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.

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.

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.