10/01/2026
New Book Alert...!
As with my first book, Social Sensemaking, with some support, I'll be self-publishing my second, We Don't Need Another Hero - why real leadership begins with "we", rather than "me".... (coming soon....).
As part of this process, I'm keen to hear feedback to ensure quality and to include diverse views.
So I am seeking connections who would be interested in reading the manuscript and offering feedback, a critique, and challenging the ideas included. Perhaps even write the Forward? Or you may simply want to comment below to provide feedback.
I've included the first (draft) Chapter below to give an idea of what's to come.
If you'd be interested in reading the full manuscript or even part of it and provide feedback, I'd love to hear from you. Just drop me a line here, and I'll send it to you.
About the Book
“If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.”
Ken Robinson (2009)
The book is both a reflection and an invitation.
It reflects lessons, insights, and observations that emerge when we view leadership as a practice of connection that recognises people as ‘beings’, rather than as ‘objects’ to be managed.
And it invites readers to reflect on their own leadership experiences.
Sharing ideas with the world is always an act of vulnerability.
Yet as Ken Robinson reminds us in the quote above, originality means a willingness to be wrong. If we are not prepared to risk missteps, criticism, or the discomfort of having our assumptions challenged, then we remain safely within the boundaries of the familiar.
This book deliberately steps beyond those boundaries.
It is written in the spirit of exploration rather than certainty, offered with the understanding that genuine insight emerges not from heroically defending our ideas, but from opening them to dialogue, critique, with the possibility of being reshaped.
There is no expectation that readers will agree with what I propose; in fact, the purpose of writing this book is to prompt debate and discussion, thereby fostering learning through shared questions and curiosity ('Social Sensemaking').
This is why I have included ‘reflective questions’ at regular intervals (see below).
These questions are intended to encourage readers to explore their own assumptions, feelings, and values more deeply. They act as mirrors to enhance self-awareness and foster more critical thinking about leadership.
The book also encourages readers to imagine a future of leadership that belongs not only to individuals as heroes who stand above the crowd, but also to communities that rise, grow, and develop together.
This idea underpins every chapter that follows.
Book Thesis
This brings me to the book's thesis.
‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’, challenges the cultural myth that salvation, wisdom, and leadership come just from extraordinary individuals in positions of power over others.
The book re-frames leadership as a relational practice: being ‘in community, for community, and with community’.
Through this view, leadership becomes a distinctly communal undertaking - a “we” activity that emerges through collaboration, reciprocity, and working together.
Experience has shown that the hero story, as captivating and tempting as it is, often hides the ongoing, collective effort that truly supports communities and their missions.
Heroes pull people out of the mud (a metaphor explored in later Chapters).
Communities sit with them in it.
Heroes act alone.
Communities act together.
Heroes seek to lead from the front; they have the answers.
Communities lead from within, where questions trump answers.
With this in mind, each Chapter concludes with 'reflective questions': here are some examples from this first Chapter.
Reflective Questions
- When have I treated people as ‘objects to be managed’ rather than as ‘beings, to be in relationship with', and what may have allowed that shift to happen in me?
- What assumptions about leadership, especially those shaped by the hero myth, am I willing to question, risk being wrong about, or let go of as I read this book?
- How might my leadership change if I saw it less as an individual performance and more as a shared, communal practice that emerges through connection, reciprocity, and collective effort?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks,
Rob
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