Organizations are under greater pressure to deliver value for all stakeholders to create a more sustainable and equitable world. Achieving short-term and long-term financial performance while addressing the interests of all stakeholders and wider society requires a wider set of leadership qualities. The World Economic Forum’s Forum of Young Global Leaders and Global Shapers Community, in collaboration with Accenture, identify the Five Elements of Responsible Leadership that will be critical in the 2020s: Stakeholder Inclusion, Emotion & Intuition, Mission & Purpose, Technology & Innovation, and Intellect & Insight. We show that companies that achieve both top-tier innovation and sustainability & trust enjoy superior financial performance; and that these profitable trusted innovators also commit to the Five Elements of Responsible Leadership. Read the full report: https://accntu.re/36UC0pq

1. Seeking New
Leadership
The Forum of Young Global Leaders
and the Global Shapers Community
In collaboration with Accenture
Responsible Leadership for a
Sustainable & Equitable World

2. Leaders face a range of challenges
in the 2020s
The climate
emergency
Current trends
point to global
temperatures
rising by
between 2.9°C
and 3.4°C by
2100.1
Global
economic
fragility
10% of the world’s
population enjoys
more than 50% of
the world’s
income.2
The Fourth
Industrial
Revolution
The opportunities
of emerging
technologies have
yet to be fully
realized, and the
risks fully
managed.
1 World Meteorological Organization under the auspices of the Science Advisory Group of the UN Climate Action Summit,
“United in Science”, 2019
2 World Inequality Lab, “World Inequality Database”, 2019.
3 Accenture Research
Investment in
emerging
technologies
doubled 2017-
2019, but only 18%
of organizations
planned to
significantly
increase spending
on reskilling.3
People being
left behind

3. New technologies are forcing a rethink
“Emerging technologies require companies to rethink what it means to
be a responsible business because they can have negative side-effects”
Source: Accenture Responsible Business survey of company executives, April 2019. Sample size 2,298;
Accenture Responsible Business survey of stakeholders, July 2019. Sample size: 2,971.
Stakeholders are more convinced than business leaders
that the negative impacts of technology require a new
approach to responsible business.

4. New and louder voices are
becoming influential
70% of executives recognize that the influence of customers
and users is growing.
76% of CEOs say citizen trust will be critical to business
competitiveness in their industry in the next five years.
85% of employees and SME leaders would take action if their
employer or a larger business asked them to do something
against their values.
Sources: UNGC-Accenture CEO Study on Sustainability, 2019. Sample size: 878
Accenture Responsible Business Survey, 2019. Sample size: 2,241

5. Leaders are responding
94% of CEOs feel a personal responsibility for ensuring
their company has a core purpose and role in society.
61% of emerging leaders say business models should only be
pursued that generate improved societal outcomes and profitable
growth and at the same time.
Sources: UNGC-Accenture CEO Study on Sustainability, 2019. Sample size: 878
Annual survey of World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders and Global Shapers, November 2019. Sample size: 1,535 Global Shapers and 295 YGLs

6. Leaders must deliver on three fronts:
• Organizational performance, measured most often by
short-term earnings or their equivalent.
• Continuous innovation, the seedbed for longer-term
growth, often propelled by emerging technology.
• Sustainability & trust, earned by an unyielding
attentiveness to the interests of all stakeholders.

7. Delivering on all three is not just
possible, it’s optimal
Companies that combine top-tier innovation with top-tier sustainability & trust
outperform their industry peers on operational and market metrics. Their estimated
operating profits are 3.1% higher on average.
Source: Accenture Research.
Note: Annual premium of operating margin over industry peer-set average.

8. Source: Accenture Research. Based on complementary surveys of more than 5,000 executives, stakeholders and
Young Global Leaders and Global Shapers.
The Five Elements of Responsible
Leadership
The qualities that help leadership teams pursue value and honour values.

9. Stakeholder Inclusion. Safeguarding trust and positive impact for all by standing in
the shoes of diverse stakeholders when making decisions, and fostering an inclusive
environment where diverse individuals have a voice and feel they belong.
Emotion & Intuition. Unlocking commitment and creativity by being truly human,
showing compassion, humility and openness.
Mission & Purpose. Advancing common goals by inspiring a shared vision of
sustainable prosperity for the organization and its stakeholders.
Technology & Innovation. Creating new organizational and societal value by
innovating responsibly with emerging technology.
Intellect & Insight. Finding ever-improving paths to success by embracing
continuous learning and knowledge exchange.
The Five Elements of Responsible
Leadership

10. Source: Accenture Research: Responsible Business survey of company executives, April 2019. Sample size: 2,298; Accenture Responsible Business survey of stakeholders, July 2019. Sample size: 2,971.
Question: “Which personal qualities / characteristics are most important for executives in charge of ensuring their companies behave responsibly?”
Business leaders and stakeholders
value the Five Elements differently
Company executives emphasize
Technology & Innovation.
Stakeholders have greater
interest in Emotion & Intuition
and Mission & Purpose.

11. Emerging leaders value other qualities
Source: As before plus Annual survey of World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders and Global Shapers, November 2019. Sample size: 1,535 Global Shapers and 295 YGLs.
Respondents were asked “How important are the following skills for a responsible leader?” and were invited to rank from among a list of 16 skills.
Members of the Forum of
Young Global Leaders and
the Global Shapers
Community gave the highest
priority to Stakeholder
Inclusion, Mission & Purpose
and Intellect & Insight.

12. Multi-generational leadership teams
will be part of the solution
Gen Z emphasize
Stakeholder Inclusion much
more than Gen Y. Intellect &
Insight is more important to
Gen Y than to Gen Z.
Source: Accenture Research: Mass Online Focus Groups, November 2019. Sample size 352.
Question: “Overall, thinking as an advisor to the individual tasked with making the final decision, which one of the following is most critical to the approach would you take? Chart shows
average split of leadership attributes respondents feel are most critical when making decisions as responsible leaders.

13. Three questions for organizations
developing Responsible Leadership
1. Who are your stakeholders. How well do you really
know them?
Do they include non-traditional and diverse interests? How important
are they to your organization? Do you understand your impact on them?
2. Does your leadership have a Five Elements profile?
Does your team draw upon these attributes, skills and mindsets? Are
the they present in how you grow your leadership teams?
3. What do you need to scale responsible leadership
qualities throughout your organization?
What opportunities and burning platforms can accelerate progress?
What tools and support can spur progress?

14. www.accenture.com/responsible-leadership
https://www.younggloballeaders.org/seeking-
new-leadership
Copyright © 2020 The Forum of Young Global Leaders, The Global Shapers Community and
Accenture. All rights reserved.
For the full report, please visit:
The study represents the first stage of a multi-year initiative
between the Forum of Young Global Leaders and the Global
Shapers Community, in collaboration with Accenture, to create
a new framework for responsible leadership and to help
organizations cultivate environments in which it can flourish.