Leading Beyond the Ego

"Finally a book explaining in a rational, scientific and systematic way that Leadership is not about what you know and do, but about who you are and how you act. I truly recommend this book to every Leader who genuinely strives to unleash the power of authentic leadership and who is courageous enough to start this exiting journey by looking at themselves. When reading the book, everything seems so obvious, but then again, this always tends to be the case with masterpieces."

– Sandro Giuliani, Managing Director of the Jacobs Foundation, Switzerland

"This book is packed with new thinking and yet resonates easily as if I had always known it! Since the values and ethics spotlight on the City of London after 2008, we have been looking to identify behaviours, which when championed by motivated and engaged leaders, could change culture and make capitalism more inclusive. My focus has been on capturing the benefits of diversity where leaders have expressed frustration at the slow progress. The essences and steps to Transpersonal Leadership in this book link leadership for the ‘greater good’ to enabling others to do the right thing, increasing performance, productivity and profitability. It is key to unleashing the power of diversity and rising to many of the challenges that society faces."

– Dame Fiona Woolf DBE, DL, Lord Mayor of London 2013-14; Partner at CMS Cameron McKenna, UK

"It’s not hard to see, in business and society, how the old model of an ego driven, charismatic leader has failed. I recommend this book as required reading for anyone who wants to develop as a leader – and who wants to make a positive difference to the world."

– Natalie Ceeney CBE, former CEO of the Financial Ombudsman Service, National Archives and HM Courts & Tribunals Service, UK

"People who talk and write about leadership fall into two groups. Firstly, there are people who are good at doing it and often they are inarticulate, shrugging their shoulders and just saying well ‘we just did it this way’ and usually, they are impatient to analyse why they did it in a particular way because they are keen to get on to the next leadership challenge. At the other end of the spectrum, there are people who write, at length. The LeaderShape team has an enviable reputation at both ends of this spectrum, with deep understanding of the theory, their own particular variant of the theory of leadership, but also very many examples where they have helped individuals and organisations put the theory into practice. This book is an excellent introduction to the highly complex and often confusing field of leadership."

– Professor Sir Muir Gray, Director of Better Value Healthcare; Chief Knowledge Officer of the NHS; Professor of Knowledge Management, Oxford University, UK

"Leadership in the modern age is more challenging than ever before, with more uncertainty, change and disruption across many dimensions. The idea of transpersonal leadership with its heart in the notions of humility, learning, and caring is ultimately a very human centred model of leadership and has never had more relevance in helping leaders get the best out of themselves, their people and their organisations. John Knights and his team at LeaderShape have been a positive force for change, and this book provides a fantastic guide for leaders at all levels to improve themselves and their leadership focus."

– Peter Cheese, CEO at Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD), UK

"This book articulates leadership in all its fascinating and rich dimensions in the most relevant, holistic, integrated and practical way that I have come across. John Knights and the LeaderShape team must be congratulated and thanked for an excellent and very valuable piece of work. Leading beyond the ego as presented and explained in the book, brings with it the fundamental focus on relationships as the field of leadership. The book presents a timely emphasis on the 'how' of becoming a more values-based leader. Lastly, science, philosophy and practical 21st Century experience is very well balanced in the argument for transpersonal leadership."

– Dr Gerhard van Rensburg, Chairman of Future Leaders Development; Director of Future Leaders Africa, South Africa

"Scholars, students, or practitioners of leadership will benefit from this impressive book that traverses multiple disciplines and challenges us to design values-driven pathways for leading ourselves, before leading others. An important contribution to the HOW of leadership, this book ‘connects the dots’ from multiple perspectives including neuroscience, servant leadership, experiential learning, and action learning. As a leadership educator for over 35 years I was challenged to reflect deeper and analyze more about my own leadership journey and effective ways to contribute to the greater whole. Through new and existing concepts and case studies, this is a fine blueprint for sustainable leadership practices."

– Dr Ronald J. Kovach, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Virginia International University and Past President of the National Society for Experiential Education, USA

"A great read. Leading Beyond the Ego is an excellent book about transpersonal leadership – a much needed concept in this day and age. The way transpersonal leadership has been defined in the book, as the overlap between Rational Intelligence (RI), Emotional Intelligence (EI), and Spiritual Intelligence (SI), is particularly valuable. The authors not only explain what it means to be a transpersonal leader, but also describe how to become one. A must read for every aspiring leader, who is looking to create an emotionally-bonded, ethical, high-performing and sustainable organization."

– Warren Harris, CEO at Tata Technologies, USA & India

"While the entire journey covered in the book is impressive, I found the use of a combination of intuition, instinct, insight and ethical philosophy to support rational logic particularly interesting and immensely powerful for improving judgment and decision making. The case studies are very insightful and support the concepts effectively. The concepts are straight forward to learn and can be easily put into practice. Constant practice will undoubtedly yield the desired results. Leading Beyond the Ego is a manual for creating sustained leadership in the challenging environment of rapid change."

– Vishnu R Dusad, MD, CEO at Nucleus Software, India

"Although you may or may not agree with all of the many conceptual models and conclusions in this densely packed short volume that links emotional intelligence and neuroscience with practical approaches to leadership from a transpersonal vantage, it is sure to be thought provoking."

– Professor Harris Friedman, PhD, Research Professor of Psychology, University of Florida; Editor of the International Journal of Transpersonal Leadership

"Leading Beyond the Ego's three co-authors offer a variety of approaches to advancing good leadership, from learning how intellectual, especially brain physiology, emotional and spiritual intelligence can be combined and raised to create what they call "transpersonal leadership." We know that the personality and ethics of the leader determines the personality and ethics of the organization, and the book shows with powerful examples and quick questions how companies can alter their leadership style to reach different objective."

– Blue Heron Journal