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The Turning Point: Why We Can’t Lead the Way We Led Before
- Mar 4
- 11 min read
An essay inspired by the new book, “Bold Women, Sustainable Futures: Leadership Lessons in an Age of Resistance” (March 2026: Women's Month) - By Supriya Verma
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What do we do now? How do we move forward in a world moving backward? This article is inspired by the new book “Bold Women, Sustainable Futures: Leadership Lessons in an Age of Resistance” (March 2026 — Women’s Month) that explores how women around the world are redefining courage, leadership, and systemic change in an era of global climate, ESG & DEI backlash. Subscribe to the newsletter for book and tour updates along with commentary on the current state of leadership in an age of resistance. Please share & tag a woman who needs this book. This is a movement for us all. Now available worldwide wherever books are sold — Amazon, Indigo, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Books, Booktopia, Friesenpress & 50,000+ global retailers.
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There are moments in history when incremental change is no longer enough.
Moments when refining existing systems, adjusting language, revising mission statements, or improving performance metrics fails to address what is fundamentally broken beneath the surface. Moments when the very architecture of leadership reveals its limits.
We are living in such a moment now.
Climate instability is accelerating beyond earlier projections. Democratic norms are strained by polarization and distrust. Economic inequality continues to widen even amid record wealth creation. Social cohesion feels thinner, more brittle. Institutions that once appeared durable now reveal fractures under pressure.
This is not simply a period of disruption.
It is a turning point, and turning points do not respond to small calibrations. They demand transformation.
The Illusion of Stability
For decades, leadership culture rewarded predictability. Linear growth curves were celebrated as evidence of progress. Quarterly targets defined success. Centralized authority signalled control. Carefully managed messaging reassured stakeholders that everything was stable, optimized, and under control.
But the crises we face today are not linear. They are layered, compounding, and deeply interconnected. Climate change intensifies economic volatility, which fuels social fragmentation, which in turn erodes institutional trust. Each pressure amplifies the next.
We can’t lead through cascading climate risk using siloed thinking or solve structural inequity through surface-level optics.
What once appeared stable was often fragile and held together by systems that externalized harm to communities, ecosystems, and future generations while concentrating power and reward among a narrow few.
The turning point is not the crisis itself.
It is the recognition that the old approach no longer works.
Leadership Built for a Different Era
Much of modern leadership was shaped in environments defined by industrial expansion, geopolitical competition, and rapid economic acceleration. Efficiency mattered more than inclusion. Scale mattered more than equity. Control mattered more than collaboration.
These priorities produced measurable growth. They also produced environmental degradation, widening inequality, extractive business models, and a leadership culture that equated dominance with strength.
We are now living inside the consequences of that architecture.
To lead the way we led before would mean doubling down on the same logic that produced our current instability — pushing harder on growth without reconsidering impact, accelerating innovation without questioning distribution, and managing risk without addressing root causes.
That is not leadership.
It is repetition. In a world that has fundamentally shifted, this repetition becomes negligence.
What This Turning Point Reveals
Turning points are uncomfortable because they strip away illusion.
They reveal where values were conditional rather than anchored, commitments were performative rather than structural, inclusion was celebrated publicly but resisted privately, and sustainability was framed as branding rather than responsibility.
They expose where power was protected rather than shared.
But turning points also reveal possibility.
Structural stress creates openings for redesign. When systems are forced to confront their limits, leaders can either defend fragility or build durability.
Redesign, however, requires courage.
It requires acknowledging that what once worked — or seemed to work — may no longer serve the moment.
From Optimization to Resilience
The leadership model of the past optimized for speed, efficiency, and measurable output. The leadership model required now must optimize for resilience.
Resilience asks different questions.
Who is protected when systems are strained? Who bears disproportionate risk when shocks occur? What happens when short-term gains undermine long-term stability? Are we building institutions capable of absorbing disruption without sacrificing integrity?
Resilient leadership is less concerned with projecting dominance and more concerned with cultivating durability. It recognizes that survival — and progress — depends on interdependence. It understands that communities, ecosystems, and markets are not separate entities but intertwined systems.
Optimization without resilience produces fragility. Resilience without equity produces instability.
The turning point demands both.
Women at the Turning Point
Women leaders, particularly those navigating intersecting barriers of race, class, and geography, have long operated in unstable systems. Many have built careers in environments that required adaptation without surrendering values, collaboration without centralized power, and resilience without institutional safety nets.
They know what it means to hold tension without collapsing into rigidity. They know how to build networks when hierarchy excludes them. They understand that care and strategy are not opposites, but complements.
In many ways, women have been practicing the leadership this turning point now demands — not because the system made it easy, but because survival required it.
The skills often dismissed as “soft” — empathy, relational intelligence, long-term thinking — are precisely the capacities needed to navigate systemic complexity.
The turning point is not introducing new qualities into leadership.
It is elevating qualities long undervalued.
Why Incrementalism Is No Longer Enough
In times of uncertainty, the instinct is often to minimize risk, adjust gently, and avoid radical disruption. Incremental change feels responsible, measured, and safe, but incremental adjustments to fundamentally flawed systems can’t produce transformative outcomes.
If climate leadership remains disconnected from justice, it will fail because adaptation without equity deepens vulnerability. If economic leadership ignores ecological limits, it will collapse because growth divorced from planetary boundaries is unsustainable. If power structures resist redistribution, instability will intensify because inequality erodes trust.
The turning point forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth: reform is not always sufficient.
Sometimes we must rebuild, and that means examining foundational assumptions and asking whether they still hold.
Rebuilding Leadership From the Inside Out
Rebuilding begins internally before it becomes institutional.
It begins when leaders ask themselves questions that cannot be delegated:
What assumptions am I carrying that no longer serve this moment? What structures have I accepted as inevitable that could, in fact, be redesigned? Where have I confused comfort with effectiveness? Where have I mistaken familiarity for stability?
The turning point is as much internal as it is systemic.
Leadership that evolves outwardly — with new language, branding, and policies — without evolving inwardly will eventually revert to old habits under pressure.
Sustainable transformation requires alignment between values and action.
A Different Definition of Strength
Turning points are often imagined as dramatic ruptures, visible shifts from one era to another.
In reality, they unfold through choices.
They occur when leaders choose clarity over convenience, institutions prioritize integrity over image, and courage replaces complacency in rooms where silence would have been easier.
Strength, in this context, is not rigidity.
It is flexibility anchored in values.
It is the capacity to adapt without abandoning principle and the discipline to hold long-term responsibility even when short-term incentives pull in the opposite direction.
We Cannot Go Back
There is a temptation in times of uncertainty to long for what once felt stable — to restore the familiar and recreate conditions that appeared manageable.
But the stability many remember was uneven. It functioned for some while excluding others. It extracted from ecosystems and marginalized communities while protecting privilege.
Going back is not an option.
The turning point does not permit nostalgia as strategy.
It forces us forward into redesign.
What This Moment Demands
This is not a call for recklessness or ideological extremism. It is a call for responsibility proportional to complexity.
It is a call to recognize that leadership must evolve alongside the challenges it faces, old metrics cannot measure new realities, and courage is not optional in moments of inflection.
We cannot lead the way we led before because the world we led before no longer exists in the same form. The assumptions that once underpinned decision-making have shifted and the stakes have intensified.
The turning point is here.
The question is not whether change is required.
The question is whether we will meet this moment with fear and defensiveness, or with the willingness to redesign leadership itself so that it is worthy of the future we are trying to build.
About the Author
Supriya Verma WELL AP is an award-winning corporate executive, global sustainability leader, speaker, author, and social entrepreneur dedicated to reimagining leadership for a more just and sustainable world. She is the author of Bold Women, Sustainable Futures: Leadership Lessons in an Age of Resistance (2026) — her groundbreaking debut book that explores how women around the world are redefining courage, leadership, and systemic change in an era of global backlash. She also serves as the Chief Sustainability Officer at Belnor Engineering Inc, a leading Canadian firm advancing sustainable building technologies and innovation. As the founder of The SustainabilityX® Magazine, she has built an influential global platform that amplifies women’s voices and advances courageous, inclusive leadership across sectors and generations. She has spoken at multiple international events, such as UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day Conference and Cornell Keynotes, and has served as a Board Member at Fojo Media Institute’s Sustainable Journalism Partnership at Linnaeus University in Sweden, and as a member of the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI)’s WELL Faculty. In 2019, she was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 30 Under 30 in Sustainability Leadership by Corporate Knights, and awarded McMaster University’s prestigious Alumni Arch Award in 2021 for unique and significant contributions to society. She was recognized as one of The SustainabilityX® Magazine’s inaugural Global 50 Women in Sustainability Awards™ awardees (2022), as one of The Peak’s Emerging Leaders (2024) as a young leader under 40 shaping Canada’s economy, culture, and society, and also named a Global Impact finalist in the Women Empowerment Awards (2024). Supriya is also a distinguished member of Nature Canada’s invite-only Women for Nature network — a prestigious group of women from across Canada united in their mission to protect the nation’s natural treasures, safeguarding Canada’s rich natural heritage for generations to come.
About the Book
What do we do now? How do we move forward in a world moving backward?
Around the world, women bear the brunt of the climate crisis — yet remain the least likely to hold positions of power or decision-making in shaping its solutions.
