Alison Taylor

Clinical Professor,

NYU Stern School of Business

We are in a profound leadership crisis, to the degree that organizational leadership is no longer a widespread aspiration for younger generations.

THE PROBLEM AFTER NEXT: Leadership and decision making needs to shift from top down to bottom up, from direction to collaboration, and from executives to employees. We are not in an era of high employee power, and organizations are wildly underestimating the value of employee trust. AI will accelerate all these trends.

BOOK: Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World

BIO: Alison Taylor is a clinical associate professor at NYU Stern School of Business, and the former executive director at Ethical Systems. Her previous work experience also includes being a Managing Director at non-profit business network BSR and a Senior Managing Director at Control Risks. She holds sustainability advisory roles at KKR and Unilever, and advises many other firms on strategic integrity challenges. She has expertise in strategy, sustainability, political and social risk, culture and behavior, human rights, ethics and compliance, and stakeholder engagement. Her book Higher Ground: How Business Can do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World was published by Harvard Business Review Press in February 2024, and won the 2024 Porchlight Award for best leadership and strategy book of the year. Alison received her Bachelor of Arts in Modern History from Balliol College, Oxford University, her MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago, and MA in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University.