Kindness in Leadership

Since the 2008 global economic crash there have been calls for a more authentic and responsible form of leadership in business and society. Private and public organizations have been scrutinised and leaders have struggled to articulate and contextualise their leadership and management approaches against charges of greed, selfishness and lack of community responsibility.

This is the first academic book to explicitly bring together kindness and leadership, and consider them in different societal and organisational settings within a global context. It opens with a definition of kindness and its contours and underpinnings, including empathy, compassion, grace and emotional intelligence. Drawing on the literature on kindness in leadership, including research on organizational compassion and neuroscience, it then explores the importance of kindness within different organisations, parts of the world, economic strata, age groups and genders. In order to support learning, each chapter offers supplementary materials such as discussion questions, exercises and self-assessment questionnaires.

This will be a thought-provoking read for students of leadership, management and business ethics; and will also be valuable to professionals looking to develop their own kind and compassionate leadership style.