As one of the originators of the concept of sustainable value, Chris Laszlo, PhD reframes sustainability as business opportunity, turning environmental and social risks into drivers of innovation, greater employee engagement, and a new, inimitable source of competitive advantage. He is a partner and co-founder of Sustainable Value Partners, a strategy consulting firm working with senior leaders in smaller family businesses and with global clients such as Bayer, Cisco, and L’Oréal. He has led hundreds of executive seminars inside companies and at leading business schools around the world.
Academically, he is professor of organizational behavior at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management, where he now researches and teaches Flourishing Enterprise. He is author of Quantum Leadership (2019), Flourishing Enterprise (2014), Embedded Sustainability (2011), and Sustainable Value (2008), all from Stanford University Press. In 2012, he was elected a “Top 100 Thought Leader in Trustworthy Business Behavior” by Trust Across America. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Management and chair (2021–2022) of the Academy of Management’s Management, Spirituality, and Religion (MSR) Interest Group.
In addition to his academic experience and consulting work, Laszlo spent nearly 10 years as an executive at Lafarge, a world leader in building materials; he held positions as head of strategy, general manager of a manufacturing subsidiary, and vice president of business development. Prior to that, he spent five years with Braxton Associates/Deloitte where he consulted on strategy to global industry leaders.