
Leadership for Sustainability
Myth, Metaphor and Narrative in Governance
Cambridge University Press
Published on 19. March 2026
Book
Hardback
264 pages
978-1-009-62098-7 (ISBN)
Description
Offering a bold and original perspective, Leadership for Sustainability explores how leadership can drive meaningful sustainability transitions through local and regional governance. The authors introduce an interpretive framework developed around the concepts of myth, metaphor and narrative, revealing sustainability as a highly productive fiction - one that enables communities to observe their environment differently and envision and organize long-term futures. Through critical analysis of sustainability narratives and a careful dismantling of common leadership myths, this book uncovers the functions and roles of leadership within governance systems. This approach illuminates how leadership can foster new modes of observation, understanding, and organization that reconnect communities, governance, and the environment. Featuring a clear and concise overview of key issues, tools, concepts and contexts for the understanding of leadership for sustainability, this is an essential insight for scholars and practitioners working in sustainability, environmental issues, leadership studies, public policy, and administration.
Reviews / Votes
'Leadership for Sustainability is a sorely needed contribution for all decision-makers and researchers striving for sustainability and searching for the strategies that can make sustainability a reality in our world. Business as usual is no longer an option. Leaders and how they govern for sustainability will be the difference between where the world is headed and where it needs to go. Kristof Van Assche and Monica Gruezmacher illuminate the path in their brilliant book.' Arun Agrawal, Pulte Family Professor of Development Policy; and Director, Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative, University of Notre Dame 'A wonderful book, covering a vast intellectual landscape, pausing - but never resting - at heights of leadership, the ranges of governance, the plains of sustainability and the fascinating borderlands where they meet. More map than compass, an enjoyable narrative for thinkers and doers alike.' Martin Kornberger, Professor, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Visiting Professor, NHH The Norwegian School of Economics and Adjunct Professor, UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales, Australia 'While the call for 'political leadership' for sustainability transformations on the level of global governance is increasingly politicised and actively fought, this volume puts focus on leadership (political, economic, everyday forms of leadership) on, even if not exclusively, local and community level - and emphasises the role of storytelling, the working with metaphors, visions and narratives for leading through transformational times. It thus goes back to the foundations of communal sense-making for future.' Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Director, German Institute of Development and Sustainability IDOS and Professor for Global Sustainable Development, University of BonnMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
543 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-62098-7 (9781009620987)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Kristof Van Assche | Monica Gruezmacher
Leadership for Sustainability
Myth, Metaphor and Narrative in Governance
E-Book
03/2026
Cambridge University Press
€34.49
Available for download

Kristof Van Assche | Monica Gruezmacher
Leadership for Sustainability
Myth, Metaphor and Narrative in Governance
Book
02/2026
Cambridge University Press
€40.90
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Kristof Van Assche is Professor of Planning, Governance and Development at the University of Alberta. He is also affiliated with the University of the Free State in South Africa; Bonn University's Center for Development Research (ZEF) in Germany; and, in Canada, with Memorial University of Newfoundland's Harris Centre for Regional Policy and the University of Saskatchewan's Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. Monica Gruezmacher is Lecturer and Research Associate in Sustainability and Development at the University of Alberta and Adjunct Professor in Environmental Studies at the Environmental Policy Institute at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Content
Prologue; 1. Basic concepts: leadership, sustainability and governance; 2. Narratives and interpretation; 3. Metaphors and the amplification of meaning; 4. Metaphors and narratives of sustainability; 5. Five myths of sustainability leadership; 6. Leadership for sustainability; 7. Sustainability leadership and strategy; Glossary; Index.