Using a Systemic Design Paradigm to Develop Sustainability Leadership and Build Organizational Sustainability Platforms

This article explores a doctoral sustainability leadership course in an interdisciplinary leadership program. Learners in the course study sustainability and sustainability leadership from a systemic design perspective. They are invited to become visionaries who work across boundaries and disciplines with cooperative and reflective spirits to find integrated solutions for complex organizational problems. The first section of the article examines the different understandings of sustainability, its ambiguity, why little progress has been made in the area of sustainability, and why a systemic design platform might provide a more expansive vessel for sustainability leadership and projects. The second section delves into course content and investigates systems thinking, design action, the nature of change, and dialogue-the core of good design. The third section uses a leader-practitioner’s case study Air Combat Command Sustainability Design Project to illustrate how a leader built a sustainability plan unique to his organization. Five domains (Ben-Eli, 2012) provided the overarching infrastructure. Although each domain embodies a separate area, together they make up a unified organizing principle that works toward integrating essential elements into a strong infrastructure. The article concludes with reflections from both the leader-practitioner and the instructor.