a small area of focus for companies however something that could not attract and retain compelling talent with the shift in outlook and the mandates under sustainability being more exhaustive we have seen individuals choosing a career in sustainability more actively today said kumrathe skillsets of sustainability function leaders are changing dramatically and rapidly among csos appointed over 5 years ago the three most common functional backgrounds were marketingcommunications legalregulatory and government affairs these were more focused on elements of communication or handling regulators and a goodtohave however csos appointed in the last 5 years come from a more diverse background and with a set of skillsets such as operationssupply chain corporate strategy and finance which are more businessoriented and hence focused on embedding sustainability into the fabric of the organisation