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REINVENTING leadersHIP, TOGETHER!

Welcome to Leaders for Humanity!

Welcome to Leaders for Humanity - a  unique inquiry into how to develop Good Organisations, a Good Economy, and Good Leaders!

Together with a select number of globally renowned thought leaders we systematically explore the intricacies of leadership in the context of society and economy, management and organisational design, and transformative change. Our discussions span diverse ethical and political paradigms and explore a wide range of theories and practical approaches to make our organisations a little bit better every day!

Whether you're a researcher or practitioner, our deep dives at master and PhD level promise a thorough examination of accepted management wisdom, a better understanding of the businesses we live in, and a thought-provoking inspiration for collective leadership. Join us throughout the series as we weave together the fundamentals for responsible organisations, contributing to a thriving planet for all. Together, let's reinvent "good" leadership to inspire and guide businesses toward becoming a force for good!

A Necessary Revolution

Today's world is complex and defies simple solutions. Yet, instead of increasing our collective wisdom and nurturing our capacity for critical thinking it appears our commitment to thorough inquiry has waned: Rather than asking deeper questions, we reify efficiency and financial returns. Rather than deepening our understanding of the humanities, we have put our trust in technology. Rather than integrating our learning, we have increasingly siloed knowledge – between academia and practice, philosophy and business, and across scientific disciplines. Paradoxically, thus, we have become the most powerful creatures that ever were, and yet are increasingly constrained in our ability to flourish together.

Therein lies great danger. Societal challenges are rapidly growing, demanding urgent and thoughtful responses. Yet, alternative blueprints for and exemplars of good leadership and management are hard to find; and contemporary recipes for societal and organisational transformation are often fragmented, unethical, or not based on the best available evidence. If we agree that the power of economic activity should, first and foremost, enable our humanity, then leaders across institutions must step fully into their civic responsibility - beyond any superficial maximisation of profits or customer satisfaction. Businesses and organisations must honour and nurture their impact on human well-being and the natural ecology.

What's Our Objective?

For our own sake, we must abandon the certitude of popular management textbooks, often promoting a reductionist ideology and simplistic technical tools, to embark on an inquiry to discover what it really means for modern organisations and modern leaders to act responsibly: We must redefine what corporate purpose and responsibility amount to in a modern society. We must identify and develop credible practices to foster organisational emancipation and transformation on a societal scale. We must nurture personal and mutual leadership development, as well as the moral courage, commitment and compassion to challenge established authority and the status quo.

Our hope is that the Leaders for Humanity dialogues will help to:

  • Resurrect a "philosophical approach" to management and leadership, using transdisciplinary dialectics to explore deeper and existential questions, and examine how to bring to life the best of our humanity in organisations
  • Create a community of researchers and practitioners who share our passion for ethical transformation and contribute to collective learning and experimentation, seeking to understand how we can nurture a genuine capacity for collective leadership wisdom
  • Inspire and promote a novel narrative of Good Organisations, to guide and motivate us in becoming the conscious, courageous and caring leaders humanity needs.

Who Is It For?

Admittedly, our inquiry will not be for the faint of heart. As Andre' Comte-Sponville, the French philosopher, eloquently stated: philosophy is an arduous task, requiring effort, study, and the use of appropriate tools. It requires us to think critically, whilst drawing on the wisdom of both past and contemporary thinkers. Like any voyage into uncharted territory, the initial steps must be intimidating and discouraging for many. But fear not! Once you have mastered the sometimes arcane and esoteric vocabulary of philosophy, the rewards can be profound! We hope you will find as much joy and insights in these discussions as we have, and wish you the very best on your personal odyssey of learning.

Never miss a FREE webcast! Just go to YouTube and subscribe to our Good Organisations channel for all upcoming sessions and all our new videos! 


Join our inquiry!

A little wiser every month with Leaders for Humanity

A Journey of Inquiry

About Our Approach

A Trans-Disciplinary Investigation
Our interview series is tailored to researchers, interested leaders, engaged citizens, and students alike. We aim to provide them with deeper knowledge to transcends narrow and discipline-specific boundaries, seeking to inspire critical thinking and practical wisdom. We also invite our audience to contribute their personal experience and lessons learned.  

Topical In-Depth Research
Beyond our interviews we also seek to systematically develop new insights into specific topics, related to the development of a new theory for responsible leadership. For this purpose, our inquiry  is supported by a small-but-growing team of dedicated PhD students at the University of St. Gallen. In the long run, we hope to establish a broader research network focused on ethical leadership and organisations, and we aim to engage with and showcase the work of young researchers who are willing to collaborate and share their theses with fellow academics. Moreover, we are happy to stimulate possible master- and bachelor thesis topics - where we can either become sparring partners or offer the theses in collaboration with the University of St. Gallen or the Hochschule für Wirtschaft in Zürich. 

