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Rewriting Your Leadership Code
A must-read for all leaders who want to make a difference to the quality of their leadership in times of change. Brilliantly researched, excitingly written, it is an exploration to the core of leadership.
Masterfully unveils the profound link between our pasts and our leadership, presenting a clear roadmap connecting childhood events to impactful leadership. A game-changer in self-discovery and leadership evolution.
Life as a leader is busy and intense, and it is easy to forget our past. But our past does not forget us. This book explains how it impacts our behaviour and decision-making as leaders and, by extension, the results of the whole organisation.
Where do your leadership instincts come from and how can you improve them?
Stretched by heavy workloads and facing ever more complex environments, leaders increasingly find themselves running on automatic and relying on their instincts. But depending on instincts is a bit like gambling, and as a result, stress levels, mistakes and failure rates are all on the up.
In this ground-breaking book, leadership experts Nik Kinley and Shlomo Ben-Hur reveal how our instincts are the products of childhood experience – lessons learnt that have become written into the structure of our brains. Like the source code at the centre of a computer, they underpin almost every aspect of our functioning as leaders. They affect how we interpret and experience things, how we react to events, the environments we choose, the impact we have on people, and even the responses we trigger in others.
Often these instincts and tendencies are hidden beneath professional poise. But under pressure, when we are deprived of time, they come to the fore. This is why leading under pressure can bring out the best and the worst in us. And it is why – ultimately – leadership is a test of the character of our instinctual code.
Based on decades of research, this book shows how we get to be the leaders we are today. It explains the tendencies and inclinations that past experiences can leave us with and the hidden ways in which they can affect who we are as leaders and how we behave. And crucially, it shows how we can make better use of our instincts and even improve them to become better leaders.
Out Now!
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Director and Head of Talent Strategy for the global Talent Management consultancy YSC
Nik Kinley is a Director and Head of Talent Strategy for the global Talent Management consultancy YSC. Prior to YSC Nik was the Global Head of Assessment for the BP Group, and prior to that, Head of Learning for Barclays GRBF. He has specialized in the fields of assessment and behavior change for nearly twenty five years, and in this time has worked with CEOs, factory-floor workers, life-sentence prisoners, government officials and children.
This study offers novel insights into how team structure and flexibility affect pivoting. It details how founding team coordination practices shape individual and collective sensemaking of feedback and efforts to improve a venture idea. Following ...
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Great leaders prioritize rest and recovery by fostering strong team relationships and respecting out-of-work boundaries, ensuring employees can recharge and thrive.
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Business traditionally emphasizes the consequences of downsizing on the leavers, but what happens to those who stay? In the aftermath of corporate restructures, 'survivors’ find themselves navigating a complex mix of emotions and uncertainty. Alys...
The board of Nestlé S.A. announced that Anna Mohl would become the CEO of Nestlé Health Science (NHSc) — a global leader in nutritional science — on 1 January 2024. She was delighted to hear about her new position but knew there was little time to...
The case describes two transformation journeys for ABN AMRO bank. The first transformation is cultural and the second is digital. It explores the interplay between these two journeys from the perspective of the head of the Personal Banking. The ca...
The B case picks up at the end of Case A. It’s now autumn 2022. Klaas Ariaans and Eric Jones, leaders within ABN AMRO’s Personal and Business Banking Division had been reflecting on the success of self-organization in their divisions. This new wor...
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Chanel Global CFO and IMD Executive in Residence Philippe Blondiaux explains how finance leaders can sustain a long-term focus on sustainability while addressing short-term challenges.
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An increasingly complex business environment demands CHROs to be outward-looking, future-focused, and highly collaborative. Check your readiness using this three-point questionnaire and refer to the tips for guidance if in doubt.
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Understanding generational differences is crucial to unlocking potential, retaining talent, and becoming a more effective leader.
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Large behavior models (LBMs) promise to be even more impactful than large language models, says IMD’s Tomoko Yokoi.
in Journal of Business Venturing March 2025, vol. 40, no. 2, 106472, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2024.106472
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in I by IMD
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Case reference: IMD-7-2636 ©2025
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
The B case picks up at the end of Case A. It’s now autumn 2022. Klaas Ariaans and Eric Jones, leaders within ABN AMRO’s Personal and Business Banking Division had been reflecting on the success of self-organization in their divisions. This new wor...
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
The case describes two transformation journeys for ABN AMRO bank. The first transformation is cultural and the second is digital. It explores the interplay between these two journeys from the perspective of the head of the Personal Banking. The ca...
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in I by IMD Brain Circuits 20 February 2025
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in I by IMD 19 February 2025
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications