Responsibility as a leader is the ability to respond quickly to a complex and changing business environment. It means using values to make decisions that not only affect brand trust and corporate reputation, but impact upon employees and the wider community. In today's increasingly interconnected world, it is more important than ever that managers can achieve goals and desired results while still maintaining a degree of authenticity, ethics and stewardship. The Responsible Leader identifies what it means to be an authentic leader, taking in intra-organizational relationships, role modelling and ethical practice. Addressing the practical challenge of implementing a framework of corporate social responsibility in an organization that may embrace thousands of people, The Responsible Leader sets out what this strategy looks like in practice and advises on creating a new and hopeful narrative for the future. Drawing on in-depth case studies from HSBC, PwC, Oasis and Marks and Spencers that chart the journey to responsible and sustainable management in challenging environments, it presents a fresh vision for leadership success that goes beyond simple compliance.

Tim Richardson is Director of leadership development consulting firms Waverly Learning Ltd. and It's Original Ltd. His clients include HSBC, BBC, Lloyds TSB, Barclays and Unilever. He was previously the Head of Leadership Development and Talent Management at PwC, where he created the firm's Emerging Leaders Program and developed a global talent management strategy.

The Responsible Leader includes a foreword from Professor Charles Handy, previously of the London Business School, author of the bestselling The Age of Unreason (Harvard Business Review Press) and named among the Thinkers 50, a private list of the most influential living management thinkers, just behind Peter Drucker.

List of figures
Foreword
Introduction

01 How did we end up here?
Forming our mental models of leadership
Leadership through the ages
The role of charisma
Situational leadership
Further interpretations
Changes in sources of power: a 21st-century revolution
Information overload
Multiple stakeholders demanding to be heard
Distinct generations all alive at once
Employees' voice and the change in the employment contract
The globalization revolution
Relationships and structures: when hierarchy prevents action
Drowning under regulation
A final point: to consume or steward?
Summary

Part One A fresh response: outlining the case for responsible leadership

02 What distinguishes responsible leaders?
Internal assuredness and attractiveness
Clarity about identity
Clarity about personal values
Moral compass
Adaptability and learning orientation
Comfortable with ambiguity and not knowing
Listening and learning
Open, confident yet humble
Thinking and operating relationally
Moving from transactional to relational
Moving from competition to co-creation
Moving from self to other
Purpose and focus
Case study: Rev Steve Chalke MBE and Oasis
Summary

03 What it means to be a responsible leader in practice
Case study: HSBC Mexico
At the core
Core identity
Life vision, legacy and purpose
Talent and capability
The organizational dimension
Brand promise
Customer relationships
People practices
Product integrity
Leadership and culture
The wider global and local connection
Discovering the model
Planet
Economy
Community
Summary

04 Living with paradox as a responsible leader
Listening to hear through the noise - cultivate serenity
Brain fatigue
The illusion of busyness
Focus to create serenity
Looking for and seeing beyond while dealing with the immediate
Scan widely; challenge assumptions
Ripples
Redefining success
Success in the future: the dilemma of agility
Case study: M&S - towards becoming the world's most sustainable retailer
Summary

Part Two The organizational response

05 Developing responsible leaders
Case study: PwC
Enhanced learning cycle
Getting the balance between cognitive and emotional learning right
Notice
Think
Explore
Act
Reflect
Beyond the 'so what' test
The habit of learning
Creating impactful and lasting development opportunities
Contracting
Orientation
Immersion
Re-entry
Ongoing dialogue and support
Summary

06 Evolving a culture of responsible leadership
Responsibility from commitment not compliance: it starts with our view of the world
Track 1: zero-sum game
Track 2: mutual growth
Impacting culture intentionally
One decision and one conversation at a time
Distributed leadership
Working with the 'cool kids'
The narrative is all-important
Summary

07 Potential pitfalls and myths
Just saying the words does not equal progress or change
Getting beneath the surface
Avoiding over-communication
Properly aligning reward, recognition and performance management to responsibility
Restructuring alone will not yield results
When growing - consider carefully the drive to add more roles and departments
Restructuring to create the illusion of progress
Don't just promote the usual suspects
Measurement alone will not change behaviour
Where measurement apparently conflicts with passion
Summary

Part Three A visionary narrative

08 Our moments of truth
A new way of being - stepping forward for the greater good
How can we help ourselves cultivate this different way of being?
The rise of social enterprise
Learning from and becoming alchemists
Organizations and places to look for responsible leadership at work
Conclusion
References
Index