This is the first book of its kind dedicated to leadership in the UK non-profit sector. It provides a practical guide to the challenges of leadership in this sector and new ideas and theories to stimulate a wider debate around leading for social impact.

The failure to acknowledge the distinct barriers that leaders face in the non-profit sector means that leadership theory and practice models are unrelatable and underserve the 5.5 million who currently work in UK non-profit organisations. Emerging from three years of research and a lifetime of experience, it introduces a new sequential four-stage leadership model, connecting personal development to operational execution: soft skills for hard targets. In doing so, it recognises that the commercial tensions on non-profit leadership are as severe, if not more so, than in the private sector. It also stresses the unique – contradictory and paradoxical – operating environments within which non-profit leadership is routinely required to achieve social impact.

The introduction of a new interrelated four-stage model, the Leadership for Social Impact Model (LSIM), ultimately closes the gap between theory and practice. This book is of interest to leaders and managers at all levels across the nonprofit sectors.

Mark Jamieson is an award-winning leadership coach and founder of the GreenWing Project – taking leadership coaching into schools and youth communities. He is an expert on leadership impact and has written books on evaluation and youth leadership coaching.

Ed Tytherleigh has been a senior leader for over 20 years, working for some of the largest nonprofit organisations in the country. He first led a charity at age 26 and gained his first Chief Executive role at 28. He has been working at that level in nonprofit environments ever since and is recognised as one of the most experienced leaders in his field.