Duncan Coombe

Adjunct Professor of Organizational Behavior and Leadership

Duncan Coombe is Adjunct Professor of Organizational Behavior and Leadership. A teacher, researcher, author and advisor, his work with executives focuses on the development of leadership, organization, culture, and teams as well as change management. The central theme of all of his work is the wellbeing of teams, organizations, and societies. He has served clients in numerous sectors including financial services, hospitality, poverty alleviation, fast-moving consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals.

His research focuses on leadership, the psychology of leadership, careers, and the purpose and meaning of work. In addition to his academic publications, he co-authored the award winning book Care to Dare: Unleashing the Astonishing Power of Secure Base Leadership.

Coombe has a doctorate in organizational behavior from the Weatherhead School of Management, an MBA from IMD, an LLB (Dean’s Merit List) and a Bachelor of Social Science (majors in psychology and economics). In addition, he has an Investment Management Certificate, is a Lifeline crisis counselor, and is on the faculty of the Gestalt Center for Organization and Systems Development. He previously worked at Procter & Gamble and Investec Asset Management in a variety of business development roles.

Academic publications
Care to dare: Unleashing astonishing potential through secure base leadership
Book
Care to dare: Unleashing astonishing potential through secure base leadership
LeadershipCoaching
Have you ever been led by someone who cared for you like family, and dared you to achieve more than you ever thought possible for yourself, your organization, and even society? Award-winning author...
4 September 2012
Article
Corporate citizenship: An expression of love
Psychology
This paper proposes that the underlying impulse of corporate citizenship is love and that the practice of corporate citizenship is fundamentally an expression of love. Following a review of the lit...
1 August 2011
Article
Giving multisource feedback a facelift
Psychology
This paper calls for the development of a new form of Multi-Source Feedback (MSF) mechanism. This MSF platform attempts to address the more implicit relational schemata that guide judgments raters ...
1 March 2009
Article
National level intentional change: A story of two countries
Change ManagementCulture
The purpose of this paper is to develop an insight, through an examination of the American Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa, into how desired change occurs at a...
1 January 2006
Insight for Executives
Article
Can you really power an organization with love?
CultureLeadership
While I fully understand that by “not taking it personally” we are better able to protect ourselves in work contexts that can often be challenging, threatening, and relentless, there are benefits t...
1 August 2016
Article
Don't take it personally is terrible work advice
Leadership
While I fully understand that by “not taking it personally” we are better able to protect ourselves in work contexts that can often be challenging, threatening, and relentless, there are benefits t...
29 March 2016
See colleagues as they are, not as they were
Article
See colleagues as they are, not as they were
Leadership Mindfulness Organizational Behavior Psychology
Is there a colleague with whom you have a strained working relationship? If, by chance, you are some kind of work superhero who just answered “no” to that question, is there at least someone with w...
16 March 2016
Article
See colleagues as they are, not as they were
Organizational BehaviorLeadership
Is there a colleague with whom you have a strained working relationship? If, by chance, you are some kind of work superhero who just answered “no” to that question, is there at least someone with w...
14 January 2016
Care to Dare
Book
Care to Dare
Coaching Leadership Talent Management
Have you ever been led by someone who cared for you like family, and dared you to achieve more than you ever thought possible for yourself, your organization, and even society? Award-winning author...
1 January 0001
Unleashing astonishing potential through secure base leadership
Care to Dare