Middle Management Is the Key to Sustainability

How unsung heroes ensure a company’s impact

by

and

Jeff Seabright

by

and

Jeff Seabright

From the Magazine (November–December 2023) · Long read

Tine Poppe

Summary.

While the executive in charge of the sustainability function plays the starring role in any social or environmental initiative, its success often depends on an organization’s hidden heroes: its critical midlevel team leaders. But how this group drives sustainability will vary with a company’s sustainability maturity. In their work the authors have identified four levels of it and goals and actions that are appropriate for middle managers at each one.

At level one, lagging and skeptical, middle managers should focus on getting sustainability on the agenda by exploring customer demand, gathering outside perspectives, and finding easy wins. At level two, building a base, the goal is to develop capabilities and start to embed sustainability into core processes. At level three, accelerating, middle managers increase the speed and scale of efforts through internal councils and by increasing transparency and rethinking business activities. At level four, leading, middle managers strive to build lasting sustainability infrastructure and set up transformative partnerships in their sectors or value chains.

With the right skills and priorities, the unsung champions of sustainability can drive progress within companies at any level and across industries.

Idea in Brief

The Opportunity

Corporate sustainability efforts owe their success in large part to countless hidden actors and unsung heroes: an organization’s critical midlevel executives and team leaders. But how can they be empowered, and what should they prioritize?

The Stages

Middle managers’ sustainability playbook varies with the sustainability maturity of their company. Is it culturally resistant to social and environmental initiatives, hyperfocused on them, or some-where in between?

The Advice

The core mission for midlevel champions at companies starting on the road to sustainability is to build capabilities and buy-in. From there they should increase the ambition and scale of external partnerships and sector-level initiatives.

Most large companies today are developing strategies to address climate change, inequality, human rights, and other major sustainability challenges. That’s a complicated undertaking in the current environment, where a single company can often face accusations of both greenwashing and “wokeness.” And even when the best companies act in earnest, they still fall short, simply because the problems are growing so fast.

A version of this article appeared in the November–December 2023 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Andrew Winston is one of the world’s leading thinkers on sustainable business strategy. His books include Green to Gold, The Big Pivot, and Net Positive.
AndrewWinston
Paul Polman was the CEO of Unilever from 2009 to 2019 and helped develop the UN Global Goals. He is a coauthor of Net Positive.
JS

Jeff Seabright is the former chief sustainability officer at Unilever and was the VP of environment and water resources at the Coca-Cola Company.

Middle Management Is the Key to Sustainability

Idea in Brief

The Opportunity

The Stages

The Advice

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