Leadership in companies oriented towards the creation of shared and responsible value

Purpose: to identify the directions of evolution of leadership paradigms and to define characteristics and conditions of sustainable leadership now and in the future in companies focused on creating shared and responsible value. Methodology, approach: systematic review, analysis and synthesis. Examples of the leadership practices of well-known enterprises which can be benchmarks for success. Findings: The directions of evolution of leadership paradigms have been identified and the characteristics and conditions of sustainable leadership have been defined for the present and the future. Leadership in companies oriented towards the creation of shared and responsible value mainly requires the application of the paradigm of sustainable leadership, the pursuit of heterarchy and holarchy, partnership, group decision-making and cultural cooperation. Leadership determines an organisation’s ability to create value for the company and its stakeholders, building an organisational culture based on trust; a culture most difficult for competitors to copy. Creating shared value in an organisation provides opportunities for the company to sustainably grow in the long term. Research limitations: the potential possibility of extending the systematic review to databases other than Web of Science and Polish libraries, and of expanding the criteria for selecting and analysing examples of business practices. Practical and social implications: promoting favourable values and sustainable leadership practices in enterprises. Originality, value: a comprehensive analysis of leadership and an explanation of its importance in the creation of shared and responsible value by companies, including examples of their good and bad practices. This paper contributes to the knowledge about characteristics and conditions of sustainable leadership and fills a research gap by focusing on the link between leadership in a company and its sustainable performance. The paper also has many implications for both researchers and practitioners in the field of business management.