#18 The impact of diversity and inclusion on successful sustainable leadership - with Jürg Eggenberger

Fish in the Boardroom

With Jürg Eggenberger

According to Harvard professor John P. Kotter, management stands for the perfect organization of processes, planning and controlling. Leadership, on the other hand, means inspiring and motivating employees with visions. Leadership thrives on creativity, innovation, meaningfulness and change.

Sustainable leadership takes this even one step further: it stands for living and working in a larger context and includes people and the planet in all decisions, in addition to profit.

In today's episode, I talk to Jürg Eggenberger, General Manager of the SKO, the Swiss Leaders’ Association, about the core skills and mindset that characterize a sustainable leader and the crucial role that diversity, equality and inclusion can play in all of this.

What you will learn

• Diversity and biodiversity have a lot in common, enabling more adaptability and creating more stability in your system, whether it’s on an ecological or social perspective
• Focusing on small and medium size companies and looking into the problems they have in terms of diversity and inclusion will be the key, as 98% of the swiss workforce are in these companies.
• Sometimes you have to provoke things to make them happen, installing quota in organizations can be a way to do just that

Tips

• To be a good leader focus on having a cool head, a warm heart and working hands
• Put your ego aside, it’s ok if you don’t have all the answers
• Invite your colleagues to participate in the discussion, and share the responsibility

Resources

Sustainable Leaders Initiative : http://www.sustainableleaders.ch/de/home/

Article from Leader Mag: Inside SKO Swis Leaders – An der Transformation mitwirken

Book: Doughnut Economics – 7 ways to think like a 21st century economist „by Kate Raworth (ISBN: 1847941397 / EAN: 9781847941398)

Organizational and Team Development process & Feedback tool: We Coach

Find Jürg Eggenberger online

Jürg Eggenberger auf LinkedIN

Jürg Eggenberger auf XING

Jürg Eggenberger auf Twitter

Biography

Jürg Eggenberger studied economics at the University of Zurich and completed a master's degree in service management at the University of Applied Sciences of Central Switzerland and further training in organisational development.

Since 2013, he has been the General Manager (Geschäftsleiter) of the Schweizer Kader Organisation SKO, an association for managers and higher professionals with 10,000 members. Previously, he worked in education for 10 years, including as rector of an university of applied sciences. He has over 30 years of leadership experience in a wide range of industries and advises companies on leadership development.