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In the era of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and calls for climate action, business is challenged to respond more effectively to societal and environmental challenges. Collaboration with stakeholders requires an ability for broader collaboration competencies. These form a part of an established literature on responsible leadership (RL) competencies. Human resources managers, consultants and educators in charge of developing such competencies demand clarity on the definition and a practical measurement tool for RL. This paper addresses both by proposing a RL definition and a RL competency model, that has been operationalized into a free online tool for individuals and groups. This free Competency Assessment for Responsible Leadership (CARL) tool is used to assess stakeholder engagement, individual and group leadership development, and internal sustainable development transformation work. The CARL online tool serves to systematically analyze and develop RL competencies, both in business and educational practices, and helps advance the RL theory based on insights from practice.

In September 2015 the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), one of the most ambitious and important global agreements in recent history. To advance implementation of the SDGs, a new framework − the GAPFRAME − has been developed and published recently in this journal (Muff, Kapalka, Dyllick, 2017). The GAPFRAME highlights the gap between the current state of the world and a desired future state, defined as a “safe space”, and identifies priority issues that need to be addressed on a national, regional, and global level. The www.gapframe.org website provides free access to the data collected for 196 countries and 22 regions across the world. This website was launched with the intention to provide decision-makers and stakeholders with aggregated information on the priority issues to be urgently addressed. The GAPFRAME focuses attention on addressing identified priority issues, holding each country or region accountable for the successful implementation of the global sustainability targets within their area of responsibility. It can be used as a planning tool, in particular for business, to identify long-term business opportunities. It can be also used as an educational tool to sensitize students to relevant sustainability problems and to evaluate and compare different sets of priorities. In this article, we explain in detail the GAPFRAME methodology, covering the different steps in the design of the framework, in scaling, normalization, weighting, and aggregating the information collected for the GAPFRAME Index V1 version. It will be best understood if the GAPFRAME concept is already known, but it can be read as well as a stand-alone article, primarily with a methodological focus.

In view of the significant global challenges, this article analyzes and suggests pragmatic solutions for organizations to transform from sustainability risk management to creating a positive impact. Positive impact is defined by products and services that are created with the purpose of solving societal problems. It reflects the shift from reducing an organization’s negative footprint to achieving a significant net positive impact on society and the planet. This article shows that such a mindset shift is observed on the level of the leadership and the organization. This explorative, case-based research validates the Dyllick–Muff BST typology and identifies strategic differentiators of Positive Impact Organizations, including their governance, culture, external validation, and a higher purpose reflected in their products and services. This research is translated into two tools for practitioners: the Strategic Innovation Canvas (SIC) and the Positive Impact Framework (PIF). The SIC serves as a quick assessment for organizations to get started. It consists of eight action dimensions: (1) sustainability in the organization, (2) transparency and board support, (3) leadership perspective, (4) targets and incentives, (5) societal stakeholders, (6) triple value reporting, (7) market framing, and (8) products and services. The PIF offers step-by-step guidance during the organizational transformation. The article sketches a new field of research for both scholars and practitioners in organizational transformation towards positive impacts. It bridges business sustainability and strategy through an innovation approach. By recognizing the importance of the underlying mindset shifts, it connects the fields of organizational and personal development.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to outline a path for entrepreneurial universities to embrace their purpose as custodians of society and to hardwire it institutionally.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is conceptual in its approach, drawing on practical and theoretical insights in the fields of responsible leadership, business sustainability and transformational change. The resulting Circle Model offers a developmental perspective connecting individual and organizational development in service of society.FindingsA key finding lies in expanding the current understanding of an entrepreneurial university beyond its organizational effectiveness to become a true custodian of society in the way it educate, researches and lives this intended purpose. The model offers a next conceptual step for the 50+20 vision (Muffet al., 2013) which had outlined a radical new role for business schools.Research limitations/implicationsMore research is required to understand how not only the educational and research strategies but also the organizational structure can be transformed to serve a given purpose.Practical implicationsConcrete insights and examples of the developmental perspective of the model illustrate the opportunities for educating responsible leaders, for consulting business organizations to serve the common good, and for walking the talk by hardwiring a purpose-driven organization.Originality/valueThe originality of the paper lies in the introduction of the idea of a common space of sustainability and responsibility as a foundation to reorient education and research of an entrepreneurial business school and hardwire its organizational structure truly around purpose.

Evolving views of stakeholder theory propose ways to transform societal problems into win-win solutions for the firm and society alike. Yet, and despite its success in expanding the understanding of the role of the firm in society, stakeholder theory has two main limitations. First, it is anchored in the traditional view of the firm defining it as an entity whose legitimate purpose is the generation of economic value for itself and its owners. Second, it relies on regulation as a compensatory mechanism for the externalities it generates. It is therefore fair to argue that at its current stage of development, stakeholder theory never leaves the confines of economic value maximization. As a result, stakeholder theory generates discussion on how to make its different interpretations comply with and serve the economic purpose instead of proposing a solution creating societal value. We therefore propose to interrupt the evolution of stakeholder theory and suggest a conceptual model derived from the study of best practices of successful firms using an outside-in approach to governance as an alternative. The intent is to redefine the purpose of the firm as one guided by societal goals instead of one driven by the pursuit of profit maximization.

Der rasante Wandel von Marktveranderungen im Kontext der grosen gesellschaftlichen Probleme unserer Zeit kann fur kleine und mittlere Unternehmen mitunter eine grose Herausforderung sein. In diesem Labyrinth konnen die Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) als Kompass dienen, um neue langfristige Geschaftsmodelle und Einkommensquellen zu entdecken. Ausgangspunkt dafur sind die Landesprioritaten, die mithilfe des GAPFRAME definiert sind. Um diese dann in strategische Plane zu ubersetzen, gilt es, den Prozess der Strategiefindung zu uberdenken, die Rolle des Initiators zu klaren, die Multistakeholder-Co-Creation und den damit verbundenen Bewusstseinswandel zu ermoglichen. Der SDGXCHANGE (www.SDGX.org) vereint all dies in einem praxisnahen Business-Tool. Dieser funfstufige Prozess umfasst nicht nur Chancenidentifikation, Prototyping und Co-Creation, sondern auch Berichterstellung und Austausch von Ergebnissen und Erfolgen.

At the University of St. Gallen, we used the Collaboratory as the guiding principle and method for a 12-week Master course "Strategies for Sustainable Development" in Spring 2013. It sought to address and resolve 3 critical sustainability issues on a local level (creating a break-through for climate-friendly food, promoting the bicycle as a viable mobility alternative in the city of St.Gallen and at the University, making tap water the favorite drink in Switzerland). Each issue was introduced in one session followed by two collaboratory sessions which took place every 3 weeks. The Collaboratory 1 uses all three phases of Scharmer's Theory U (downloading, visioning and prototyping).