UN Global Compact Commemorates New Book on Responsible Leadership by Sir Mark Moody-Stuart

(New York, 28 April 2014) – The UN Global Compact today welcomed the U.S. launch of Responsible Leadership: Lessons From the Front Line of Sustainability and Ethics, a new book by Sir Mark Moody-Stuart. As Chairman of the Foundation for the Global Compact and Vice Chair of the Global Compact Board, Sir Mark has long helped to provide strategic direction to the UN Global Compact, the world's largest corporate responsibility and sustainability initiative, and to champion its initiatives globally.

In opening remarks made at a special event today to commemorate the occasion, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson thanked Sir Mark for his long-standing support in serving the values and principles of the United Nations, and welcomed the book for taking on the issues and helping to better consider the importance of ethical leadership.

"If we are not prepared to translate those elements of the UN Charter and Universal Declaration into practical action on the ground, we are not serious about this work,” said the UN Deputy Secretary-General. “You are very much a representative of the best of those ideas and those values.”

The event was held at UN Headquarters and co-hosted by the UN Global Compact and the UK Mission to the UN. With leaders from business, the UN, Member States and academia looking on, Sir Mark recalled lessons from his long career as a pioneering responsible leader.

Reflecting on his career in the resources industry and his purpose in writing the book, Sir Mark sought to address critical questions for corporate leaders:  “The real challenges start when it [wealth generated by business] is not used constructively. What do you do? What are the responsibilities of the company in a country when things are not going well?”

He continued, stating that much work has been done “to make sure that resource development actually lifts people from poverty and does not just benefit elites. One of the conclusions is that we really need to work together with civil society, and that’s one of the reasons why I have been so involved with the UN Global Compact.”

Responsible Leadership – part memoir, part confessional, part manifesto for responsible leadership – discusses the realities, dilemmas and lessons to be learned from the last 20 years of corporate engagement with sustainability, ethics and responsibility. Sir Mark gives an insider's view of corporate responsibility and ethics from the boardrooms of some of the world's largest corporations, and delivers new ideas on how to seek collaborative solutions to climate change and corruption.

“Responsible Leadership is a true treasure chest of wisdom and practical guidance on many of the issues which business and policy leaders should know more about,” said Georg Kell, UN Global Compact Executive Director. “Sir Mark reflects on the big issues of our time – climate change, corruption, globalisation, poverty and the financial crisis – through the lens of having lived, considered and acted on how corporations should be led in the twenty-first century.”

H.E. Ambassador Peter Wilson, Deputy Permanent Representative of the UK Mission to the UN, commented on the "overwhelming sense of integrity and possibility" as a key theme of the book. "The second is what's really exciting about this book. Sir Mark has demonstrated that as a corporate leader you can do this, and it is not just good for the world. It is actually also good for your business."

Formerly Chairman of Anglo American plc and of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies, Sir Mark is currently Director of HSBC Holdings PLC, Accenture Ltd, and Saudi Aramco.

• Learn more about Responsible Leadership.
• View the complete bio of Sir Mark Moody-Stuart.