The sustainability zeitgeist as a GPS for Worldly Leadership within the discourse of globalisation

By contemplating sustainability as zeitgeist this paper explores leadership and globalisation models for contemporary times as epitomised by a growing interest in holistic, humane and sustainable approaches to leadership, learning and life that run counter to neo-liberal hegemony. This paper posits that neo-liberal globalisation arguments, that view the world and world events as disparate, unrelated or =none of our concern`, have collapsed under the pressure of the current global financial crisis. In accepting the world as volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, there are nevertheless ways of understanding and taking responsibility for the ensuing wicked problems that face our planet. One way is to discuss sustainability within a holistic framework where economic and environmental issues are entwined. In doing so it also surfaces an epistemological turn towards counter-hegemonic globalisation, where responsibility for ecological, social and financial governance is taken at all levels of society and valued accordingly.