Good Dividends

<p>This book seeks to answer the question of ‘leadership for what?’. We shall outline an answer by focusing on responsible leadership of purpose through an inter-disciplinary perspective. Responsible leadership moves the axis of leadership from leader-followers to leader-stakeholders; away from looking at leadership as person-centric – the qualities abilities and effectiveness of the leader to a focus on the purposes responsibilities and activities of leadership. Leadership orientation is about realising value for a range of constituencies not just the shareholders of the business. In this way this book offers up an alternative business model to that of dominant neo-liberal approaches to capitalism and its flow-on effect to the leadership project. This is a model that draws on a most obvious assumption – if leaders maximise the use of all the capitals of their business they will maximise their dividends and thus deliver their responsibility to the shareholders as well as other relevant stakeholders. </p><p>This book explores how five dividends (based on five capitals) can be developed through attention to a sixth dividend (and sixth capital) – the dividend from our planet and communities. The planetary dividend is the flourishing of humanity – but it is also a significant dividend to the business. For example by engaging the business in a purpose-led orientation to enhance the planetary dividend the dividend from human resourcefulness becomes manifest – employee sense of purpose commitment passion and energy. The realisation of such can also connect with dividends from innovation operations and brands. For example the business benefits from a purpose-driven brand. </p><p>In short responsible leadership of purpose outlines a case for leadership to focus on a connected portfolio of ‘good’ dividends as an answer to the question ‘leadership for what?’ The book is written by academics and organisational leaders. It draws on a range of research with leaders from a variety of contexts to illustrate the challenges but also the benefits of this argument. It is an ambitious book: ambitious in terms of moving leadership towards realising purpose; ambitious by seeking to align a range of business disciplines around responsible leadership; and ambitious because it challenges the dominant assumptions that shape business leadership. However it is based on a simple question: why would a business not wish to generate good dividends for all its stakeholders?</p>