Leadership - built on values

This article is part of the Contemporary leadership series

At the end of the 1980s I spent an afternoon with the great management thinker Peter Drucker. He recounted stories of encounters with Sigmund Freud when he was a child in Vienna, coming to London to work with the Economist, his first break working with General Motors when he settled in the United States.

He told me of his love of Trollope and of re-reading Jane Austen every year to remind himself what great writing is. And, talking about his books, he observed that there was one big book which everyone in the business world aspires to write: How to Make a Million and Still Go to Heaven.

Stuart Crainer is the former editor of the award-winning magazine Business Strategy Review and co-founder of the Thinkers50. According to Personnel Today he is one of the most influential people in British people management. His book credits include The Management Century and a biography of the management guru Tom Peters. His work with Des Dearlove in business thought leadership led Management Today to describe them as “market makers par excellence.” Stuart is an adjunct professor at IE Business School.