Alison Taylor: Taking the Higher Ground

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.

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?

The best bits of these conversations are captured in my newsletter Strategic Leader.

More about Alison

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.

• Alison’s profile
• Alison’s book Higher Ground