Jaap Winter, board chair & corporate governance professor, on how boards can turn sustainability into business renewal

Jaap Winter, Chair of the Supervisory Board of Royal Schiphol Group, Partner at Phyleon Leadership & Governance, and Visiting Professor of Corporate Governance at INSEAD, explores how boards can move sustainability from an obligation to a source of business renewal and competitive advantage. Drawing on his experience in corporate governance, leadership and business transformation, he examines the value—and limits—of compliance, why sustainability needs to move from backward-looking reporting to a forward-looking business conversation, how boards can discover new opportunities, and why sustainability needs to become part of core strategy and decision-making rather than remain a parallel ESG agenda. The key takeaway: sustainability becomes strategically powerful when boards move beyond asking whether the business is meeting its obligations and start asking how sustainability could shape what the business becomes next—creating new value, resilience and competitive advantage. This conversation is part of the nine-part series Beyond the Old Playbook, featured in the Exploring Leaders Podcast by Digoshen.Welcome to also read the related blog post: What If Sustainability Is Where the Next Business Begins?