According to Anthony King (2002, p. 435), āSome of the most significant political leaders of recent decades have been outsiders.ā Can we say the same about business leaders? What does being an outsider mean to the business leader, and what special value does the outsider perspective bring? This is what we seek to explore here, as we believe that these questions remain incompletely answered in the corporate world.
Arguably, we are living now in an era where the concept of an āoutsiderā has taken on increased prominence in the public psyche. Kingās words above are perhaps even more relevant today than they were when he initially wrote his paper, where he used the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcherās career as a basis for trying to understand the outsider concept in the political world. This is evidenced by the more recent electoral successes of outsiders such as Donald Trump in the USA and Emmanuel Macron in France in shaking up the political establishment. Indeed, Macronās closest challengerāMarine Le Penāwas also an outsider relative to the traditional parties who had long dominated French politics. The UKās Brexit vote will see it leaving the European Union to become part of a select group of outsider, non-member nations within the continent. While one side to the ongoing debate surrounding this divisive issue argues that this will bring great opportunities and rewards, the counter argument raises fundamental issues and fears. Moving beyond politics, Leicester City Football Clubās success in winning the English Premier League in 2016 surprised the sporting world. Considered rank outsiders, the club had odds of 5000/1 to win the league at the outset, having narrowly managed to avoid relegation in the previous season. In spite of having a regular squad that cost less than had been spent on individual players in some of the bigger clubs, they prevailed where others failed.
In this sense, one might suggest that the world has perhaps become if not more accepting of outsiders then at least more curious about them. One can reasonably acknowledge that they offer something different, less predictable, and have the potential to deliver positive outcomes in the right circumstances. However, they may also be risky, unknown and laden with unforeseen challenges. Whether this applies to the circumstances of the business world needs further exploration and understanding. The thinking behind this book stems from our own knowledge ofāand previous interactions withāleaders of different organisations who have been, in some way, an outsider
leader. Being viewed as an outsider may relate to someoneās culture, background, previous activities, training, family membership, gender and so on.
What is very much of interest to us are the implications of being an outsider. Challenges and difficulties are likely to be faced by virtue of being an outsider, but what are these and how are they addressed? How do outsiders manage the transition process of becoming leader? Additionally, how does the outsider benefit
the organisation and how can we foster such benefits? Do outsider leaders yearn to be an insider? Why do some choose, or end up in, positions where they are an outsider when the easy option might be to stay on the inside in their existing roles and organisations? Do they remain always an outsider, or does their status change with time? What can those who become outsiders learn from the experiences of others who have preceded them? From our research, these issues have not been fully explored in academic or practitioner texts, yet they are important and interesting topics to business practitioners, leaders, students and academics alike.
We believe that to understand these perspectives we, as researchers, are required to speak directly with successful and established outsider leaders to hear their stories and capture their voices. Being an outsider is something that is experienced and lived. In our book, using interviews, these lived experiences are presented as separate narratives initially. Each leader and their leadership story is presented in standalone chapters, supplemented with other available sources as appropriate. Subsequently, we distil commonalities and themes from across these chapters to present our understanding of their experiences. This allows readers to access the stories as well as some of the broad lessons to be learned from these reflections.
We have interviewed seven outsider leaders from the broad business worldāacross sectors, organisation sizes and cultures. This allows for an effective blend of profiles, backgrounds and contexts. The qualifying feature for inclusion is that we could identifyāin advanceāat least one way in which the leader could be construed as an outsider. That said, we entered into each semi-structured interview as interpretivists, open to identifying other features.
The structure of the book is as follows. Chapter 2 reviews the literature surrounding the outsider concept and the outsider leader. We note that gaps exist and that further research is warranted. Subsequently, we present seven chapters, one for each of the leaders interviewed. Each chapter consists of a literature section that precedes the leadership story, which is specifically relevant to the story. In this respect, each leader-based chapter can be used to explore and to further oneās knowledge of outsider leadership and also to contemplate leadership more broadly. Each of these leader-based chapters closes with a conclusion and reflection section and a summary of some of the key findings, to help the reader to think more deeply about the story and what this means in a wider, perhaps even personal, context. We close with Chap. 10, where we present a conclusion that brings together key themes that, we believe, require articulation and discussion in the context of existing literature. In doing this, we attempt to contribute to the debate surrounding the meaning of outsider business leadership and various aspects related to and stemming from outsider leader presence in organisations.
References
- King, A. 2002. The Outsider as Political Leader: The Case of Margaret Thatcher. British Journal of Political Science 32 (3): 435ā454.Crossref
- Mukunda, G. 2012. Great Leaders Donāt Need Experience. Harvard Business Review, October, 30ā31.