Leadership Conversations by TSBR The Sustainability Board Report Ltd

In this episode we speak with Andrew Behar, the CEO of As You Sow, the United States’ leading non-profit practitioner of shareholder advocacy and engagement. We talk about how As You Sow engages with boards and management teams on issues like climate change; toxins in the food system; ocean plastics; diversity, equity, and inclusion; racial justice; and wage equity. Andrew shares some fascinating statistics on how As You Sow’s reports and research are driving strategic initiatives with businesses on these issues. Andrew shares what toolkit they are using if a company is unreceptive to positive change, and his favourite engagement story of two large businesses in the food industry.

Join us on this episode of Leadership Conversations as we speak with Rachel Youngman, the deputy CEO at the Institute of Physics. Rachel shares her unconventional career journey, from having worked at the international bar association to leading a science organisation, and how she has dedicated her career to achieving more sustainable outcomes and enabling companies to meet their ESG targets. We delve into Rachel's work in promoting diversity and inclusion in the world of science, including her focus on enabling non-dominant groups and girls to enter the field. Rachel inspires us to take career paths that can make a real difference in the world, and she offers practical insights into the power of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

In this episode we speak with James Purcell, Group Head of Sustainable Frameworks at Credit Suisse. He has co-authored a new book called 'Sustainable Investing in Practice'. We talk to James why he wrote the book, what he is trying to achieve, and why sustainable finance shouldn’t be a difficult concept. He explains the dangers of polarisation and the importance of taking an accessible and scale approach to impact. James also expands on ESG data and why he feels for business leaders who are overwhelmed.

In our latest episode we speak with Nazneen Rahman, scientist, physician, entrepreneur, and non-executive director (NED).
Nazneen discusses how she combines her life science and sustainability expertise. She explains her current initiative to significantly reduce wasted medicines as CEO of YewMaker. Then she shares her thoughts on sustainable governance and organisational implementation of ESG strategies from her experience as a NED on the board of AstraZeneca, where she chairs the science and sustainability committee.
Nazneen also is a singer/songwriter and we play her song 'Midlife Musings' at the end of the interview.

In this episode we speak with Kayla Winarsky McKenzie of the Business for Social Responsbility (BSR). She is a recognised human rights expert and gives us some insights into her career journey and what issues made her specialise in this field.
Kayla gives us an overview of the role of business in human rights due diligence and governance, and reveals the problems at hand, focus areas, guiding standards and steps to take to mitigate human rights violations.
She also shares some materials from the WEF on boards and human rights (that BSR contributed to):
Launch blog: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/05/businesses-must-step-up-for-human-rights-at-this-time-of-global-crisis/
Guidance note: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Guidance_Note_2022.pdf
Report: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_How_Corporate_Boards_Can_Engage_Affected_Stakeholders_to_Secure_Human_Rights_2022.pdf

In our anniversary episode, we speak to a world leader of women empowerment, diversity, leadership, and inclusion- Laura Liswood is the Secretary General of the Council for Women World Leaders and a former Senior Advisor of Goldman Sachs.
Laura is a veteran of the gender equality movement and a confidant to the worlds powerful. Her style of explaining systemic concepts is second to none. Wonder what an elephant and a mouse have to do with leadership?