Why does it matter that our leaders care about us? What might we reasonably expect from a caring leader, and what price are we prepared to pay for it? Is caring leadership something 'soft', or can it be linked to strategy and delivery? International scholars from the fields of ancient and modern philosophy, psychology, organization studies and leadership development offer a strikingly original debate on what it means for leaders to care.

At a time when the challenges of leadership are rarely out of the headlines, this ground-breaking work takes us beyond the demand that leaders should be competent at what they do, and into the moral and emotional politics of their influence on others. Debates include the costs of caring both too much and too little, the connections between care and feelings, how care affects the self, and caring leadership as collective responsibility.

A key resource for scholars and practitioners in leadership and management, cultural studies, sociology and politics, this book offers an exciting, multi-disciplinary perspective on one of the most fascinating topics in contemporary leadership debates.

About the Author
Edited by Leah Tomkins, Independent Scholar, Visiting Professor, University of the West of England, and former Visiting Fellow, University of Oxford, UK

Reviews
'This sparkling collection puts care where it always should have been - at the forefront of leadership studies. Drawing on a wide variety of perspectives it encourages us to think afresh about why leadership really matters and how it should be practised. It is a gem.'
--Dennis Tourish, University of Sussex, UK

'Leadership can be brutally self-assertive - or it can be pastorally tender: this is just one of the many paradoxes teased out and explored by the editor and her top-class team of 22 genuine collaborators, in a beautifully produced and critically sophisticated volume that never wearies and genuinely stimulates and inspires.'
--Paul Cartledge, University of Cambridge, UK

'A very welcome collection examining an often-neglected side of leadership, and one that does so with remarkable intellectual range. It draws not only on psychology and philosophy but also on literature and evolutionary theory; on classical and contemporary traditions; as well as on thinkers as diverse as Keats and Arendt. What readers will appreciate most, though, is the balanced - and sometimes critical - approach many of the essays take.'
--Terry L. Price, University of Richmond, US

Book Information
ISBN 9781788975490
Author Leah Tomkins
Format Hardback
Page Count 256
Imprint Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
Publisher Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd