How business could learn from peacemakers and pilots

The next generation of business leaders may learn more from peace negotiators and fighter pilots than from a traditional MBA textbook, according to senior figures in sustainable business and leadership.

That was a key insight from the latest episode of Reading Ahead, the eight-part University of Reading podcast series marking the institution’s centenary, hosted by University Chancellor Paul Lindley.

Amy Clarke, co-chair of B Lab UK and founder of Tribe Impact Capital, and Jon Foster-Pedley, dean of Henley Business School Africa, argued that some of the best lessons for business come from entirely different walks of life.

Clarke drew on the Northern Ireland peace process to make the case for pluralism, the ability to work constructively with people who hold fundamentally different values, as a skill business leaders urgently need. 

Recounting advice from Lord John Alderdice, who helped broker the peace deal, she said: “The one thing that you can’t do is humiliate people. The day you humiliate people is the day that you lose them. 

“You have to be able to sit down with people whose views are radically different to yours, and you have to be able to break bread with them.”

Clarke said leaders are rarely taught how to navigate genuine disagreement without alienating people, a skill she argued is increasingly urgent as businesses manage the pressures of the transition to net zero.

One important aspect of that transition, the podcast guests argued, is embedding purpose and value into the business model. Foster-Pedley related a programme at Henley Business School in which executives are placed in NGOs. He told the story of James, a participant in the programme, who reconnected with his community through the placement.

“He's seeing the human in everything.” Jon said of James’ experience.  “And he's been trapped forever now. Because he can never do business without thinking about that person, and those people he saw.”

The instinct to look outward is key to creating an environmentally sustainable economy, the group said. 

Watch/hear full episode: Get the full insights from Reading Ahead episode three, available now on all major podcast platforms, including  Spotify and YouTube.