A series of Socratic dialogues with some of the most thought-provoking global management thinkers

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Leaders for Humanity Trailer

Welcome to Leaders for Humanity

OUR BIG THANKS GO TO ALL OUR PARTICIPANTS: ED FREEMAN, ALAN WATKINS, FRANK MARTELA, JANE DUTTON, MONICA WORLINE, LUIGINO BRUNI, MATS ALVESSON, AXEL HONNETH, SCOTT PARSONS, MANFRED KETS DE VRIES, GIANPIERO PETRIGLIERI, MIKE O’DONNELL, GERT BIESTA AND MORE - thank you all very much for sharing your personal wisdom!


Our Inquiry - three tough questions

A Unique Inquiry Into How To Develop Good Organisations And Good Leaders

"Leading for good"

Today's world is complex and defies simple answers. In order to progress, we need to reflect and explore, unlearn and rediscover, and engage with our heads, hearts, hands and souls. Together, we need to learn how to become the conscious and caring leaders humanity needs.

In our interview series “Leaders for Humanity” we plan to ask global thought leaders three simple questions: a) What is Good?, b) What is a Good Organisation?, c) How can we become Good, individually and collectively? Our hope is that, over time, these dialogues will help to shape and guide our evolving narrative. And we are extremely proud to present you an exceptional group of thought leaders in our "second Season"!

For each interview you will find pre-readings and transcripts, pointers to further work, and our notes. Hopefully you will enjoy the sessions as much as we do!

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leader for humanity video library

Series 1 and 2 Interviews now available online!

You can engage with us easily by searching for #leadersforhumanity

Please always use the hashtag if you want to connect with us or directly post on the GoodOrganisations page



Good Society and Business 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?
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
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
ED FREEMAN
"We are only as good as the stories we tell."
Philosopher and Professorof 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
DARCIA NARVAEZ
COMING SOON
Professor of Psychology

DARCIA NARVAEZ

The Scienceof Being Good:Can moral psychology teach us lead a good life



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
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
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
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?
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

Leadership and The Art of Practical Wisdom
MIKE O’DONNELL
"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
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 CapitalismLost Happiness:Healing Our Relationships To Heal Our World



Good Organisations and Business Transformation

CAROL SANFORD
"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
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
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!
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
OTTO SCHARMER
COMING SOON
Senior Lecturer, MIT AND Co-founder Presencing Institute

OTTO SCHARMER

Theory U Revisited: Are We Beginning To Rise?



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
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
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

Leadership and The Art of Practical Wisdom
GIANPIERO PETRIGLIERI
COMING SOON
Professor of Organisational Behaviour

GIANPIERO PETRIGLIERI

Humanising Organisations: Towards Aliveness At Work
ALAN WATKINS
"Whilst Democracy's organising principle is popularity, “Crowdocracy” is based on wisdom."
CEO of Complete

ALAN WATKINS

Spiral Dynamics Continued: From Democracy towards Crowdocracy
SCOTT PARSONS
COMING SOON
Major US Army, Retired and Assistant Professor of Philosophy,West Point

SCOTT PARSONS

Military As A Force For Good
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


Additional resources

Our best essays about the interviews

Pluralists of all Countries, Unite!

Once upon a time, around 1989, the righteous cavaliers of capitalism trounced the evil communist forces and freed the beautiful Princess of Liberty! “Mankind had reached perfection, thanks to the invisible hand and relentless greed”. Henceforth, neocapitalism ruled with precious splendour and all people shall be living (read: consuming) as mini capitalists happily ever after… WRRRRRRRRONG!!

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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 via our contact form!