The Climate Change Leadership Imperative with Dr. Doug MacKie

Practical Wisdom for Leaders with Scott J. Allen, Ph.D.

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Dr. Doug MacKie has over 30 years of experience as an organisational and business psychologist and executive coach working in the UK, Europe, and Australasia. He specialises in sustainability leadership, high-performance teams, and developing leadership within purposeful organisations. Through his consulting work, he has helped identify and accelerate the development of ethical leadership and team capability in CEO’s, C-Suite executives, and MDs within many of the top 100 companies in the UK and Australia. He is the author of the definitive guide to Strength-Based Leadership Coaching in Organisations (2016) and is a co-editor of The Practitioners Handbook of Team Coaching (2019). He has recently established the Centre for Climate Change Leadership in Organisations and is the editor of the Handbook on this topic, published in 2023.

A Few Quotes From This Episode

• “There is a significant gap between the scale and impact of anthropogenic climate change and the capacity of contemporary leadership to address those issues.”
• “We need to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation.”
• “We’re not good at long-term thinking as a species.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• Book: Handbook of Climate Change Leadership in Organisations by MacKie (25AFLY2 will get listeners 20% off the handbook)
• Book: Lead for the Planet by Andre
• Book: Earth for All by Dixon-Decleve et al
• Book: Climate Change by Hulme
• Book: Ethical Leadership: A Primer by McManus,R.M. et al
• Book: The Sustainability Mindset Principles by Rimanoczy

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

About Scott J. Allen

• Website
• Weekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for Leaders

My Approach to Hosting

• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your reflection, research, and exploration of the topic.

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Chapters

1. Introduction to Dr. Doug McKay (00:00:00)

2. From Clinical to Organizational Psychology (00:07:16)

3. Understanding Climate Change Leadership (00:12:11)

4. The Alarming Reality of Climate Change (00:19:05)

5. Businesses' Role in Climate Solutions (00:27:32)

6. Leadership Models for Environmental Action (00:35:23)

7. Tensions and Polarities in Climate Leadership (00:39:56)

8. Strengths-Based Approaches to Climate Action (00:44:47)