Glue

Winner of the 2024 Business Book Awards (Leadership category)

The adoption of remote, hybrid and flexible working is the new normal. But like the old normal, no one seems very happy. The solution requires a different type of leadership – one that unites, transforms and elevates performance. Leadership that creates glue.

With employee engagement, productivity and personal ties on the wane, leaders urgently need to refocus on harnessing relationships, making their organisations more humane, and finding new ways to engage and unleash talent. To do that, the single, most impactful thing leaders can do is to create and nurture an intangible, yet essential, factor called glue.

So, this book sets out some ideas about glue: where to look for it, how to use it and, most importantly, how to cultivate glue amongst your most valuable people. It explores the approach of some unusual leaders, and of firms transformed through the ‘organisational advantage’ of smartly configuring and harnessing talent. Using stories from firms such as Alibaba, Apple, Barclays, Sky, Husqvarna Group, HSBC, Space X, Zopa and Richer Sounds, the book shows how leaders can shape the effectiveness of teams, reimagine the workplace, and reinvigorate their business through the talents, ideas and energy of their firm’s best people.

This book is for anyone who has a genuine interest in leading others with impact and wants to better unite, transform and elevate their business. Whatever your role, sector or seniority, this book sets out a distinctive vision for the firm and shows the profound impact you can make through creating and nurturing glue.