Episode 124

Gianpiero Petriglieri: Why the best leaders put relationships first

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What does love have to do with leadership? More than most leaders dare to admit.

My guest is Gianpiero Petriglieri, a professor at INSEAD and one of the most original and provocative voices on leadership today. We explore his idea of leadership as a kind of love, not sentimental or naive, but deeply relational. He makes a compelling distinction between performance and outcome, arguing that what you can control is not the result but the daily choices and gestures you make.

We go into the practical, too. Gianpiero shares why curiosity and generosity shift everything, and why what really develops leaders is relationships with people who tell you the truth. If you lead a team or organisation, this conversation will invite you to look differently at the small moments of time, attention and care that make leadership real, credible and human.

You’ll hear about:

Leadership reframed as a kind of love
Instrumental versus humanistic relationships
Curiosity and generosity as leadership habits
Feeling safe and free at the same time
Why passion without devotion disappoints
Balancing reality and imagination
People, not programmes, develop leaders
Advice for leaders in a new role
Culture lives in the spreadsheet
Investment as leadership credibility
Quick-fire round on presence and connection
Gianpiero’s best daily habits

More about Gianpiero

Gianpiero Petriglieri is Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD and an expert on leadership and learning in the workplace. His award-winning research and teaching focus on what it means, and what it takes, to become a leader. He is particularly interested in the meaning and practice of leadership in the age of ‘nomadic professionalism’, an age in which people have deep bonds to work but loose affiliations to organisations, and authenticity and mobility have replaced loyalty and advancement as hallmarks of virtue and success.

A medical doctor and psychiatrist by training, Gianpiero has worked as an executive coach, practiced as a psychotherapist, and served on the staff of group relations conferences in Europe and the United States.

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“Leadership is a relationship, not a toolkit.”

Gianpiero Petriglieri — Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour, INSEAD

VIEW RUNNING ORDER

00.00	Leadership reframed as love.
03.01	What good love looks like.
04.54	Instrumental vs humanistic leadership.
08.28	Where to start if too transactional.
10.20	Curiosity, generosity, safe and free.
12.43	Why care is one of the hardest skills.
16.56	When passion without devotion disappoints.
18.49	Balancing reality and imagination.
21.30	Why friends develop leaders best.
26.47	What friends see that others miss.
28.08	Purpose, practice and people.
31.17	Culture lives in the spreadsheet.
35.34	Quick-fire: presence, action, connection.
40.05	Habits behind Gianpiero’s best days.