By approaching the perennial problems of business through a highly original set of emotionally-charged questions, Robert Rowland Smith brings an extraordinary array of insights to the challenges of management and leadership. Brilliant – a tour de force. — Jules Goddard, author of ‘Uncommon Sense, Common Nonsense’
Practical, wise and very much based in reality, this book will make anyone running a business a more shrewd, and probably a more successful, leader. — Andrew Cahn, former CEO of UK Trade and Investment
I regard Robert Rowland Smith as simply the most intelligent person I know. After reading this book you will understand why. — Guy Fraser-Sampson, Senior Fellow, Cass Business School
The Reality Test cuts through turgid corporate “leadership speak” to get the heart of the matter – it should be required reading for any aspiring leader. If ‘Fred the Shred’ of HBOS had taken the Reality Test, perhaps we wouldn’t be living through the biggest recession since the 1930s. — Lord Victor O. Adebowale CBE, CEO of Turning Point
Robert Rowland Smith asks the practical questions that really matter to business
leaders – this book will do more than make you think, it will make you do
something
— Matt Kingdon, co-founder of ?What If! and author of The Science of Serendipity
Praise for Driving with Plato:
‘This is a fascinating and deeply impressive book
― Daily Mail
Witty, inventive and intelligent ― THES
Smith has the suave wit of the professional intellectual. ― The Financial Times
Not only will this book entertain you, educate you and amuse you, it may very well help you stay younger ― Bookbag
About the Author
Robert Rowland Smith began his career as a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He lectured internationally on philosophy, literature and psychoanalysis. He published the award-winning Derrida and Autobiography in 1995 and laid the ground for two later academic works. These are Death-Drive: Freudian Hauntings in Literature and Art and On Modern Poetry: From Theory to Total Criticism, which received a Choice award for ‘outstanding academic book’ of 2013.
In 1998 Robert left Oxford to go into management consultancy, first in Los Angeles and then in London, where he was a partner in a firm specialising in leadership and organisation development. It was during this period that Robert trained in Constellations.
With the 2009 publication of the bestselling Breakfast with Socrates, Robert began working on a portfolio basis that today involves: (1) writing books: Driving with Plato came out in 2011, and 2013 year saw the publication of Robert’s book for business leaders, The Reality Test. He’s now researching a project with the working title of The Architecture of Being. (2) advising businesses: alongside his work with leaders, Robert has set up Ennovation.Co to help organisations innovate by drawing on unconscious energy. (3) running New Constellations: Robert runs regular workshops for people facing challenges in their personal or professional life, or with creative projects.
(4) giving talks: Robert has spoken to audiences from Tokyo to El Salvador on subjects including love, enlightenment, the self and innovation.
(5)doing journalism: Robert has had a column in both the Evening Standard and the Sunday Times, and continues to write articles for newspapers and magazines.
Robert sits on the board of the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships, and the editorial board of Angelaki, the journal he helped to found. He is a founding faculty member of both The School of Life and the London Graduate School. He holds a top First in English and a D. Phil., both from Oxford University.
Wow! eBook
