ABSTRACT
The first category of key players at the co-ideation level is the category of leaders. Eco-innovative and sustainable leadership is more than leadership in the traditional sense of the word. It builds on traditional leadership aspects but adds new characteristics to it. The eco-innovative and sustainable leader has many responsibilities and needs various skills to perform right. Such a leader has a time-consuming job and has to be multiskilled. The eco-innovative and sustainable leader needs a certain degree of charisma and has to communicate with a vision that helps subordinates to contribute to the innovative ambitions of the firm. An eco-innovative and sustainable leader also must be experienced with management instruments that facilitate planning and development of innovative activity in the company. A competent leader needs a well-formed strategic vision of what the firm could achieve in the near future. Moreover, the leader has to be people oriented and a human among humans. The leader has to cooperate with others, empower coworkers to contribute to the firm and communicate with various stakeholder groups the company wants to serve. On top of this, the sustainable leader also has to know and feel what the company's enduring purpose and value are for society and has to act on a wider time frame than tomorrow or the next year. A sustainable leader has a feel for what is needed to increase a firm's trustworthiness in business and society. The sustainable leader has access to this broad array of skills and behaviors. Leadership is the first element at the co-ideation level of the model of eco-innovation and sustain-ability management (see Figure 2.1).
