21st Century Leadership To Fight the Code Red for Business
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Preface 21st Century Leadership to Fight the Code Red for Business© In 1987 the Bruntland report titled ‘Our Common Future’ was presented to the United Nations. The impending, Climate emergency was brought to focus with the urgent need to exit polluting fossil (Coal, Petroleum, Natural gas) as the key solution. Between 1987 - 2022, for 35 years World, National and Business leaders have ignored science and the urgent need for Climate action by exiting fossil fuels, despite many UN led global forums. Climate Action failure is identified by the World Economic forum in 2022 as the number 1 risk facing the planet, is the failure among science denying leaders to address the global risk of extreme weather incidents as a result of not exiting fossil fuels the past 35 years. This has resulted in the Code red for business and humanity. The UN Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil in 1992, UN Kyoto Protocol in Japan in 1997, UN Paris Agreement in 2015 and the 26 UN COP (Congregation of parties) meetings, have all failed by ensuring that a focused effort to exit fossil fuels did not happen . All that happened at every one of the above meetings is that the date by when this was to happen got postponed and the can kicked down the road. In 1992 Rio Earth summit, the world talked of doing so by 2000, at the 2015 Paris agreement it was shamelessly postponed to do so by 2030, at the 2021, COP 26 in Glasgow the ignorance of science denying leaders postponed action to between 2050 to 2070!!! Is this urgency to impact the climate emergency? This is the catastrophic Climate Action Failure of the century. The exception to the rule is a few Science led enlightened 21st Century nations and leaders, with a sustainability mind. The Leaders of Denmark, Bhutan, Costa Rica, South Australia and leaders of business Elon Musk (Tesla), Sunder Pichai (Google), Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia), Werner Hoyer (EIB), Henrik Poulson (Orsted), to name a few are the exceptions to the rule and not the rule. They are too few to halt the catastrophic destruction of the planet. We need Today, we burn significantly more fossil fuels now than we did in 1987. Nation’s exporting fossil fuels, the Oil and gas companies and banks funding fossil fuels, led by 19th century science denying influencers, have all ignored the science and invested in fossil fuels using their financial strength and influence to lobby the delay of any decisive action to exit fossil fuels. Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, India, Turkey, Australia, Mexico, Brazil needed to wake up to the reality. In fact, we have burnt and continue to burn more fossil fuels since 1987, resulting in an increase of greenhouse gases /Carbon dioxide emissions from around 20-22gt in the 1980’s to over 33gt. CO2 concentrations are up from 280ppm to 420ppm in that period, putting the planet on a path to extreme weather led devastation and a ‘Code Red for Humanity/Business’. The Book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari, inspired me to consider some of the key lessons that should be pursued in addition to being sustainability mind set leaders and demonstrating the 4 four traits of 21st Century leadership if they wanted to be a ‘relevant and strategic 21st Century leaders. The 21s Century Model is a combination of all of these ideas and concepts. This led to the conceptualization and creation of the ‘21st Century Board leadership Model ©’ on 17th June 2020, when a US Copyright was obtained. The Model focuses attention on the three Emergencies in the first half of the Model, which every nation and business is faced with. The Climate emergency, The Health and Social emergency and the resultant Economic emergency which need urgent and focused action. The 2nd half of the Model focuses on the three Disruptors which need strategic action. The Technology disruption, The Geo Political disruption and the Governance disruption. This led to the creation of the ‘21st Century Board Leadership Model MasterClass ©’ in July 2020 was launched in Luxembourg, by the Institute Luxembourgeois des Administrateurs and subsequently launched in Ireland, by the Cube and Irish Times training. The four key traits that set apart a 21st Century Leader are: Trait 1 Appreciate and Mobilize Science in Strategy Trait 2 An urgency to impact the code red for business Trait 3 A Sustainability Mind set to prioritize Planet/People > Profit Trait 4 Embed the 21st Century Model in the Board/C-suite/Operations Agenda We can all ignore science as the 19th Century science denying, fossil fuel profiting, profit before planet leaders have done the past 35 years or become relevant 21st Century science-led, sustainability mind set leader that impacts the Code red for Business /Humanity with urgency today. We need to be a key part of the solution versus simply continuing with business as usual. We need to do all we can by 2025, not a day later to save the planet. The Goal of the Book is to create a NEW Cadre of 21st Century Leaders ready to Fight the Code red for Business by first exiting fossil fuels for energy, electricity and transport and thereby significantly reducing the organization carbon foot print in scope 1-2-3 to be part of the solution to the Climate emergency. Dr R.A.Fernando
