Sherrington Associates are thrilled to have been selected as one of Insider Magazine's ESG Champions for 2025.
The firm has come a long way in eleven years. Frustrated with just 'filling holes in leadership teams', in 2020, inspired by a collective desire to use the influence of executive search as a force for good, the team repurposed the business, transitioning from transactional leadership recruitment company to purposeful change agents, appointing sustainable leaders capable of delivering sustainability for our clients' organisations.
Led by Joanne, the company decided to apply for coveted B Corp status by engaging B Lab UK to audit every area of the firms operations to ensure ethical practice across the business. Next, they worked with a sustainability professor from Derby University and a team of applied psychologists to develop a model of sustainable leadership (read more about the 4A Model) and a new suite of cutting-edge psychometric assessments that would enable them to measure the hallmarks of sustainable leadership during the executive search process and as part of an ongoing leadership development programme. The firm would win multiple awards for this work, including the 'Innovation In Learning Award' at the 2023 Green Expo Awards, and the 'People-Centred-Leadership Award' in the national Good Small Business Awards, also in 2023.
Since launching the 4A Model of Sustainable Leadership, hundreds of leaders have been assessed for their performance against thirteen individual sustainable leadership qualities including empathy, inclusivity, long-term thinking and visionary communication, categorised across four key dimensions; Awareness, Attributes, Abilities, Actions. The data being accumulated is providing powerful insights into the collective potential for sustainable leadership across a variety demographics. The team hopes to use this data for further research into the key areas where leaders require support to reach their true potential for sustainable leadership.
Gaining further recognition for this work from regional media such as Insider Magazine is hugely exciting and we're thrilled to be amongst such impressive company in this year's ESG Champions list. The team were invited to celebrate at a gathering of ESG Champions hosted by Weightmans in Manchester earlier this month.
Being recognised as an ESG Champion makes our work over the last eleven years worthwhile and we're thrilled to receive this honourable title.
Joanne McKay - Co-Founder & COO, Sherrington Associates
