Dignity First Leadership

Dignity First Leadership articulates a new approach to executive, enterprise and economic leadership that centers the emerging scientific understanding of human beings' evolved need and capacity for constructive social meaning, or dignity, and provides a six-phase change management system to develop and drive a related world-class enterprise sustainability strategy.

Dignity First Leadership: Developing & Driving a World-Class Sustainability Strategy develops and advocates for a "Dignity First" approach to leadership, particularly in addressing the urgent challenge of human-caused climate breakdown. By centering human dignity - defined as the need and capacity for constructive social meaning - in our thinking, speaking, and actions, we can more effectively tackle the climate crisis at the executive, enterprise, and economic levels. This paradigm shift moves away from viewing businesses and economies as machines to be optimized for efficiency, and instead recognizes them as human systems that should prioritize the well-being and dignity of all stakeholders. The book provides a framework for sustainability leaders to implement this through a six-phase change management approach, while emphasizing the importance of aligning with UN agreements on climate action.

Dignity First Leadership: Developing & Driving a World-Class Sustainability Initiative is not just a book about sustainability, leadership, or strategy in the traditional sense. It is a readable but audacious rethinking of the nature and possibilities of leadership at every level. As human-caused climate and environmental breakdown accelerates, it reaches beyond epistemology into ontology. It challenges us to not only ask how we lead, but who we believe we and our stakeholders-our customers, our talent, our suppliers-truly are.

And the answer is: more fully human than we have been pretending, especially in business.