Christa Gyori

As global economies continue to shift and addressing climate change becomes more important by the day, how are the world’s top purpose-driven CEOs preparing their organizations to move into the future as economically sound, sustainable businesses?

To shed light on how executives can positively impact economies, society and the planet is Christa Gyori (“JOR-ee”), co-founder and CEO of Leaders on Purpose and an international executive with over 20 years of senior leadership experience. Inspired by a mission to address sustainable development goals (SDGs) while helping leaders maximize value for organizations and stakeholders, Gyori and her team endeavor to share insights and methodologies, including her co-authored 2018, 2019 and 2020 Leaders on Purpose CEO Studies, for supporting multinational business leaders who want to embed long-term purpose into the core of their strategy.

“Leaders are facing a moment where what they do in the next 10 years will impact the next 10,000 years,” explains Gyori, a founding member of Unilever’s North American FS Sustainability Council who was named by Forbes one of  11 women positively and inspiringly impacting the world through purpose. “Multinational businesses touch billions of people with their products every day, so when they make change, it has huge implications.”

Achieve Ambitious Goals Through High Impact Sustainability Leadership

Organizational sustainability goals have quickly become just as important as financial goals. How can leaders ensure that the rigorous approach companies take to finances are also being applied to sustainability?

According to Gyori, executives must become fluent in the steps to becoming high impact sustainability leaders, a process she facilitates through her 5-phase framework for building a sustainable business model. She shows that when change is navigated mindfully, purpose and profit can in fact bolster one another.  

“We all know change is scary and while many leaders want to make changes, they just don’t know how,” explains Gyori, co-founder of SysMeta, an intuitive systemic data exploration platform and visualization tool. “I help leaders understand that it’s possible to harness this moment and move much faster toward a sustainable future than they ever thought possible.”

She empowers leaders to visualize the five phases in a systems-based approach. Doing so allows executives to take stock of where they are, where they want to be and how to get there in a practical, realistic way that will allow them to lift their organization by achieving ambitious sustainability goals.

The Role of a Leader as an Authentic Communicator

Mapping out a path to sustainability isn’t the only challenge today’s leaders face. With increasing expectation to step up and take a stand on values, effective managers must prioritize open communication. Drawn from her time interviewing and working with more than 100 of the world’s top CEOs, Gyori zooms in on authentic communication as one of the most important qualities of exceptional leaders.

“When taking a stand on values leaders support for themselves and their organization, they need to specify whether they’re speaking individually or for the company and be clear about that,” explains Gyori, a Harvard T.H. Chan School Professional of Excellence fellow from 2014 to 2021. “You have to be as authentic as you can while being clear about who you’re speaking for. Mistakes will happen. The best leaders aren’t afraid of mistakes – they own them and learn from them.”

As Gyori and Leaders on Purpose embark on the creation of the 2024 Leaders on Purpose CEO Study, she and her team continue to engage with and draw proven insights from top multinational executives. From purpose-driven leadership to genuine communication strategies, Gyori’s expertise and practical frameworks can help leaders of organizations of all sizes ensure their company is optimally positioned to succeed financially and socially long into the future. 

Christa Gyori is the co-founder and CEO of Leaders on Purpose. Prior to Leaders on Purpose, she spent much of her career as an executive at Unilever where she was a founding member of their North American FS Sustainability Council. Inspired by a mission to address sustainable development goals (SDGs) while helping leaders maximize value for organizations and stakeholders, she co-founded Leaders on Purpose with colleagues from Unilever, Harvard, the World Bank, and the London School of Economics.

Gyori is a co-founder of SysMeta, an intuitive systemic data exploration platform and visualization tool. She also sits on the board of Space4Girls, an organization dedicated to providing opportunities for girls and young women in space and innovation through STEM programming.

Shortlisted for the 2023 Thinkers50 Ideas Into Practice Award, she was named a Conscious Leader of the Year by Conscious Company Magazine in 2018 and was the 2013 winner of the TED Global-Unilever Innovation Award.

Gyori has worked with leaders across 5 continents, has an MBA in International Business from Thunderbird School of Global Management, and regularly serves as faculty for Harvard’s Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership program.

Christa Gyori is available to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting meetings, interactive workshops and customized keynotes through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers & Advisors, a division of Stern Strategy Group.