New Business Book Summary Available for The New Alpha

In The New Alpha, Danielle Harlan makes a case for New Alpha leadership, a movement in which professionals work toward becoming the best versions of themselves in order to develop the skills to effectively lead others. Unlike traditional leaders, New Alphas aim to make a meaningful impact on the world by focusing on the three core values of personal excellence, personal leadership, and organizational leadership. A step-by-step development program, The New Alpha provides professionals with the tools and techniques to optimize their human potential while simultaneously improving their capacity to become exceptional leaders.

New Business Book Summary Available for Return on Character

In Return on Character, Fred Kiel provides evidence that the character of leaders has a direct impact on the success of their organizations. Between 2006 and 2013, Kiel oversaw a survey of over 120 CEOs and their employees and examined the affect that their behaviors had on the financial results of their organizations. The surprising finding was that the most principled CEOs, the Virtuoso CEOs, achieved almost five times the return on assets of Self-Focused CEOs, or those with the lowest character habits.

The Principles of Ethical Intelligence

There are five simple principles of ethical intelligence that all leaders must follow:

1. Do No Harm. This is inspired by the classic oath taken by doctors and other healthcare professionals. While there are some situations in which doing harm is unavoidable, individuals are obligated to reduce the amount of harm that is done to a person or a company.

2. Make Things Better. This is tied to the belief that improving one’s own life is the key to improving the lives of others. The message of this principle ties with something that frequent air travelers are quite familiar with: the idea of securing one’s own oxygen mask first during cabin decompression. With their own mask secured, people can better assist others who may be struggling.

3. Respect Others. In addition to respecting legal rights, leaders must also be respectful of people by following the golden rule: “Treat others as you wish to be treated.” Telling others the truth, and keeping their confidential information a secret, is the path to true respect.

4. Be Fair. Being Fair means giving others what is due to them. This can be broken down into three main prongs: rectifying injustice, disciplining people proportionally, and spreading scarce resources around in an equitable way.

5. Be Loving. This can also be thought of as being compassionate toward others. This fifth and final principle can be compared to a can of WD-40 lubricant. While not absolutely necessary, the idea of compassion “makes things flow better.” In some ways, Being Loving is the most important of the five principles. While it may not be necessary in the business world, compassion toward others can help people more fully embrace the other four principles of ethical intelligence. Being Loving is more of an ideal than an ethical requirement, but it is an ideal that Weinstein believes leaders must aspire to.


This article is based on the book "Ethical Intelligence" by Bruce Weinstein, PhD. The book summary is available online at Business Book Summaries.