Definition of Human Sustainability Leadership (HSL)

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Human sustainability leadership (HSL) is related to the United Nations Goals (SDGs) and to the Global Flourishing Goals.

The United Nations SDGs directly related to human sustainability leadership (HSL) include good health and wellbeing, inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, peace, justice and strong institutions [1].

Human sustainability leadership, with its focus on respect for the dignity of persons and the consideration of equality in leadership (leaders as followers and followers as leaders) also supports the Global Flourishing Goals (i.e., life satisfaction through a comfortable standard of living, holistic health and well-being, fulfilling social relationships, meaning and purpose), which complements them in “an attempt to deepen and take forward the mission of the SDGs” [2].

My human sustainability definition (HS) is based on the following two Kantian formulas: The “Formula of Humanity as an End,” which focuses on a means-ends arguments stating that you should “act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means on [3]. The “Formula of the Realm of Ends,” which focuses on the fact that people in the “realm of ends,” both “co-create” and “follow” the rules and policies in the organization, hence people in organizations are “subjects” and “sovereigns” simultaneously [4]; it refers to the fact that all cooperative enterprises among persons ought to hold a “moral dimension” because they are comprised of people, who are moral, so they ought to be “moral communities” [5].

Therefore, each organization is composed by moral beings, resulting to a “Realm of Ends” where every person is both a creator of the rules and a follower. In other words, the leaders are followers and the followers are leaders simultaneously. Hence, all significant stakeholders of an organization co-create and follow the rules and policies [6,7,8]. Thus, a “genuinely immoral person cannot be a true leader” [9].

Moral leaders, who are those who always treat others as ends in themselves and never as means only, are also followers and co-create the rules and policies with diverse stakeholders who are people and can be included in the concept of human sustainability [10].

Consequently, based on the definition of human sustainability, I define human sustainability leadership (HSL) as follows:

“Organisations design for human sustainability leadership when they focus on respect for the dignity of their employees at all levels of the organization and encourage a limited hierarchical and bureaucratic structure, an adequate information and knowledge sharing to enhance learning, an inclusive participative decision-making and good pay and conditions that provide job security.