Bringing It All Together

  • Leaders for Humanity Masterclass: Based on our Leaders for Humanity interviews, our Masterclass encourages shared learning and Socratic dialogue to generate a more profound understanding of our societal challenges. Challenging reductionism and championing critical thinking, it poses deeper questions and provides support and curated resources for personal exploration to develop new narratives and practices for ethical organizations that prioritize human and ecological flourishing.
  • Hunt for Good Organisations: Leveraging the insights from our interviews and the continuous evolution of our organisational transformation model, we are developing a comprehensive teaching module for responsible leadership education. In a transformative journey, students explore and engage with exemplary businesses, while examining their own roles in shaping ethical businesses and the future of work. 
  • Leadership Development: Building on our Good Organisation inquiry, we will continuously evolve and test practices and theory of good organisations. We hope to offer specific educational modules and advice to inspire individuals, organisations or educational institutions who wish to join our journey towards more wisdom in leadership. 

Our Inquiry Structure

THREE NOT SO SIMPLE QUESTIONS

In our interview series we invite global thought leaders to explore three apparently simple questions: 

  • What is 'good'? Therefore, what is a good society, and a good economy?
  • How to craft 'good organisations'?
  • How can we become 'good', individually and collectively?

Each session approaches the inquiry from multiple and transdisciplinary perspectives: e.g., a) philosophical or political perspective; b) a political-economic perspective; c) a management and organisational perspective; or d) an developmental-educational or transformational view. Each view examines a specific layer of social reality, whilst seeking to explore the wider system.

Of course, our queries reveal themselves quickly to be everything but simple.

For every interview we prepare extensive pre-readings, recommended books, suggested further study, selected quotes, "best bits" and full transcripts.



leaders for humanity video library

Series 1 and 2 Interviews now available online for FREE

OUR BIG THANKS TO ALL OUR WONDERFUL PARTICIPANTS

Thank you for making yourselves available and for sharing your personal experience and wisdom!


Starting from a philosophical or political perspective: Good Life and Good Society

ED FREEMAN
"We are only as good as the stories we tell."
Philosopher and Professor of Business Administration

ED FREEMAN

Can Stakeholder Theory Save Our Planet?
FRANK MARTELA
"Our life becomes meaningful to us when we’re meaningful to other people. As philosopher Antti Kauppinen once argued: for those who love us, we are irreplaceable."
Philosopher and Researcher of Psychology

FRANK MARTELA

Re-enchanting Our Organisations: Making Work Meaningful
ALEJO SISON
"The good life is not an “idea”. It's an activity. It’s not enough if some really brilliant fellow saw the idea and told everyone else about it. Flourishing is practice."
Professor for Business Ethics

ALEJO SISON

Happiness and Virtue Ethics in Business
BLAINE FOWERS
"All psychologists are originally philosophers. They just don't realise it, usually."
Professor of Philosophical Psychology

BLAINE FOWERS

An Emergent Theory of Natural Ethics
ALICIA HENNIG
“We cannot separate business from society. Business is a vital part of society. Therefore, the same ethical rules we have in society also apply in business."
Professor of Business Ethics

ALICIA HENNIG

Virtue Ethics in Business: Do we need Philosopher CEOs?
PAUL ADLER
"TO SAY THAT WE ARE FREE TO WORK FOR WHOEVER WE WANT, IS ALSO THE SAY: WE ARE FREE TO STARVE BY CHOOSING NOT TO WORK FOR ANYBODY."
PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT

PAUL ADLER

Can Democratic Socialism Save Our World?
"NEOLIBERALISM IT IS THE PERVASIVE COMMODIFICATION OF MOST ASPECTS OF PERSONAL, PUBLIC AND CULTURAL LIFE AND WELL-BEING."
PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIOLOGY

MIKE O'DONNELL

Towards Institutional and Economic Democracy



Starting from a (political-) economic perspective: Good Economy

HENRY MINTZBERG
“I am not a Human Resource. I am a Human Being.”
MANAGEMENT PROFESSOR

HENRY MINTZBERG

The Urgent Case for Rebalancing Society
STEFANO ZAMAGNI
“The welfare state was invented to cope with the shadows of capitalism.
If everybody had good work there was no need for a welfare state. ”
Professor of Economics

STEFANO ZAMAGNI

The Passionate Quest for a Civil Economy
LUIGINO BRUNI
"We can only become good workers if we are free in giving. In order for people to flourish, organisations must create the conditions for people to donate what you cannot buy."
Professor of Economics

