Walker Webcast: What Makes a Sustainable Leader? Leadership Expert Clarke Murphy Offers Answers

Successful leadership these days is less visions and throwing one’s weight around. According to renown consultant and author Clarke Murphy, successful leadership is more about creating what he calls “followership.”

“If nobody’s following you, you’re taking a walk,” he told Walker & Dunlop Chairman and CEO Willy Walker during the Nov. 16, 2022 Walker Webcast. “This is what younger people want in today’s world,” Murphy said. “They want to know they can learn . . . that you’ll make them better and that they’re on a winning team.”

During the hour-long webcast, Walker and Murphy, who is former CEO of executive search firm Russell Reynolds, chatted about leaders in Murphy’s book, “Sustainable Leadership: Lessons of Vision, Courage and Grit from the CEOs Who Dared to Build a Better World.”

Murphy explained that both learning quotients and humility quotients define a sustainable leader. How does one determine a leader’s humility quotient? “We joke in our business that anyone who comes in and tells you how humble they are and that money does matter is two flags right there,” Murphy told Walker.

A humble leader isn’t ashamed to admit that he learns from others. “He’s not selfless, but he’s humbled in recognizing that a lot of other people can help him make decisions faster than he can on his own,” Murphy said.

Also under discussion was LinkedIn’s impact on executive recruitment and the time when Murphy almost hit what he thought was a huge whale during a sailing trip. The “whale” was actually a 40-foot steel container covered with barnacles.”

“I told my wife Whitney that I’m doing this my whole life and we really manage risk well,” Murphy commented. “But the one thing you can’t manage is if you hit a container. You go down in two minutes, and there’s really no way of coming back from that.”

The near-miss with the container spurred Murphy’s focus in sustainability, also a talking point in his book. There are three categories of sustainable leaders – born, convinced and awoken. While all three are important, Murphy said that “the convinced might be more persuasive in the moment that we’re in today.”

He went on to say that he doesn’t use the term ESG when discussing sustainability. ESG is a measurement acronym, not a movement. “Sustainability to me is the umbrella above sustainable development goals,” he explained. “ESG is just a piece of it.” Additionally, companies that are serious about sustainability bake it into their strategy, rather than treating it just as an initiative.

Murphy pointed out that sustainability is more than using renewable energy over fossil fuels. Water use falls into this category. So does healthcare in emerging countries, mortality rates and hunger. How a company handles issues of sustainability is also part of leadership.

“Look at it like a barbell,” Murphy said. “You have the pressure of institutional investors at one end, and the pressure of employees and consumers deciding where they’ll work and what they’ll buy on the other end.” In some cases, the pressure of both ends is causing the barbell to bend in the middle. But Murphy said he’s an optimist. “I believe that the governance of companies will move fast, so the middle of that barbell doesn’t break,” he said.

On-demand replays of the Nov. 16, 2022 webcast are available by clicking here and through Walker & Dunlop’s Driven by Insight podcast series.