Leadership and Virtues: Understanding and Practicing Good Leadership

Good leadership is something every leader and organization should strive towards. This book serves as a pivotal resource in encouraging the understanding and practice of leadership and highlights how good leadership is anchored in the rich philosophy and science of virtue. Through a diverse range of perspectives, the book highlights the importance of leading with virtue, unpacks what it means to be a virtuous leader, and outlines practical strategies for developing and practicing good leadership.

Taking a virtues perspective, this cohesive collection of chapters by scholars from around the globe offers an inclusive tone and speaks to practicing and aspiring leaders worldwide. Readers are provided with a nuanced account of the nature of virtues and leadership and how the two interact on multiple levels and in multiple ways to inform the practice of good leadership. Focusing on the tradition of virtue gives this collection a robust scholarly foundation, while simultaneously providing scope for diverse views on how and why virtues inform good leadership. The book offers a balance of scholarly and practice-oriented chapters, instilling readers with a deep understanding of virtues and leadership, and practical strategies to develop their practice of good and virtuous leadership. Each chapter offers a different moral and sociological insight, serving altogether to show readers the most effective ways to use virtues to promote shared well-being and collective success.

Scholars, students of leadership and management, and leadership practitioners will benefit from the accessible and practical lessons this book has to offer. This volume will also be of interest to team leaders and managers who are keen to develop their leadership skills in both practice and theory.

Toby P. Newstead, Ph.D., is a leadership scholar at the University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia.

Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D., is the Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology at Claremont McKenna College, California, USA.