How To Be An Activist Leader

“Our proposition is simple: to be a successful business leader in today’s world you are expected to deliver societal value alongside financial value. Not one at the expense of the other,” share Jon Miller and Lucy Parker, authors of the book, The Activist Leader. “And doing that takes a new mindset: the ability to think like an activist about the role your business plays in the world,” add the authors.

The book focuses on how to think like an activist leader and introduces the reader to some businesses and business leaders who are doing pioneering work in this regard.

As you read the book, you’ll discover more about these types of activist leaders:

The Fixer

The Mobiliser

The Campaigner

The Pathfinder

The Bridge-builder

The authors share “that most people feel powerless when they look at the problems facing the world – but if you’re a leader in a big business, you’re not powerless.”

Thinking like an activist includes:

Deciding what matters – to you, and to your business.
Identifying the high-impact opportunities to change the game.
Stepping out of the corporate mindset to see the issue as others see it.
Realizing the most contentious areas may be your biggest chance for leadership.

Whether you’re a top executive or earlier in your working life, this book shows that thinking like an activist can have a transformative impact – for yourself, for your businesses, and for broader society.

That impact is vitally important when you consider that research shows typical findings, such as:

65 percent of employees want to work for an organization with strong social conscience.
87 percent of employees say that the business they work for should take a public position on societal issues relevant to their business.

John Miller

Lucy Parker

Today, the authors answer:

Question: With so much for today's business leaders to juggle, how best does one convince these leaders to take on the additional duties of becoming an activist leader?

Miller and Parker: Instead of seeing social issues only as potential threats to business, activist leaders seek them out as opportunities to create value."

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me a copy of the book.

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