New Important Book Explores the Role of Ego in Leadership

Ego Flip, written by James Woodcock, a Partner at Korn Ferry, is an important publication as it explores the crucial role that ego plays within leaders, their performance and that of their company or organisation. 

It examines the assumptions that have shaped the conventional view of leadership and offers a radical new paradigm and way to lead.

Knowing who you are is the most important question of leadership. Woodcock argues that leaders will never understand the world and their role within it until they understand where they are looking from. 

Such a leader will inevitably not lead but be led. In Ego Flip, the author presents his seven questions of leadership to help leaders better understand themselves and their egoic states. The book then explores seven ‘elucidations of leadership’ or tools to help the reader transform their life as a leader.

James Woodcock says: “From our organisations to our ecosystems, we are entering a new and profound era of change. The technologies we have asserted through our belief in progress, are ironically and inevitably accelerating us towards a future that is both unknowable and unsustainable. 

"None of this is the story we thought we were writing. And yet, as authors of our world, every choice we make is an invitation to lead. I wanted to write a book for leaders everywhere, to uncover what leadership really is. One that offers a radical new understanding, that addresses the perennial question of leadership, of the world within our world: the question of who you are.”

Through a new leadership manifesto (a set of eight conscious imperatives that offer a new vision for transcending the ego), the author provides a new pathway for leaders to reimagine what great leadership really means, to lead beyond the ego.

L. David Marquet, author of Turn the Ship Around and Leadership is Language, says: “Ego Flip earns my highest praise. It got me thinking. In this cerebral work Woodcock cracks a door open where we can begin to understand how our own sense of ’us’ may not be what we think it is.”

James Woodcock is a Partner in Korn Ferry’s Leadership and Professional Development Practice. Prior to that, he was a Managing Consultant at PA Consulting and a Senior Manager at Deloitte. For the past 20 years, James has worked across the globe helping leaders fulfil their potential.

Ego Flip is published on 14 March 2024 by LID Publishing, available as a paperback and e-book.

For more information about LID Publishing, please visit www.lidpublishing.com