Lancefield on the Line

Alison Taylor: Taking the Higher Ground

David Lancefield

Is your company a responsible business?

Taking the higher ground in business is integral to doing work ethically and with integrity.

This is a necessity if you look at the systemic challenges we're facing, whether it's climate change, social inequality, or fragile geopolitics.

My guest in this episode, Alison Taylor, shares her wisdom and recommendations on how to tackle this. We talk about how to take a longer view even when faced with urgent, difficult, and immediate pressures. She outlines what she would look for in the mindset and practices of a CEO and Boards looking to take the higher ground, and she calls out some of the biggest myths and misconceptions in the world of business that often create unrealistic expectations for leaders. 

“We need CEOs to step up and solve societal problems, because no one else is going to solve them” – Alison Taylor

You'll hear about:

  • Alison’s view on ethics and integrity
  • Blending systemic and short term pressures
  • Looking at your personal behaviours
  • Regulators creating better business plans
  • Changing board behaviour
  • Overcoming an organisation’s inertia to change
  • The biggest myths Alison hears
  • What does Alison’s best day look like?

About Alison Taylor:

Alison is a Clinical Professor at NYU Stern School of Business, where she teaches professional responsibility, sustainability, and leadership classes. She is also an Executive Director of Ethical Systems, a collaboration between leading academics working on behavioural science, systems thinking and organisational psychology. She’s also a senior advisor at BSR, Zai Lab, KKR, and Pictet Group, a board director at Preventable Surprises, and a member of the advisory board of Venture ESG.

Her resources:

•Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/followalisont/

•Book ‘Higher Ground’: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Higher-Ground-Business-Right-Turbulent/dp/1647823439 


My resources:

Sign up to one of my courses (https://bit.ly/3QHvlYm).

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Subscribe to my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k) where you can watch the conversation.

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