CEO Jim Boyle of Boston’s Sustainability Roundtable, Inc, delivers a framework for how companies should navigate evolving climate expectations amid political pressure and economic uncertainty

At a moment of growing global fragmentation, economic uncertainty, accelerating climate breakdown, and rapid advances in artificial intelligence, sustainability executive Jim Boyle is making the case for a new model of business leadership centered on resilience, accountability, and human dignity. In his new book, Dignity First Leadership: Developing & Driving a World-Class Sustainability Strategy (published 6/9), Boyle argues that while many companies are publicly softening ESG and climate messaging, corporate sustainability strategy remains an operational priority for many organizations navigating growing investor, regulatory, and stakeholder expectations during a period of accelerating global disruption.

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Dignity First Leadership: Developing & Driving a World-Class Sustainability Strategy by James F. Boyle

Boyle is founder and CEO of Boston-based Sustainability Roundtable, Inc. (SR, Inc), a for-profit Public Benefit Corporation and certified B Corp™ that advises global companies, including Akamai Technologies, Biogen, Cisco, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Wayfair, and dozens of others on corporate sustainability governance, renewable energy procurement, and organizational resilience. SR, Inc has supported more than 100 companies in driving global decarbonization strategies.

In Dignity First Leadership, Boyle argues that traditional leadership models are increasingly ineffective in today’s polarized, high-pressure business environment, where executives face growing demands from investors, employees, regulators, customers, and communities. Drawing on Boyle’s decades of experience advising Fortune 1000 companies, the book introduces a practical framework, grounded in dignity, for aligning business performance with human-centered leadership, helping organizations navigate uncertainty, competing pressures, and long-term climate and economic challenges.

“The neoliberal consensus that shaped the modern business world has collapsed, and we have entered an age of fragmentation shaped by accelerating human-caused climate breakdown, geopolitical instability, economic uncertainty, and rapid technological change, including AI’s growing challenge to our understanding of human value,” said Boyle. “Dignity First Leadership is a scientifically grounded framework for what comes next – a more realistic and effective model for executive, enterprise, and economic leadership that centers human dignity within value creation.”

The book launch coincides with SR, Inc’s Q2 Executive Symposium on June 11 in Boston and San Francisco, convening sustainability leaders from global companies across biotech, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology to discuss the next phase of corporate climate governance, compliance, renewable energy strategy, and organizational leadership. SR Inc’s Net Zero Consortium for Buyers has helped its member-clients democratize the financial and environmental benefits of utility-scale clean energy by aggregating procurement of large-scale renewable energy projects. The consortium has supported more than one gigawatt of new renewable energy development and has completed well over one billion in transaction volume across North America and Europe, with multiple billions underway in North America, Europe, and India.

Dignity First Leadership is available to order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Books-A-Million.

Praise for Dignity First Leadership

“Jim Boyle's new book makes a strong case that it's time to put the fundamental right of every person to dignity at the heart of our economy. After decades of business leaders being slaves to short-term profit maximization, and at a time of technology challenging what it means to be human, it's long overdue to build a new model of business that puts humans, not money, at the core.” – Andrew Winston, sustainability strategist and best-selling author of Green to Gold and Net Positive

“Dignity First Leadership offers a fresh and necessary human perspective for corporate sustainability leaders. Technology and strong business cases aren’t enough. Appealing to human factors will rally us over the goal line.” – Dave Duncan, head of sustainability, PTC

“My sense is that those who ‘stand on their dignity’ are too often allergic to change. But dignity, as championed here by Jim Boyle, is different. It involves moral clarity, an understanding of the latest science, and – critically – an empathy for all living beings as the basis for demanding change.” – John Elkington, serial social entrepreneur and author of 21 books, including Green Swans and Tickling Sharks

About Sustainability Roundtable, Inc.

SR Inc is a for-profit Public Benefit Corporation and certified B Corp™ missioned to accelerate the growth and adoption of best practices in more sustainable business to help align business with life. SR Inc’s Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable (SBER) provides strategic advisory and support in enterprise decarbonization. SR Inc's Net Zero Consortium for Buyers (NZCB) is a confidential buyers' community committed to creating corporate buyer-favorable renewable energy transactions, which SR Inc clients have made the leading platform for aggregated procurements of utility-scale clean energy. In doing so, SR Inc clients are helping the NZCB democratize the financial, environmental, and human health benefits of utility-scale clean energy.

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