LUIGINO BRUNI

How Capitalism Lost Happiness: Healing Our Relationships To Heal Our World
BRUNO FREY
"Democracy is not so much about giving people the right to say yes or no. There must be an effective exchange of views - that is really what Democracy is about."
Professor of Economics

BRUNO FREY

Happiness and Economics – In Search of Better Institutions
MARGIT OSTERLOH
“Shareholder capitalism is a bad form of capitalism. It simply is not true that only the investors invest in the firm.”
Management Professor

MARGIT OSTERLOH

Stop the Crooks! The Case for Virtuous Organisations
ANDRÉ HABISCH
We cannot have ethical citizen on one side and selfish, economically driven business people on the other. Entrepreneurs are crucial common good actors."
Professor of Social Ethics and Policy

ANDRÉ HABISCH

Institutional Leadership and The Art of Practical Wisdom



Starting from management and organisational behaviour perspective: Good Organisations

OTTO SCHARMER
COMING SOON
Senior Lecturer, MIT AND Co-founder Presencing Institute

OTTO SCHARMER

Theory U Revisited: Are We Beginning To Rise?
HARI TSOUKAS
"FOR THE CLASSICAL GREEKS, ANY CITIZEN WHO WOULD NOT CARE ABOUT THE COMMON AFFAIRS OF THE CITY WAS CALLED AN “IDIOT”."
PROFESSOR OF ORGANIZATION STUDIES

HARI TSOUKAS

Bridging Morality and Management
"YOU DON'T “CREATE” A REGENERATIVE LIFE OR A REGENERATIVE BUSINESS. IT'S NOT AN END STATE. IT'S A PROCESS TO STAY CONSCIOUS AND WORK ON HOW WE LIVE IN WHAT WE CREATE."
SENIOR FELLOW IN SOCIAL INNOVATION

CAROL SANFORD

The Regenerative Paradigm
MATS ALVESSON
"Culture has two major dimensions: one is that it makes us feel common and gives us some sense of direction. It is a compass. The other tends to imprison us."
Professor of Organisational Studies

MATS ALVESSON

Functional Stupidity and the Perils of Leadership
JANE DUTTON
"The place you work at is literally going to affect not just how healthy or sick you will be, but basically how long you will live."
Professor of Business Administration and Psychology

JANE DUTTON

From Suffering to Flourishing!
EMANUELE QUINTARELLI
"The only way to act as an ecosystem, or as a platform, in your market is to become an ecosystem and a platform within your organisation."
Senior Advisor in Organisational Development

EMANUELE QUINTARELLI

Pioneering New Ways To Organise
"WHILST DEMOCRACY'S ORGANISING PRINCIPLE IS POPULARITY, “CROWDOCRACY” IS BASED ON WISDOM."
CEO OF COMPLETE

ALAN WATKINS

Spiral Dynamics Continued: From Democracy towards Crowdocracy



Starting from personal development and education: Good Leaders and Good Leadership

BILL TORBERT
"What is the good life?Good questions, good friends, good work, good money. In this order."
Professor of Leadership

BILL TORBERT

A Lifelong Quest to Transform Our World- The Art of Action Inquiry
GIANPIERO PETRIGLIERI
Freedom is not about resisting a collective. Freedom is about joining a collective without surrendering. To be human is to be able to be both agent and part of something.
Professor of Organisational Behaviour

GIANPIERO PETRIGLIERI

Humanising Organisations: Towards Aliveness At Work
GERT BIESTA
"As a teacher you must understand a particular kind of interruption that helps students to disconnect from their desires, to stop looking for certainty about themselves."
Professor of Public Education

GERT BIESTA

Reinventing Education: A Quest Of Becoming Truly Human
DARCIA NARVAEZ
coming soon
Professor of Psychology

DARCIA NARVAEZ

The Science of Being Good: Can moral psychology teach us lead a good life
SIMON WESTERN
"We have to re-enchant the world. Too many people are disenchanted and they've got lost in Netflix series and locked in corporate worlds."
CEO Analytic-Network Coaching

SIMON WESTERN

A Quest for Eco-centric Leadership
I would say the most effective leaders in the army are servant leaders, right? You're there to set the example. You're the moral exemplar.
MAJOR US ARMY, RETIRED AND ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY

SCOTT PARSONS

Military As A Force For Good

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Additional resources

Our best essays about the interviews

Find all our articles and posts about topics related to the inquiry here

Related materials

THE VERY BEST QUOTES FROM SEASON 1

Our selection of insightful and inspirational quotes from all the 14 interviews in Series 1.


Case Studies Wanted: if you have suggestions for good organisations, or good leaders - or if you have come across relevant ratings and rankings, or are reasearcher in an adjacent area - please get in touch!