Head & Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership

Kirstin Ferguson herself notes wryly that an Amazon search lists 60,000 books on leadership, then commends the reader for having picked this one.

Ferguson's thesis is encapsulated in her title. In line with what is now orthodox management theory, Ferguson emphasises empathy and emotional intelligence. For her, leadership does not entail giving orders and demanding obedience, ticking boxes or paying lip service to teamwork and others' concerns.

Rather, her leaders draw on the collective leadership of those around them. They remain "humbled by the sheer complexity of the issues they need to resolve". These paragons "understand their limitations and have the strength to be vulnerable". Needless to say, they value feedback from their teams. Neither Hitler not Churchill would have qualified. Nor would Napoleon, Caesar, Ulysses Grant or Alexander Nevsky. Battle-scarred, world-weary know-alls here receive their comeuppance.

Ferguson assures the reader that these are considered judgements, again based on the blend of head and heart in her title. As her first, arresting illustration of her argument, Ferguson focuses on "a mere second within a single battle that lasted seven hours". The anecdote in question surprisingly involves a kiss on a cheek.

Just because there is a gross surfeit of books on leadership does not mean there are no lessons left to learn. The enduring popularity of Harvard's Getting to Yes attests to the enduring value of common sense, clear and coherent approaches to problems. Misguided traditionalists would reach much further back, seeking to unearth advice on management from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations or Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Neither of those authors, though, would have scored well on empathy.

Ferguson shrewdly starts by citing two modern leaders, a disc jockey and a television comedian, as role models for putative leaders. Both Ardern and Zelensky set the bar high, but Ferguson is quick to include an extensive and eclectic selection of other stories and personalities to illustrate her points.

She does not disparage judgement learned through the head, in the form of curiosity, wisdom, perspective and capability. Nonetheless, she treats more affectionately qualities associated with the heart, here defined as humility, self-awareness, courage and empathy.

Management guides run the risk of seeming trite, repetitive or self-evident. Ferguson's clever introduction of divergent points of view and sources of counsel enables her to evade those traps.

Mark Thomas
Canberra Times

Confession time. Despite being a lifetime avid book reader - mostly literary fiction and history, thanks for asking - until  this volume crossed my desk I was a leadership book virgin. 

Imagine my surprise, then, to find that according to Kirstin Ferguson, everyone is a leader, including me. 

On reflection, being editor of an industry magazine is a leadership role of sorts, and Kirstin Ferguson 

I was board chair of the local primary school for a decade, a  role for which I was unwillingly 

shoulder-tapped but gradually came to embrace, with some expert coaching from an outstanding principal and support from fellow board members. 

Ferguson, who has had significant leadership roles in her varied career, here blends her work experiences with her recent academic research into leadership, bringing it into focus with the help of many illuminating anecdotes leaders of all kinds shared with her in interviews. (Some years earlier, her PhD looked at leadership specifically in health & safety.) 

There are quotes from these leaders which will resonate with anyone in a health & safety role, including this from BHP CEO Mike Henry: "When someone is willing to take a position on something and back themselves, then that is the act of a leader." 

The author's thesis is two-fold: that all of us are leaders in some way; and that to be an effective leader you need to know when to lead with the head and when to lead with the heart. 

The book has chapters for the four Head attributes (curiosity, wisdom, perspective, capability) and for the four Heart attributes (humility, self-awareness, courage, empathy.) 

Perhaps the chapters on curiosity, perspective and courage will most resonate with Safeguard readers. There is plenty here for anyone interested in asking better questions and in creating psychological safety to enable them to be honestly answered. 

Ferguson knows of what she speaks, recalling her days in the Australian Defence Force Academy, which she describes as having had the antithesis of a psychologically safe culture. 

Having now succumbed to the allure of this most popular of book categories, I feel no urge to carry on with my wanton ways. I will ignore the siren calls of Simon Sinek, Brene Brown, and Jim Collins. 

This book has challenged, illuminated and expanded my thinking on what makes for outstanding leadership at any level. It'll do me just fine. 

Peter Bateman,
Safeguard