Leading the Way: Becoming a Sustainability Change Agent is designed to help you craft a meaningful career that aligns with your values and drives real change in organizations, communities, and industries. Drawing from insights shared by sustainability professionals across diverse roles, you will explore your own leadership style, understand how to build resilience and influence within complex systems, and learn how to position yourself for impact in any industry. Offering an authentic, behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to become an effective sustainability change agent - whether you’re early in a career or looking to expand your influence, this course is ideal for connecting purpose with practice, and discovering how to play a more intentional role in advancing sustainability.
Leading the Way: Becoming a Sustainability Change Agent
This course is part of Transformative Leadership in the Circular Economy Specialization
Instructor: Christy Bozic, PhD, PMP
Included with 
Recommended experience
What you'll learn
Articulate a personal vision for sustainability leadership that aligns with your values, strengths, and career goals.
Analyze the systems, mindsets, and organizational structures that enable or inhibit sustainability-related change.
Develop a personal action plan for advancing sustainability within your current or desired role.
Recognize opportunities to mentor, support and grow others in the sustainability space to amplify collective impact.
Skills you'll gain
Details to know
Add to your LinkedIn profile
August 2025
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills
Build your subject-matter expertise
- Learn new concepts from industry experts
- Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
- Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
- Earn a shareable career certificate
There are 4 modules in this course
Welcome to the course, Leading the Way: Becoming a Sustainability Change Agent. In this first module, you will explore what it means to be a sustainability change agent and how people from all backgrounds can lead change without needing a formal title. You will be introduced to the course, connect with peers, and reflect on your own values and opportunities for impact. Through video, readings, and discussion, you'll begin building the mindset and skills to lead from where you are.
What's included
4 videos4 readings1 assignment1 discussion prompt
In this module, you will learn how to lead sustainability efforts from wherever you sit in an organization. You will explore how systems work, where influence exists, and how your personal values and skills align with opportunities for impact. Through practical frameworks like leverage points, organizational mapping, and spheres of control, influence, and concern, you will identify how and where they can step in to make a difference. You will gain greater clarity on your leadership potential and a strategy for taking the first steps as a sustainability change agent.
What's included
7 videos3 readings4 assignments1 discussion prompt
In this module you will explore the diverse and evolving landscape of sustainability careers. You will examine roles across industries and sectors, analyze the skills most in demand, and reflect on how their own experiences, values, and motivations align with emerging opportunities. Whether you are seeking to pivot into a new role or deepen your impact within your current position, the module offers practical tools for positioning yourself as a sustainability change agent. Through guided activities, you will craft a professional narrative that clearly communicates their purpose, capabilities, and desired impact.
What's included
6 videos4 readings4 assignments1 peer review1 discussion prompt
In this final module, you will explore what it means to lead with purpose in the sustainability space. You will define your personal leadership style, develop strategies for resilience and adaptability, and learn how to empower others through leadership and mentorship. Through reflection, role-play, and real-world planning, you will build the mindset and momentum to become sustainability change agents.
What's included
3 videos6 readings4 assignments1 discussion prompt
Earn a career certificate
Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV. Share it on social media and in your performance review.
Build toward a degree
This course is part of the following degree program(s) offered by University of Colorado Boulder. If you are admitted and enroll, your completed coursework may count toward your degree learning and your progress can transfer with you.¹
Instructor
Offered by
Explore more from Leadership and Management
Status: Free TrialUniversity of Colorado System
University of Colorado Boulder
Status: Free TrialUniversity of Colorado Boulder
Status: Free TrialUniversity of Colorado Boulder
Why people choose Coursera for their career
Open new doors with Coursera Plus
Unlimited access to 10,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs - all included in your subscription
Advance your career with an online degree
Earn a degree from world-class universities - 100% online
Join over 3,400 global companies that choose Coursera for Business
Upskill your employees to excel in the digital economy
Frequently asked questions
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.
More questions
Financial aid available,
¹ Some assignments in this course are AI-graded. For these assignments, your data will be used in accordance with Coursera's Privacy Notice.