When it comes to understanding what the future entails for the world of sustainability, “ivory tower” mentality won’t be the most effective in guiding the next generation of sustainability professionals.
That’s what Vanderbilt University Associate Professor of the Practice of Business Studies Leonora Zilkha Williamson believes as she leverages her background as a leader in Fortune 500 companies and as an executive coach to serve as an educator. “My core purpose is to facilitate learning for other people,” says Williamson. “I care more about doing this than anything else. I’m head over heels in love with teaching students. I love the brilliant things young people say and want to teach them what they want to know.”
Williamson is the founder of Platinum Rule Advisors, a consulting firm devoted to human capital strategy and executive coaching. She is also a professional certified coach (PCC) through the International Coach Federation, and a member of the Harvard Institute of Coaching, the Forbes Coaches Council, and Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches. Williamson is currently a guest lecturer/professor in the Global Certificate in Corporate Sustainability program offered fully online in partnership between Vanderbilt Business and UBC Sauder. She also is featured as an Associate Professor of the Practice in Vanderbilt’s Hoogland Undergraduate Business Program, where she teaches Corporate Social Responsibility and Negotiation.
From Coaching to Teaching
Williamson’s industry expertise stems from her two decades in corporate America, which she also now leverages in coaching. She was named the #1 Executive Coach in Nashville in 2021 and 2022 by Influence Digest and was a 2022 Nashville Business Journal Woman of Influence.
Through her time in executive coaching and consulting, Williamson noticed something when discussing sustainability and ESG themes with organizational leaders and what the perceived image of sustainability was between different generations. “Almost every CEO I’ve worked with has expressed a level of care for sustainability in their organization. The older generations often look at sustainability mistakenly through a purely environmental lens when it is so much more like succession planning, diversity and inclusion, equity, etc.”
“For corporations,” says Williamson, “sustainability needs to say, ‘how do I maintain the permission to operate?’ on the one hand–and on the other hand, ‘how do I manage myself so that from a financial standpoint I’m sustainable to the future?’ It’s a big ‘tent’ of ideas so to speak, and sustainability managers and decision-makers have to factor all these things into their strategy.”
Helping to Guide the Future
Williamson is excited to be a part of the Global Certificate in Corporate Sustainability program and playing a role in shaping the future sustainability professionals of tomorrow. She prides herself in offering a neutral, apolitical approach to sustainability education to help include all voices and strike at the core of what students should come away with from her courses.
“Alienated audiences do not make for safe learning environments,” says Williamson. “Sustainability isn’t political – there’s no political agenda around it and there shouldn’t be. Students need to understand all the ways in which a company needs to be sustainable in the future and how all the responsible and irresponsible practices are germane to businesses. They should learn how to get strategic buy-in from their board and about executional excellence when implementing.”
Williamson plans to leverage her background in executive coaching to help connect with the right students in a stronger way, offering to facilitate meaningful conversation during lectures and empowering students to experience a difference in sustainability education.
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The Global Certificate in Corporate Sustainability program is designed to help prepare sustainability professionals gain valuable and relevant skills in corporate sustainability. To learn more, visit our program page.