Board leadership for strategizing CSR initiatives and social purpose

Our futures and those of our companies are not assured. Unsustainable growth, lifestyles and business activities are damaging the environment, reducing biodiversity, depleting natural capital and contributing to global warming and climate change. More holistic and integrated strategies that embrace both CSR initiatives and overall business activities are now required. In particular, CSR perspectives and strategies need to embrace supply and value chains where the bulk of the negative externalities of many companies arise. Responsible board leadership, innovation, enterprise and capitalism should be about creating sustainable options that are possible, affordable and desirable. Corporate purpose, vision, values, goals and objectives should be sustainable, aligned and consistent with the strategies, policies and behaviours to achieve them. Opportunities abound in areas such as recycling, reuse, recovery and climate change adaptation and mitigation. We can re-orientate, reinvent and re-purpose to grasp them. Directors can play a vital role as instigators, enablers and supporters of exploration, innovation and entrepreneurship. These activities are crucial for tackling existential challenges and transitioning to more sustainable operations and lifestyles. We can create new life choices not just for avatars in a metaverse, but for real people here and now. Addressing shared existential challenges and creating a sustainable future could represent a common purpose that unifies the interests of a wider range of stakeholders. It could enable mutually beneficial collaborative and collective responses