**1. Introduction**

If the COVID-19 pandemic affirmed anything to the educational community, it was that professional lives are incredibly connected, and a disruption across the globe has real and tangible effects on the ability to deliver education, the core business of universities and schools alike. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced rapid restructuring of education to enable educational continuity, and institutions heavily reliant on international student face-to-face attendance were significantly affected [1]. Students suffered, and struggled to belong to their university [2], but attempted to transition to a new way of working and studying [3].

The pandemic was in parallel to rapidly growing global concerns of unsustainable increases in greenhouse gas emissions, well behind Paris Agreement targets [4]. Universities in some nations led the way, with organizations seeking net carbon neutral positions over the past decade. Yet, as 2020 hit, priorities changed, and academic institutions opted toward rapid operational change to allow for emergency remote teaching for continuity of learning during lockdowns. Sustainability, and the achievement of the seventeen United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) beyond Quality Education (Goal 4) was sidelined [5]. Perhaps to the detriment of the long-term viability of the sector in an ever-changing world [6].

This book emerged as a separation of another text on *Advancing Great Leaders and Good Leadership*, where I called on scholars to evaluate the future of leadership across diverse contexts [7], and extended on a case for good leaders in an increasingly complex world [8]. During the receipt of chapters, a series of educational and sustainability studies emerged, giving rise to a separate volume to support a shared understanding of what good leadership may look like in an environment where sustainable and educational outcomes may exist with some degree of conflict (e.g., finite resources, infinite needs).
