The Challenge of Sustainability: Corporate Governance in a Complicated World reviews the evolution of five types of corporate governance and their different sustainability objectives. It discusses the challenges for boards in achieving sustainability from an environmental, economic, employment, and social perspective and introduces the concept of a political tragedy of the commons if boards do what is in the best interests of their profitability only, without considering their responsibilities and unintended consequences for their stakeholders. It explains how volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity complicate making sustainable decisions. This book explores ways of helping prevent such negative outcomes.
John Zinkin asserts the director's need to reconcile volatility with vision, uncertainty with understanding, complexity with courage and commitment, and ambiguity with adaptability. To prevent a potential political tragedy of the commons, the book suggests new decision-making processes; treating employees differently; and makes the case for reforming capitalism. It is aimed at managers, board members and all those who influence them, including shareholder activists, corporate legal personnel, politicians, activists and general readers interested in applying some of these suggestions in their roles as stakeholders, managers and directors.
About the Author: John Zinkin is the Managing Director of Zinkin Ettinger Sdn Bhd, a boutique consultancy specializing in corporate governance, brand-based change, vision, mission and values and marketing strategy. He is a coach, affiliated with Foresight Global Coaching in Sydney, Australia. He was a faculty member of the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia (ICDM), and of the Securities Industry Development Corporation (SIDC).He was a member of the working party that launched the Malaysian Green Book on Corporate Governance in 1999 and was involved in the roll out of the Malaysian Corporate Governance Code in 2000. He was a member of the working party that drew up the Malaysian Corporate Governance Blueprint in 2011 and the Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance 2012 and drafted the IOSCO Emerging Markets Corporate Governance Task Force report on behalf of the Securities Commission Malaysia in 2016.
John used to speak regularly on leadership and governance and wrote for The Star on governance-related topics (2007-2013) and Focus Malaysia (2019). He was voted Writer of the Year on CG matters in 2014 by the Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group. His other specialties are Leading Brand-Based Change, Reconciling Leadership and Governance and Ethics in Business. He is a certified training professional who has done extensive training in branding and leadership. Since 2007, he has trained more than 1,500 directors in CG as well as senior managers of public listed companies. He has also trained ASEAN regulators on behalf of the Securities Commission Malaysia and the Australian Government as part of their capacity building programs in ASEAN and APEC.
John has led board effectiveness evaluations in banking (commercial and development banks), insurance, telecoms and government statutory bodies. He has developed codes of conduct and board charters for two development banks.
John was Associate Professor, Marketing and Strategy at Nottingham University Business School, Malaysia Campus and in charge of the MBA program (2001-6), CEO of Securities Industry Development Corporation (2006-2011), Managing Director, Corporate Governance of Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre (2011-2013). Before coming to Malaysia, John led businesses in office products distribution, and food distribution across Asia-Pacific based in Hong Kong and was the Chair of the Marketing and Change Management Practices of Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific.
John has a BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford and an MSc in Business Administration from the London Business School. He was awarded the Panglima Mahkota Wilayah (PMW) by the Federal Government of Malaysia, which carries the title Datuk for services to the nation. He has Malaysian PR and is married to a Malaysian Chinese.
