40 LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP 2. Moving from rhetoric to impact on climate Too many businesses are continuing to trip up on the climate issue. In October, we saw HSBC called out by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority for its misleading net zero adverts. Earlier in the year, a major study also found that major oil and gas companies are increasingly using terms like “low-carbon” and “transition” as part of their environmental pledges, but are failing to back them up with concrete action. Given the scale of the climate crisis, we need more than just good intentions, and big businesses are rightly being slammed down if their rhetoric isn’t matched by real-world impact. The good news is that there is also huge amounts of innovation going on, particularly among the smaller companies. I look at companies like PaveGen (full disclosure: I’m an investor) which generates clean electricity through people’s footsteps in places like shopping malls. This creativity is a perfect example of the leadership we need going forward, and how “doing the right thing” can be matched with a business’s strategic direction. 3. What’s the purpose of face-toface working? We’re now three years on from the onset of the pandemic, but many leaders are still wrestling with hybrid working - and need to settle once and for all into a new normal. It has been proved organisations can operate without being present in an office. Therefore, they need to be clear about the reasons staff work face-to-face. What purpose is it serving? This may include inducting new employees, team building or completion of complicated tasks which can be a far smoother process in person than on Teams or Zoom. All are perfectly reasonable - as this has an intentional motivation. 4. Social Media More than ever before, leaders can’t ignore social media. ElonMusk has only been at Twitter for three months but his disruption of the platform has already demonstrated the profound impact it can have on businesses. Just look at Eli Lilly, the pharma giant which saw billions wiped off its value after Musk’s “Twitter Blue” scheme enabled a fake “verified” account under Lilly’s name to announce free insulin for all. With the ongoing debate around online safety, we have also seen scores of companies pull advertising from social media companies. One, Lush, even quit the major platforms last year. Amid this disruption, there’s a key question for leaders to ask: “What is the role of social media in our business?” “It has been proved organisations can operate without being present in an office.”
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