As women face the compounding pressures of the climate emergency, global rollbacks on DEI and ESG policies, and the revival of cultural misogyny, Bold Women, Sustainable Futures: Leadership Lessons in an Age of Resistance offers a powerful and timely exploration of the progress, potential, and power of women in sustainability leadership to drive inclusive and systemic change.
Amid the growing backlash against climate action, gender equity, human rights, and DEI, women in leadership positions find themselves facing new and unprecedented challenges — from burnout and backlash to exclusion — while still struggling to navigate systems never designed for them in the first place.
Years of research show that sustainability and sustainable development are best supported by leadership rooted in collective progress, justice, and inclusion — values women often bring to the table. But how do we continue to support and encourage women to lead in the face of such persistent and mounting opposition?
Bold Women, Sustainable Futures addresses this dilemma, serving as both a guide and a call to action — for women stepping into leadership roles, as a tribute to those who have come before, and as an invitation to the next generation of sustainability leaders.
It begins by profiling nine women leading across climate science, governance, business, media, advocacy, and the arts — including Helle Bank Jørgensen, GCB.D, NACD.DC, Roberta Boscolo, Honourable Rosa Galvez, Tensie Whelan , Dr. Shawna Pandya, MD, Sylvia Yu Friedman, Dr. Dianne Saxe, Ph.D, GCB.D, Dr. Deborah Rosati FCPA, FCA, ICD.D, GCB.D, CCB.D, and the author herself, Supriya Verma WELL AP — weaving in her own deeply personal reflections on leadership, identity, and transformation as a woman of colour navigating voice and visibility throughout her journey so far.
The second half takes a hard look at the global backlash against DEI and ESG, revealing the historical cycles of gendered progress and regression while offering strategies, solutions, and concrete steps for meeting this moment head-on.
A powerful, fiery fulcrum chapter, “The Turning Point,” brings together diverse reflections from extraordinary women around the world across sustainability, business, and justice movements, offering wisdom and guidance on leading with courage when the systems we thought were shifting begin to turn back.
You’ll hear from women like Meg Beckel, MBA, ICD D., Maya Colombani Sandhya Sabapathy, Bonnie-Lyn de Bartok, Ivy (Ivanna) Lumia, Pamela Gill Alabaster, Sreelakshmi S Menon, Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas, Catherine Abreu, Jeanette Southwood, P.Eng., FCAE, FEC, LL.D.(honoris causa), Renee Lertzman PhD, Alison Taylor, Jennifer Jennings, Catherine Ladousse, Farah Nasser, and Zabeen Hirji. The book ends with practical tips and strategies for navigating the current backlash, aimed at existing female leaders, emerging and aspiring leaders, students, and allies.
Beautifully written, evidence-based, and told through women’s real-life experiences, Bold Women, Sustainable Futures serves as a mirror revealing how far we still have to go — exposing the systemic barriers women face in leadership — and counters them with actionable strategies, inspiring stories, and a message of hope.
This book is a playbook for navigating uncharted territory, rewriting the rules of power, and leading with courage toward a sustainable future — especially when the world pushes back.
Originally published on LinkedIn.
About The SustainabilityX® Magazine
The SustainabilityX® Magazine is an award-winning, digital, female-founded, and female-led non-profit initiative bringing the environment and economy together for a sustainable future through dialogue, and now transforming the environment and economy for a sustainable future through the power of women's leadership. Founded on May 8, 2016, and inspired by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals by Canada's Top 30 Under 30 in Sustainability Leadership awardee and author of "Bold Women, Sustainable Futures: Leadership Lessons in an Age of Resistance" (2026), Supriya Verma, the digital media initiative focuses on approaching the world's most pressing challenges with a holistic, integrated, systems-based perspective as opposed to the traditional and ineffective siloed approach with a single lens on interdisciplinary topics like climate and energy. This initiative ultimately seeks to explore how to effectively bring the environment and economy together through intellectual, insightful dialogue and thought-provoking discussion amongst individuals across sectors taking an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to untangling the intricate web of sustainability while championing women's leadership in sustainability.
The SustainabilityX® Magazine is built upon the four foundational pillars of sustainability: Environmental Stewardship, which emphasizes the importance of improving environmental health; Economic Prosperity, which promotes sustainable economic growth that transcends traditional capitalist models; Social Inclusion, which focuses on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) for BIPOC, LGBTQ, and other marginalized or vulnerable communities; and Just Governance, which highlights responsible leadership, the equal application of the rule of law, and the creation of fair systems for all.
As we expand our mission to align with the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs), we continue to explore the diverse and interconnected factors that influence sustainability. By recognizing how these elements interact across local, national, and international levels, we aim to accelerate progress toward sustainability goals. In essence, this aligns with The SustainabilityX® Magazine's vision of integrating environmental and economic progress for a more just, inclusive, and sustainable future through thoughtful dialogue.
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