As CEOs and business leaders navigate a world of complex global challenges, sustainability is no longer optional but a business imperative. In this book, two sustainability leaders with decades of experience - Henrik Henriksson, CEO of Scania and Elaine Weidman Grunewald, Co-founder of the AI Sustainability Center, and former Chief Sustainability & Public Affairs Officer at Ericsson - offer a simple but powerful three-step model for leading an organization on a sustainability transformation journey that aims at big, audacious, world-changing goals.

Honest about the dilemmas but bullish on the opportunities, the authors advise leaders on how to accelerate sustainability in their organizations told through a Swedish lens, where the country's values and culture permeate the boardroom and the C-suite, bringing a unique clarity and conviction to leading with integrity.

In practical insights gleaned from the authors' own experience, the book takes leaders through the three phases of sustainability leadership: from establishing a solid foundation rooted in purpose, culture, values, principles and consistent, credible leadership, to integrating sustainability into the core business, and then to executing a vision that not only shifts the direction of the company but can change an entire industry, and even the world.

Throughout the book, more than 25 interviews with other leading CEOs of Swedish companies as well as successful start-ups, investors, economists, and other experts illuminate the path to sustainability leadership from different perspectives. These are complemented by case studies describing how companies got it right - or turned themselves around after getting it very, very wrong.

With this hands-on insiders' guide, CEOs and C-suite leaders can take sustainability to the next level. This is the encouragement and inspiration business leaders need to move past incremental improvement at a time when exponential, world-changing action ismore urgent than ever.

1. Introduction: The Case for Action. Expönentiality Cheat Sheet

2. The Northern Lights Shine Bright
Part I Sustainability Leadership Model 1.0: The Foundation
3. Purpose-driven Leadership Up Close: Elsa Bernadotte, CEO of Food Waste Startup Karma on Finding Purpose
4. A Stake in the Ground Up Close: Henrik Henriksson, CEO of Scania, On Why He Nearly Called for a Strike on Scania Climate Day
5. How to Earn Trust Up Close: Former Telia Company CEO Johan Dennelind on Rebuilding Trust After a Corruption Scandal
Part II Sustainability Leadership Model 2.0: The Core
6. Embedding Sustainability in the Core Up Close: Green Battery Cells and Systems Supplier Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson on the Key to Sustainability Integration
7. It All Comes Down to Sales Up Close: Åsa Bergman, CEO of Sweco, on Partnering with Customers to Build the Sustainable Communities and Cities of the Future
8. Measuring Impact Beyond Profit Up Close: Electrolux CEO Jonas Samuelsson on Combining Sustainability and Profitability.- Part III Sustainability Leadership Model 3.0: The Leap
9. The Path to Expönentiality Up Close: Eva Karlsson, CEO of Outdoor Wear Company Houdini on Operationalizing the Planetary Boundaries Framework for Business.- 10. Society as a Stakeholder Up Close: Jacob Wallenberg of Sweden's Leading Business Family on A Century of Having Society in Focus.- 11. Making Business Sense of the SDGs Up Close: Niklas Adalberth, Founder of Klarna and Norrsken Foundation, on Scaling Social Impact
12. The Next Sustainability Frontier Is Digital Up Close: Elaine Weidman Grunewald, Co-founder of AI Sustainability Center on Tempering the Positive Exponential Impacts of Technology With Its Ethical and Sustainability Implications.- 13. Finding Your Personal Influencing Platform Up Close: Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon on Using His Platform to Energize an Organization and Put Business and Sustainability on a Global Stage
Part IV Final Thoughts
14. Conclusion: No Time to Lose.