Book release – Dare to Un-Lead: The Art of Relational Leadership in a Fragmented World
By Celine Schillinger, Figure 1 Publishing (2022)
Sweeping and intelligent, this book is an extraordinary contribution, deeply researched and penetratingly insightful. Céline Schillinger puts broad societal trends into historical perspective to explain the present moment. She explains what’s at stake for the world and why it’s urgent that we act now.
Amy Edmondson, Professor, Harvard Business School and best-selling author of The Fearless Organization and Teaming
What got us here will not get us there. The context in which we now live, trade, and work in the 21st century has little in common with that of Frederick Taylor or Henry Ford. What is revered as leadership today is often nothing more than a destructive set of obsolete behaviors that harm individuals and societies, and that must be reinvented.
Dare to Un-Lead explores the opportunities we have to collectively transform leadership from a top-down hierarchical hegemony to one that is based on empowering people to lead together through the concepts of liberty, equality and community.
Change agent Celine Schillinger combines her personal experience in working with others to enact digital-enabled, people-focused collective work practices with a deep analysis of leadership—studied through multiple lenses and timely sources of knowledge—to provide readers with original insights into why these practices work.
The result is a series of evidence-based pathways for reinventing collective performance across organizations in a post-pandemic world.
From large corporations to small businesses, the lessons learned in this landmark book, implemented individually and collectively over time, will make our workplaces more equal, our jobs more gratifying, and our economies more profitable. And that will make the world a better place.
Book reviews: Multiple reviews of Dare to Un-Lead are available along with videos and podcasts.
Celine’s dialogue with Edwin Morris on ‘Creating organizational capacities: networks, leadership, and community’ was recently published on RealKM as part of the Because You Know to Know series from Pioneer Knowledge Services. This conversation inspired a guest post by Andrew Trickett.
About the Author: Celine Schillinger is an award-winning entrepreneur, change agent, and consultant. She has over 30 years of field experience, working with both small and global organizations across several continents. A solid track record on transformation informs Celine’s vision of change, engagement, and leadership.
A blogger since 2013 and an acclaimed public speaker, she was knighted in 2017 in her native France for her workplace change efforts. In 2022, Celine was awarded the Jay Cross Memorial Award by the Internet Time Alliance for her contribution to workplace learning.
She can be found mostly on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram. and her WeNeedSocial.com blog.
Endorsements:
“I was designing a leadership program for Walmart. Céline Schillinger opened my eyes. I now see leadership as unleashing the power and potential of millions of people.”
––James Cameron CBE, Vice President of Global Leadership Development at Walmart
“With Dare to Un-Lead, Céline Schillinger masterfully captures the essence of the leadership revolution to come in a post-knowledge, post-disruption economy.”
––Brice Challamel, Vice-President, Technology, Innovation & Transformation at Moderna
“Compelling and inspirational, Céline Schillinger’s ideas on leadership show us that stepping back with humility so that our teams can freely ideate and innovate is the way to thrive in our rapidly emerging new world.”
––David Ford, Chief Human Resources Officer at Intercept Pharmaceuticals
“Céline Schillinger has written an insightful and timely synthesis of people-centered change principles, enabled by technology, powered by “Un-Leadership”. Impactful.”
––Rick Western, CEO, Kotter
“It takes courage to Un-Lead, but it is totally worth it. The paths identified by Céline Schillinger are not just attractive ideas, they dramatically increase people’s engagement at work and the velocity of change in our organizations. A highly valuable read.”
––Dorothea von Boxberg, CEO, Lufthansa Cargo
“Brave and of breathtakingly vast scope, the emancipatory ideas offered in Dare to Un-Lead deserve to be read by all.”
––Stowe Boyd, Managing Director & Founder, Work Futures
“It was when I started to Un-Lead that my team became motivated, engaged, and delivered beyond expectations. We can waste time pleasing the top management, or we can learn about authentic leadership instead: Celine Schillinger offers brilliant pathways in that regard. Realize the future of leadership now, from this smart and passionate book!”
––Zsuzsanna Devecseri, Vice President, Head of Global Oncology Medical Affairs at Sanofi Genzyme
“Dare to Un-Lead is an opus on the origins and possible solutions for the world’s current issues through the lens of leadership. Bringing together wisdom from an amazing array of writers, Céline Schillinger crafts a clear message that without inclusivity, respect and dignity, we will not succeed.”
––Anita Burrell, Chair, Global Committee Council at Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association
“Céline Schillinger takes aim at the flaws of traditional management and does not miss. With a depth of hard-won experience in creating change internationally, she reveals how to bring forth change, agency, and engagement by combining the power of networks and community with new models of leadership to foster liberty, equality and fraternity at work.”
––Simon Terry, Chief Growth Officer, InLoop, & Change Agent at Change Agents Worldwide
“Traditional leadership theory promotes a set of restrictive and hierarchical rules. Through a sharp analysis of world events and a generous dose of personal stories, Céline Schillinger demonstrates how this structure is not only outdated and self-serving, but it is ultimately dangerous and self-destructing. Dare to Un-Lead is an invitation to ‘rock the boat’ without capsizing it. It is also a call to aspiring leaders. The time has come to take on the role of steward of change by creating a safe room for fraternity, community and agency.”
––Eliana Castillo, Head of Finance, M&A, Integration, Transformation at Twilio Inc.
“Celine Schillinger drove a successful movement for safer vaccines, leveraging 4,000 volunteers, inside of pharmaceutical giant Sanofi. How’d she do it? Through informal power, through relationships, by daring to un-lead. Read, reflect and learn.”
––Whitney Johnson, Top #10 Management Thinkers, Thinkers50, LinkedIn Top Voice 2020, bestselling author, Disrupt Yourself
