The corporate sustainability landscape is experiencing a profound shift from aspirational commitments to measurable impact, forcing leaders to navigate an increasingly complex terrain of competing priorities and stakeholder demands. Drawing from a conversation with industry veterans Jeff Senne of Sandbar Solutions and Steve Rochlin from Impact ROI for our Renewable Rides podcast, a new framework emerges: tension management as the essential leadership competency for 2025.
As traditional win-win narratives give way to more nuanced strategic imperatives, sustainability professionals are developing sophisticated approaches that acknowledge and harness inherent systemic tensions rather than trying to eliminate them. This evolution marks a critical inflection point where the ability to navigate competing pressures – from immediate financial returns to long-term resilience – has become as crucial as technical expertise in driving meaningful corporate impact.
From Shared Value to Scared Value
The sustainability landscape has shifted dramatically. As Jeff Senne observes, “For a long time it was shared value… now I think it’s about scared value. You see a lot of companies retreating and kind of going with the wind.” This dynamic creates an opportunity for strategic leaders who can maintain course through turbulent times. Rather than pursuing “whack a mole duck and cover” tactics, successful sustainability professionals are those who acknowledge tensions and design strategies to manage them effectively.
The Myth of Universal Win-Wins
One of the most refreshing insights challenges a common sustainability narrative. “There’s not always a win-win in this space,” notes Jeff. “Sometimes it doesn’t make economic sense and you should do it anyway. And sometimes you could make some societal impact, but it really doesn’t pencil out for the company and you probably shouldn’t do it.” This pragmatic approach helps frame more authentic conversations about trade-offs and strategic priorities.
Know Your Archetype
The research identified six sustainability archetypes, with most companies falling into either brand/reputation-driven or risk-reduction categories. However, the most successful companies in terms of sustainability performance tend to be those pursuing innovation-driven or immediate return-driven approaches. As Steve explains, these companies “naturally sort of connect the dots between sustainability and bottom line and top line business results.”
The Power of Self-Knowledge
A striking example emerged from their research: when a sustainability leader volunteered their program for financial scrutiny, they discovered their sustainability-focused products were “radically more productive, more efficient, lower cost to produce to sell, to distribute” than conventional alternatives. This type of clear-eyed self-assessment, combined with strategic courage, can transform how sustainability is perceived within organizations.
The Two Essential Questions
Perhaps the most actionable insight came from a leadership approach shared in their research. When engaging with company leaders, ask two questions: “What keeps you up at night?” and “What are you incentivized to achieve?” Then determine whether your sustainability initiatives serve as a tailwind or headwind to these priorities. This framework helps sustainability professionals position their work in relation to core business concerns while acknowledging and managing inevitable tensions.
The conversation underscores a crucial shift in corporate sustainability: we’re entering what the researchers call the “impact era,” where commitments matter less than measurable progress. As Steve notes, “People are saying, I’m not impressed by that. The world’s on fire. Show me how you’re going to be making progress.”
For sustainability professionals, this means moving beyond the comfort of commitment-making to the more challenging work of delivering and measuring impact. It requires both strategic clarity about where you can create meaningful change and the courage to acknowledge where you cannot.
This evolution demands a more sophisticated approach to sustainability leadership – one that embraces tension management as a core competency and recognizes that the path forward isn’t always about finding perfect win-wins, but about making thoughtful choices in service of both business and societal value.
Sustainability “Sweet Spots”
The conversation reveals a nuanced understanding of sustainability sweet spots – areas where environmental and social initiatives align with business value creation.
Strategic Authentication
- Sweet spots aren’t universally achievable, contradicting a common sustainability narrative that “there’s always a win-win”
- Some initiatives may lack economic justification but should still be pursued for strategic reasons, while others may offer societal benefits but don’t align with business fundamentals
Performance Evidence
- Research indicates concrete business benefits when sustainability is well-executed:
- Up to 6% improvement in share price
- Potential 20% increase in sales
- Employee turnover reduction by half
- Overall market value enhancement of approximately 11%
Strategic Implementation Framework
The research identifies three primary business cases for finding sweet spots:
- Cost reduction focus
- Sustainable growth orientation
- Positioning and reputation enhancement
The conclusion is that organizations should select one or two of these lanes rather than pursuing all three simultaneously. This will allow for more focused execution and clearer measurement of outcomes.
This perspective represents a maturation in sustainability thinking – moving beyond simple win-win narratives to a more sophisticated understanding of how environmental and social initiatives can create measurable business value when strategically aligned with organizational capabilities and market dynamics.
The Discipline of Tension Management: A Strategic Framework for Sustainability Leaders
As Steve articulated in the conversation, “The best companies, the companies that are best at sustainability and in fact, there’s evidence that the companies that are just best at management in general are the ones where their decision-makers are able to be sort of expert black belts in tension management.” This isn’t about conflict resolution – it’s about actively managing ongoing dynamics between economic, environmental, and social priorities.
Key Elements of Effective Tension Management:
Systems Recognition
Rather than trying to eliminate tensions, successful practitioners recognize them as inherent features of complex systems. The goal isn’t resolution but optimization – finding the most productive balance point for your specific context.
Strategic Positioning
As revealed in their research, tension management begins with understanding your organization’s dominant sustainability archetype. This awareness helps you leverage existing organizational strengths while acknowledging inherent constraints.
Stakeholder Integration
Jeff emphasized the importance of understanding what keeps decision-makers “up at night” while also maintaining relationships with external stakeholders. Effective tension management requires balancing these sometimes competing perspectives without trying to fully satisfy either.
Practical Application
To apply tension management in your role:
Map Your Tensions
Document the key tensions in your sustainability initiatives. Common examples include:
- Short-term profitability vs. long-term resilience
- Global standardization vs. local adaptation
- Speed of implementation vs. depth of impact
Assess Your Context
As Steve noted, “Know thyself and know what your stakeholders expect of you.” This means understanding:
- Your industry’s specific constraints and opportunities
- Your company’s real material impacts
- The actual expectations of key stakeholders
Design Dynamic Solutions
Instead of seeking permanent resolutions, create flexible frameworks that can adapt as conditions change. The research showed that even successful “sweet spots” are temporary as contexts evolve.
Advanced Practice
The most sophisticated practitioners of tension management develop what the researchers call “strategic consciousness” – the ability to:
- Recognize when tensions are productive versus destructive
- Identify when to push for resolution versus when to maintain creative tension
- Understand how different tensions interact within your system
As Jeff observed, “These tensions are going to exist… while we talk about this as a systems issue, it is, except when you’re talking to the head of human resources or procurement or supply chain… it feels like an individual problem for that leader.”
Success in tension management isn’t about eliminating these dynamics but about developing the capacity to work productively within them. This requires both technical expertise and emotional intelligence – the ability to help others navigate uncertainty while maintaining strategic focus.
By mastering tension management, sustainability leaders can move beyond simple win-win narratives to create more sophisticated and effective approaches to corporate impact. This isn’t just about better sustainability outcomes – it’s about better business leadership in an increasingly complex world.
