Suited Monk Leadership: Leading with Wisdom and Purpose in a Complex and Uncertain World Raf Adams and Mike J. Thompson WOW Books, London

Reviewed by Dr Mark Stibbe

What do you do as a business leader if you’re working in a role that gives you financial benefits but robs you of your happiness, your integrity and your creativity?

What do you do if you’re leading a company that makes short-term profits its goal and in the process neglects to engage in a purpose that is geared to the Common Good?

What do you do, in other words, when you find yourself out of alignment with who you really are, in both your leadership role and in your business culture?

These are some of the big questions explored by Raf Adams and Mike Thompson in their book, Suited Monk Leadership. They are questions with which many of us will be familiar.

Readers may already be aware of Raf Adams’ earlier book, The Suited Monk, in which he developed the Life Journey and Gap models which have proven to be so effective in the coaching and personal growth sectors of the corporate world. In his first book, The Suited Monk, Raf outlined the key qualities required in the next generation of leadership - qualities such as intuition, wisdom, self-knowledge, self-mastery and compassion. He argued there that leaders in the future will need to learn to synthesise the role in which they long to succeed (identified by the metaphor of the Suit) with their inner sense of passion and purpose (the metaphor of the Monk). When this Gap is decreased, the potential for tapping into the vast reservoir of abundance inside you is greatly increased. In the process, people align their work with who they really are and what they truly long to champion.

In this second book, Suited Monk Leadership, the two authors press the Suit/Monk metaphor in the service of business leadership and in that respect the book is timely. As they point out, leaders in midlife on the trajectory of their corporate career are particularly vulnerable to depression and burnout. Like hamsters in a cage, they feel that the only thing they can do is keep turning the wheel, all the while looking wistfully beyond the bars of their treadmill existence to a freedom that

seems so utterly elusive and unattainable. Caught in this endless cycle, the Gap between their Suit (their achievement-driven work) and their Monk (their real, creative, purpose-driven self) begins to widen. In the process, health can suffer, and so can relationships.

If this news sounds bad, don’t worry. Raf and Mike are upbeat and positive advocates of a creative alternative, inspiring hope through the dissemination of trans-cultural wisdom and the telling of real-life stories.

Let’s take one such story. Richard Evans was Chief Executive of InBev UK in 2008 when he decided to leave a career in corporate life at the age of 42. He came to see that he had a lot of money but little joy in his business life, and little space for anything but the business he served. The logical next step would have been to move on to another job as a CEO, based on his impressive CV. But Richard’s self-realisation led him to acknowledge that there was something else he could do in business that would enable him to deploy his talents in a more purposeful way, whilst creating space to find joy in his personal life as well. Getting in touch with the Monk within, Richard saw what he really longed to do - to develop a fulfilling ‘portfolio career’ which would enable him to make a purposeful social contribution to wider society.

Today Richard chairs the boards of School-Home Support, a London-based educational charity for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, Hub Kings Cross, a London social entrepreneurship network, and Envero, a brand consultancy focused on helping mainstream brands

and companies build greater trust with their customers. Sure, he still works with the challenges associated

with managing businesses (and a charity) in tough economic conditions, but he now operates from a deeper place of wellbeing.

And that is everything. Perhaps you can now see why Suited Monk Leadership

is such a seminal work. Many of us have been faced with the crucial choice to follow one of two paths - the Ego or Suit path, or the path of the Monk within. Most of us know that following the path that is most in line with the Monk will bring the greatest fulfilment and rewards over the long term. How few of us as leaders have the courage to engage in self-realisation and then re-align what we do with who we really are. How few of us have the courage to re-align our businesses with a purpose that reflects and releases the Monk within us and indeed within the people that we lead.

Suited Monk Leadership is therefore essential reading for leaders today, not just in business but in other contexts too. The two authors have worked extensively with people in small and large enterprises. They have seen time and again how peoples’ motivation shoots up

Raf Adams is a speaker and executive coach focusing on self-mastery and authenticity in corporate and personal life. Since 2009 Raf has led Suited Monk Leadership workshops including executive coaching for international companies such as BASF, BP, Philips, Bayer and Mead Johnson. Raf is the author of The Suited Monk: Finding Your Life’s Purpose And True Happiness (2013) and is Chief Wisdom Officer at GLO – Good Leaders Online. www.suitedmonk.com

the scale when their work is aligned with a purpose that is meaningful to them, and which ideally links to what in chapter six they refer to as the Common Good.

Speaking personally, I read Suited Monk Leadership just after a dramatic awakening in midlife. Having served as a leader of volunteer-intensive charities for a quarter of a century, I came to realise with sudden clarity that what I was doing (however noble) was out of sync with who I really am. I read this book as I made my transition from leading charitable organisations to starting up my own business. In every chapter and on just about every page of this book I found encouragement, wisdom and hope for the release of the hidden entrepreneur within me. It has confirmed that what I was going through was a process of finding the Monk and aligning that with the Suit I was truly meant to wear.

In the process I closed the Gap between my Suit and my Monk and that has been immensely liberating.

If you’ve been on the London Underground, you’ll know that all of us are called to ‘Mind the Gap.’ If you read this book, you’ll be able to do just that in relation to your business career.

Professor Mike Thompson has worked alongside entrepreneurs throughout his career. He serves on the boards of GLO - Good Leaders Online, GoodBrand, the sustainable enterprise consultancy and Impact Hub Kings Cross, London. Mike has lectured in business schools across the world focusing on responsible leadership and corporate governance, most recently as Professor of Management Practice with the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).