Leadership of systems change : Towards regenerative business

Kempster, Stephen (2026) Leadership of systems change : Towards regenerative business. Leadership. ISSN 1742-7150 (In Press)

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Abstract

In this essay, I argue for the development of regenerative business leadership as a means of supporting systems-wide change. Doing so requires addressing a root problem: the tendency to anchor the purpose of business leadership primarily in profit and self-interest. I first examine how this profit orientation has often been attributed to Adam Smith, and I offer an alternative reading of his work centred on enlightened self-interest. I then draw on the tragedy of the commons and the interconnected “grand challenges” facing humanity to argue for a regenerative approach to business grounded in good growth. I briefly contrast good growth with degrowth, and explain why degrowth can, paradoxically, also be understood as threatening to human flourishing. To add empirical texture to these arguments, I summarise a case drawn from ongoing work. Throughout, I adopt an explicitly normative and optimistic stance, on the premise that addressing contemporary challenges requires the imagination and pursuit of radical hope in the possibilities such as regenerative business leadership.