Alison Reynolds - What Philosophy Can Teach You About Being a Better Leader

This book restores to business thinking much of the common sense and time-polished wisdom that modern economic thinking has leached away.

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy UK

As business leaders we have an innate feeling that we have to have our team follow us and through them we achieve extraordinary results together. Unfortunately our business training and education all tend to focus on the tangible results, KPIs, budgets and measurements, and through time these turn the focus upside down and our people somehow become means to an end rather than ends themselves and we become trapped in inhumane work environments over and over again. This book offers a real path to change for frustrated leaders and is a must-read for those who have the courage to take the first step towards making their work environment humane again fertile ground for them and their team to flourish and contribute greatly to customers, the organization and themselves.

Savio Kwan, former President and COO, Alibaba

At a time when trust in leadership in business, government and civil society is fast eroding, this book is timely, asking you powerful questions about your own meaning and purpose as a leader. The most profound answers lie in values and philosophy, which have been neglected in the world of leadership education until now. The four authors rightly place these centre stage.

Dame Julie Mellor, Chair, Demos and The Young Foundation; former Chair, Equal Opportunities Commission and Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

How can I flourish in an organization while helping colleagues and the organization itself to flourish? This great challenge of the modern world demands a personal response. The authors of this inspiring book evoke philosophers ancient and contemporary, bringing their insights to life as guides to wise and humane leadership.

Professor John Y Campbell, Economics Department, Harvard University

This book challenges the way we think about leadership, the habits and conventions that have become so ingrained that we are no longer aware of them. We are used to changing our processes, structures and systems with mixed results. It is time to take a long look in the mirror and ask ourselves deep questions about what it means to be a leader, a leader who wants to flourish and wants others to flourish. These are questions of philosophy.

Professor Nandu Nandkishore, Indian School of Business; former Global Executive Board Member, Nestl SA, Switzerland

A good manager is always recognized for their curiosity and ability to question themself. To develop these skills, philosophy is certainly one of the best fields of exploration that exists.

Franck Mougin, Director of Human Resources, Vinci

This book is for leaders who may want to refresh their leadership practice. It puts you on the spot, bringing a series of philosophers into your life who will raise questions about you and your purpose that cannot be ducked. Leadership is a lifelong journey, and who better as travel companions than quarrelsome Marx and impish Isiah Berlin? Socrates, Popper, the Buddha and so many others have been wonderfully reinterpreted for our modern, uncertain and turbulent world. This book is a double gift of leadership wisdom and philosophical teachings its readable, funny and very very wise!

Shaks Ghosh CBE, Chief Executive, Clore Social Leadership Foundation

This book is a unique and powerful blend of the insights of philosophers and the authors extensive practical experience of change management. Reading it will challenge every leader to look again at what empowerment means, how organizations really function, and why human values of fairness and trust are vital for sustainable success in the modern economy.

Sir Martin Donnelly, President, Boeing Europe; former Permanent Secretary, UK Department of International Trade

Organizations are obsessed with Doing and Knowing and do not create time and space for Being. This book is provoking us to start a new conversation that will bring more meaning and serve the well-being of all.

Anil Sachdev, Founder and CEO, School of Inspired Leadership, Gurgaon, India

To be a successful leader of a modern, sustainable, purpose-led organization that recognizes its responsibilities to the communities it serves, needs more than skills and ability it needs authenticity. Authenticity is based in a deep leadership philosophy that inspires the individuals leaders seek to lead to take personal responsibility to do the right thing in every interaction they have with others. People want to be empowered, respected and fulfilled at a human level in todays workplace and to know that the values of the organization they work for not only match their own values but are embodied and evidenced consistently in the leaders they work with. What Philosophy Can Teach You About Being a Better Leader gives those who have been given the privilege of leadership new thinking and practical learning to successfully fulfil their roles by recognizing the need for those they seek to inspire to be engaged with meaning and purpose.

Sir Ian Powell, Chair, Capita plc

In a world dominated by AI, algorithms, bots and big data, great leadership is about being a good human. And philosophy provides powerful insights into what that means.

Professor Chris Styles, Dean, UNSW Business School, Sydney, Australia

An engaging, persuasive and radical study of what it means to live the good life at work. The authors guide the reader through a fascinating philosophical landscape, posing a decisive challenge to conventional leadership thinking, and offering a new and humane model in terms of which to comprehend ones role in the workplace.

Dr Fiona Ellis, Professor of Philosophy, University of Roehampton

A highly unusual book whose time has come. Four distinguished business school professionals bring long experience and exhilarating fresh thinking to the concept and practice of leadership. And in doing so they break the mould for it is philosophy, not psychology, that drives this riveting approach. A book that travels from the Buddha and Aristotle via Hobbes, Kant, Nietzsche and many others to Karl Popper and the present day might be dizzying, but the authors ensure that the lessons of philosophy are always relevant and that they are intensely practical. Both relevant and revelatory, this is a real tour de force.

Lord Lisvane (Sir Robert Rogers), former Clerk and Chief Executive, House of Commons

Well-researched and clearly written, this book reminds us of the human being at the centre of business. Business is not all about data, efficiency and output, but overcoming isolation and allowing human beings to flourish. This is an important message in a world becoming ever more governed by technology.

Robert Roland Smith, philosopher, and author of Breakfast with Socrates

Alison is a member of faculty at Hult Ashridge Executive Education where she designs and delivers award-winning executive programmes. In 2019, Alisons name was announced on the Thinkers50 Radar alongside that of David Lewis, in recognition of their work on cognitive diversity. Alisons research and thinking features consistently in the Harvard Business Review and she co-developed the Qi Index, a tool used by organizations worldwide to better understand the quality of their interaction. Alison lives in London with her partner and her daughter, Imogen.