"Defending the promise..."

I recently downloaded and listened to a Catalyst Podcast where they were interviewing Tim Sanders (here is his official web-site and his blog if you want to check them out: http://www.timsanders.com/ and http://sanderssays.typepad.com/). The interview was interesting on the whole, but one thing in particular stuck out that I want to comment on here.
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Tim said "15 years from now leadership is not gonna to be about new ideas...it is not gonna be about project work. In the future, leadership is gonna be about defending the promise behind the mission. Leadership is gonna be about connecting the business to society in a sustainable manner. It will be about the intersection between the company you work for and the host community that supports you. It is gonna be about the intersection between the business you run, and the ecosystem around you. Leadership will be re-defined around who's leading who to good."
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Three things I want to comment on, each of them underlined above. First, defending the promise behind the mission speaks to the realities that an organization produces. There must be value added to people's lives from whatever is produced, in all areas of production. No longer are organizations going to be allowed to produce great shoes for us Americans, while paying unfair wages and providing unfit working conditions for others. The promise behind the mission speaks to the actual, physical, tangible realities that any organization produces. I LOVE THIS. It fits who I am in terms of wanting to believe in something grand and bigger than myself, but measured by what is actually produced. In my line of work, serving through a local church (albiet MEGA in size), defending the promise behind our mission is insuring people are actually transformed into better people that have meaning in their lives, not just empty talk that produces nothing.
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Secondly, this idea of sustainability is becoming more and more important. The most recent sermon series at my church was on this very topic. The days of NON-sustainability living are passing away. The consumption that proliferates my culture can not keep up. It simply can not. And God knows I have so much work to do in this area myself. But helping create in lives, create structures, or create organizations that are sustainable is quickly becoming a passion of mine. I think Tim Sanders is correct, people are not going to get behind businesses and organizations in the future that conduct themselves in non-sustainable ways. Tim suggests quite the opposite actually, that they are going to punish those businesses that operate in non-sustainable ways by not investing or buying from them.
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For a great example of a different kind of business model, check out toms shoes. They are wicked comfortable (so I am told), unique...and for every pair purchased they give a pair away. (http://www.tomsshoes.com/).
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Finally, Leadership will be re-defined by who is leading who to good. Isn't that the kind of person you want to follow? Someone who is leading you to good? NOT the kind of good that simply makes us feel better about ourselves...the kind of good that is hedonistic or self-seeking. But that which is really good, the idealistic, better for everyone kind of good. The sustainable kind of good. The kind of good that is still good for the next generation, for my kids and for my grandkids. That is the kind of leader I to follow, and the kind of leader I want to strive to be like.
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So what good are you doing today?