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About the Book
Twenty-First-Century Leadership to Fight the Code Red for Business aims to equip a cadre of leaders with the tools they need to stop using fossil fuels for energy, electricity, and transport to reduce their carbon footprint. Inspired by 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari, the book offers an important addition to the canon of literature for leaders who want to cultivate a sustainability mindset. In straightforward prose, the author outlines what’s at stake amid the climate crisis and the social, physical, and economic calamities that will follow if leaders don’t act. The book also highlights three disruptors—technology, geopolitics, and governance—that need strategic action. The four key traits that set apart a twenty-first-century leader include: • an appreciation for mobilizing science as part of business strategy; • an urgent need to make an impact on the code red for business; • a sustainability mindset that prioritizes the planet and people over profit; • a willingness to embed the Twenty-First-Century Board Leadership Model in the business’s agenda. We can either ignore science, as the nineteenth-century-mindset leaders have done by making profit their foremost priority, or become relevant, twenty-first-century, science-led, sustainability-mindset leaders dedicated to saving the planet.
About the Author
Dr. R. A. Fernando is an alumnus of the University of Cambridge, having completed a postgraduate certificate in sustainable business in 2008 and a master of studies in sustainability leadership in 2014. He holds a doctor of business administration degree from the European Business School, which he earned in 2016. He has an MBA from the University of Colombo and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK). At the INSEAD Business School (France), he completed both a diploma in international management and the Advanced Management Program. He has been an executive in residence at the INSEAD Business School since 2010 and is a visiting faculty member of the INSEAD Advanced Strategy for Directors program and the Aspiring Directors program. In 2010, Dr. Fernando received a US copyright for his work at Cambridge University for the concept of strategic corporate sustainability. In November 2015, he published Strategic Corporate Sustainability: 7 Imperatives for Sustainable Business (Partridge), based on his work at Cambridge University. In 2017, he created the ILA Future Directors program for the Institute Luxembourgeois des Administrateurs, which set the foundation for the Twenty-First-Century Board Leadership Model, which was created on June 17, 2020, and the Twenty-First-Century Board Leadership Model MasterClass©, which was launched by ILA in Luxembourg in September 2020. Today, the MasterClass is building a new cadre of twenty-first-century leaders in Luxembourg, Ireland, and Sri Lanka and is to be expanded to many nations as a key supplement to the existing knowledge of those people in positions of leadership who want to be relevant twenty-first-century leaders. The book Twenty-First-Century Leadership to Fight the Code Red for Business is the culmination of this journey to build future-ready twenty-first-century leaders. Dr. Fernando is the chairman and CEO of Global Strategic Corporate Sustainability Pvt. Ltd., His career with multinationals spanned 1981–2007 with Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, and SmithKline Beecham International, covering Africa, the Middle East, and Asia in CEO / business development positions. He was the first CEO of the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology, 2008–2011, and operations director of the Malaysia Blue Ocean Strategy Institute, 2011–2016. He was the UN Global Compact focal point in 2007–2011 and set up the UNGC Sri Lanka Network. Dr. Fernando serves on the boards of Global Strategic Corporate Sustainability Pvt. Ltd., Dilmah Ceylon Tea PLC, Aitken Spence Plantations Ltd., LOLC Holdings, Ceylon Graphene Technologies Ltd., Habitat for Humanity, UN Global Compact, and Ceylon Asset Management Ltd. In September 2007 he won the Global Strategy Leadership Award, presented to him by Professor Renee Mauborgne of INSEAD at the World Strategy summit in Mumbai. In February 2020, he won the World CSR Leadership Award. Dr. Fernando is deeply committed to and passionate about creating a cadre of twenty-first-century, science-led, sustainability-mindset leaders to make an impact on the code red for humanity and business.