Building Tomorrow's Leaders Today

Nordea's Sasja Beslik speaking at the training

When it comes to corporate social responsibility, the hardest thing to grasp is that it's about money and not morals. So says Per Grankvist, sustainability editor at Veckans Affärer, Bonnier Tidskrifter's flagship business title, which includes newsletters and conferences, among other things."By using resources in a smarter sense, regardless of whether we're talking financial resources, raw materials or human capital, there's always money to be made," says Grankvist. "It's that simple, but it can be difficult for some people to understand. They still think that corporate social responsibility means increased costs. Which it doesn't at all."

Grankvist is continuing to expand the offering with leadership training. Earlier in January, he started up the Sustainability & Innovation Executive Management program with partner Novare. A total of 18 managers took part in the first round, from such high-profile Swedish companies as Husqvarna, Axel Johnsson, Boliden and Bonnierförlagen, among others. The group will go through five two-day training sessions, with a wide range of top-notch speakers from both the private and public sectors. The training will be full of surprises and takes a non-academic approach - in order to keep the trainees in suspense, Grankvist doesn't want to reveal more.

"I see the training as a way of complementing the magazine and getting into the topic in-depth," says Grankvist. "We're looking at the same issues as the magazine, to select what is relevant to help readers understand the world. The same principle also applies when you are putting together a top-notch leadership program. Naturally, we also took the best from courses at Stanford and Harvard in the design of the course. And it helps that Novare is among the best in Sweden when it comes to leadership training."

The ultimate goal for the training is that participants should understand that sustainability is going to change conditions for business, and they'll receive concrete tools for connecting sustainability to profitability. "The expectation is that the companies that these managers work at will be more profitable thanks to the insights from the course," says Grankvist. "That's why these organizations have sent their top managers."

As for the managers themselves, the hope is that they will be leaders who dare to challenge the status quo, listen to others and be prepared to change course. "A good leader in terms of CSR is the same as any good leader: Someone who is empathetic, creates a sense of security and gives others hope for the future," says Grankvist. And the same principles can be applied to companies themselves. "The fact that sustainability is about using resources in a smarter way will change the way business does business more in the upcoming ten years than the Internet has changed things over the past ten. Innovative companies already see that solving social problems is a way of increasing profitability. And to do that requires empathy to understand the problem, the ability to create security by showing that you are honest and thinking in the long term, as well as the ability to create hope that a solution that helps all can be found. And then it requires courage to dare to make difficult decisions."