability officer? As the roledevelops, evolves and emerges as anecessary and crucial element of the C-suite, what qualities help a sustainabilitychief achieve her goals?We put the question to all 29 CSOsand what emerged is the portrait ofan accomplished professional with apassion for sustainability and decadesof whetted business expertise. Whilethe respondents didn’t have manycommonalities in education or careerpaths, they did emphasize several keyrequirements:Change management:For EMC’s Kathrin Winkler, sustainabilityis all about catalyzing change. “You mustbe a great change agent and a systemsthinker 17 . You have to be someone whodoes not care to be a hero but takessatisfaction from being a catalyst,” shesays.In fact, each of the five CSOs weinterviewed emphasized their role aschange catalysts, but it was Winklerwho perhaps stated it best: “Our rolein sustainability is to influence andimplement behavioral and operationalchange. Regardless of whether youcall the role chief sustainability officeror something else, our function asexecutives leading sustainability strategyis that of change agents.”According to these chiefs, it takes17Peter Senge: Systems Thinking http://www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htmyears of experience, a keen sense ofobservation and a nose for recognizingchallenges and being able to leveragethem to positive action. Or as Graf putsit: “The ability of a CSO to influence anddrive sustainability is correlated to theirability to drive value for the company.”Systems thinking:For Winkler, this again is a hugeprerequisite. When the CSO role wasposted, she felt like the description waswritten for her. Having had a history ofworking horizontally to improve systemswith some of her previous work focusingon sustainability, she rememberedseveral colleagues wondering if the jobdescription, had, in fact, been written forher.“It was my passion and system orientedbrain that made sustainability the perfectfield for me,” she says. “It’s all about makingthe connections and understanding thesocial and environmental community weoperate in,” she adds.Graf also has a deep understandingof processes and systems. Perhaps itwas his technological and engineeringbackground or simply a curiosity forprocesses. “Managing sustainability is theclearest leadership challenge today. Forme, it was always about making SAP’scorporate strategy a sustainable one,”he says, noting that the progress SAPhas made in recent years would havebeen impossible without a clear systemsthinking coordinating the efforts.Leveraging ExternalOpportunities into InternalInnovation:In Graf’s case, it wasn’t his individualpassion or persuasion that got seniorleadership thinking about sustainability.While it was certainly a gut reaction in thebeginning that “sustainability was goingto be huge,” nine months of explorationand heavy researching went on beforethe CEO announced a focused team onsustainability.“There was intense pressure in ourmarket to stay ahead of the curve,” hesays. In 2010, after SAP acquired ClearStandards, this focus accelerated. Todate, Graf’s department has created $14billion in savings for the conglomerate.It is this ability to recognize an externalmarket challenge and turn it into internalprogress that can often be the crucialdifference between a successful andlackadaisical sustainability strategy.Compounding that is the fact that,according to Lake, a CSO’s goals arenever constant. “Sustainability programsaren’t the kind that finish,” she says.“They are ongoing and can alwaysbe improved with innovation being animportant element. The ability to seeprograms outside the company that canbe translated into sustainability efforts isincredibly critical.”CSO Back Story19 Weinreb Group