Sustainability leadership and the protection of the common good
In the context of concerns about the end of a safe operating space for humanity, there are calls for societies to evolve to preserve the socio-ecological systems that underpin our long-term well-being and to protect and preserve those elements of the common good that are critical to a sustainable fu...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book Chapter |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor and Francis
2025
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/97158 |
| _version_ | 1848766231984734208 |
|---|---|
| author | Wilson, Sam John, Michele |
| author2 | John, Michele |
| author_facet | John, Michele Wilson, Sam John, Michele |
| author_sort | Wilson, Sam |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In the context of concerns about the end of a safe operating space for humanity, there are calls for societies to evolve to preserve the socio-ecological systems that underpin our long-term well-being and to protect and preserve those elements of the common good that are critical to a sustainable future. However, it is also important to recognise that broad agreement about the existence and importance of addressing global common good problems, such as climate change, can obscure profound differences of opinion in how such problems ought to be understood and addressed – differences that can be revealed in surprising and striking ways when the real work of sustainability leadership begins.
In this chapter, we invite the reader to view the concept and challenges of sustainability through the lens of the common good and to use this vital but ‘essentially contested concept’ to better appreciate the challenges and controversies that can beset the work of leadership for sustainability. We argue that such a lens provides us with a way to make sense of the complexity of sustainability and constructively engage with the underlying paradoxes that can undermine the collective action needed to address unsustainability.
The common good lens also highlights the importance of an approach to leadership for sustainability that has the wisdom and capability to harness this complexity. Critically, acknowledging that there is no single, determinate common good and accepting that the common good is naturally riven with paradoxes invites us to understand the paradoxes of the common good as sites of learning about the perspectives that must be recognised and woven together to achieve sustainability. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:47:52Z |
| format | Book Chapter |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-97158 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:47:52Z |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-971582025-03-28T01:31:32Z Sustainability leadership and the protection of the common good Wilson, Sam John, Michele John, Michele In the context of concerns about the end of a safe operating space for humanity, there are calls for societies to evolve to preserve the socio-ecological systems that underpin our long-term well-being and to protect and preserve those elements of the common good that are critical to a sustainable future. However, it is also important to recognise that broad agreement about the existence and importance of addressing global common good problems, such as climate change, can obscure profound differences of opinion in how such problems ought to be understood and addressed – differences that can be revealed in surprising and striking ways when the real work of sustainability leadership begins. In this chapter, we invite the reader to view the concept and challenges of sustainability through the lens of the common good and to use this vital but ‘essentially contested concept’ to better appreciate the challenges and controversies that can beset the work of leadership for sustainability. We argue that such a lens provides us with a way to make sense of the complexity of sustainability and constructively engage with the underlying paradoxes that can undermine the collective action needed to address unsustainability. The common good lens also highlights the importance of an approach to leadership for sustainability that has the wisdom and capability to harness this complexity. Critically, acknowledging that there is no single, determinate common good and accepting that the common good is naturally riven with paradoxes invites us to understand the paradoxes of the common good as sites of learning about the perspectives that must be recognised and woven together to achieve sustainability. 2025 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/97158 10.4324/9781003171577-60 English http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Taylor and Francis fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Wilson, Sam John, Michele Sustainability leadership and the protection of the common good |
| title | Sustainability leadership and the protection of the common good |
| title_full | Sustainability leadership and the protection of the common good |
| title_fullStr | Sustainability leadership and the protection of the common good |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sustainability leadership and the protection of the common good |
| title_short | Sustainability leadership and the protection of the common good |
| title_sort | sustainability leadership and the protection of the common good |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/97158 |