Rae André

Lead for the Planet has been the subject of seminars and keynotes at universities in the US, Canada, and Europe, and the United Nations PRME Working Group on Climate Change.  To hear some of these, check out the Teaching Resources on the homepage. The book was longlisted for Management Book of the Year 2021 by the Chartered Management Institute, the UK's 143,000 plus membership community for "both today's leaders and the next generation."

For more reviews and an excerpt, as well as information on my other books, read on:

 "A great climate change primer for undergraduate or early graduate level and for those who would like a good overview of the climate change issues...This reviewer is particularly impressed on the chapter on defining the 'business of business' where she discussed for-profit business decision-making and motivations." 

 *Richard Smardon, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Environmental Studies, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences (2021). 

"While the current climate movement leadership deserves thanks, the results it has achieved have been paltry compared to the scope of action needed. A new generation of leaders is required that is more numerous, informed, courageous, and skilled. Lead for the Planet is an indispensable guide for anyone hoping to join those ranks. After deftly summarizing current energy and climate change issues and risks, André explores relevant strategies, tactics, political realities, and business interests. For anyone seeking a career advancing the goal of sustainability, this book is essential reading."  

*Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, author of The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality. 

 "You can pick up any number of books on the scientific problem of climate change and the economic or technological solutions, but what we need most right now is leadership. That is what this book is about: an accessible dive into social science for the much-needed tools to guide our society, our organizations, and ourselves towards a bold and 'strong' approach to sustainability. Pick up this book and play your role in helping 'Team Humanity' step up to save the planet."  

*Andrew J. Hoffman, Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, University of Michigan, author of How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate. 

"Rae Andre's exciting new book provides leaders with five vital practices for bringing about a world in which our grandchildren's children can flourish. Grounded in scientific understanding, systems thinking, integrity, realism, collaboration, and dialogue, these practices are essential to anyone who aspires to lead in a climate-challenged world. The book's numerous examples will be useful for leaders in any sector – business, government, and civil society – and will enhance understanding and decision making for leaders everywhere." 

*Sandra Waddock, Galligan Chair of Strategy, Carroll School of Management, Boston College, author of Healing the World: Today's Shamans as Difference Makers. 

"Climate change is now the greatest challenge facing humanity. Drawing together a broad range of insights from the social and natural sciences, this book will be a valuable resource for all those passionate to develop a sustainable future and challenge the current, catastrophic business-as-usual path." 

*Christopher Wright, Professor of Organisational Studies, The University of Sydney Business School, co-author of Climate Change, Capitalism, and Corporations: Processes of Creative Self-Destruction.   

"Drawn from social science research in the fields of change management and leadership, Rae André's five practices offer a road map for individuals to lead the transition through the current climate crisis and energy revolution to save our planet for future generations." 

*Nancy E. Landrum, Professor, Quinlan School of Business & Institute of Environmental Sustainability, Loyola University Chicago, co-author of A Primer on Sustainable Business.  

Book Excerpt: Welcome to Team Humanity

We hear a lot these days about the what and the why of climate change. Yes, it is happening, and humans are causing it by burning fossil fuels. Yes, it's melting the Arctic and causing disruptions across the globe. And, yes, it's accelerating.

We hear a lot less about the who and the how of solving the problem. Until recently, discussion about how humanity will organize to deal with disruptive climate change has taken a backseat to the essential project of convincing people that the change is real. Now most of the world accepts that reality, and people are beginning to focus on how we, the members of Team Humanity, are going to get this thing done. Concerned citizens from all walks of life want to know how they themselves can contribute: What does it take to be a leader for the planet?

Our main concerns, and the subject of this book, are the twin issues of climate change and energy evolution. The burning of fossil fuels escalated with the introduction of powered machines in the late 19th nineteenth century. Intensified by improving living standards and a growing world population, it is accelerating worldwide. It is warming the planet, with serious consequences. To address these facts, and also because the Earth's store of fossil fuels is finite, the world's transition from fossil fuels to less polluting sources of energy is assuredly, if fitfully, underway. Across the planet, responsible people are gearing up to unleash the creativity and innovation that must fuel this transition.

Leading for the planet means protecting people and the natural systems we all depend on by sensibly managing these environmental challenges. To date, our leaders have prioritized natural science over social science, and reasonably so. Yet, to take the next step forward, humanity must now look inward. Leadership for the planet requires knowledge of both natural science and human nature.

To lead well now is to study humanity's ways of organizing and to translate that knowledge into sound decision- making and action. To help leaders understand key human factors that affect collective, systems-wide solutions, this book draws on the social sciences, from psychology to anthropology to economics. It takes a strong rather than a weak approach to sustainability; that is, it focuses on leadership for the planet rather than on leadership for individual companies alone. It assumes that the core value of "environmental sustainability" is the obligation to conduct ourselves so that we leave to future generations the option and the capacity to be as well off as we are today.

We will focus here on climate change and energy evolution, leaving for others the simultaneously critical issues of population growth and agricultural development. We address here all climate leaders, (and, also, their followers) – not only those who are currently practicing but also those who are emerging, whatever your age, training, organizational position, or resources.

The fundamental question we will consider together is: Will Team Humanity step up to save the planet?

Sierra Club Books, 2004; iUniverse 2009. 

Examines the laws, community impacts, and political realities surrounding airport expansions in the United States.

"Rae Andre is one of the first to address this issue and she does it well." --Michael S. Dukakis, Vice-Chairman of the Board, Amtrak; former Governor of Massachusetts.

"Makes a compelling case." Phaedra Pezzullo, ORGANIZATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT

"At once bold, realistic and sensitive—the most inspiring reflection on the singular strength of the human spirit I have encountered to date." ...a reader.

Originally published by HarperCollins. An Authors Guild BACKINPRINT.COM edition, iUniverse, 2000.

PrenticeHall, 2008; With an Instructors' Manual written by the Author.

Co-authored with Peter D. Ward. An Authors Guild BACKINPRINT.COM edition, iUniverse, 2000.

"A cheeky but serious rebuttal...gives employees advice on how to advance by skillfully managing their bosses."
--TIME MAGAZINE.

Originally published by Houghton Mifflin, THE 59-SECOND EMPLOYEE has sold more than 100,000 copies and has been reprinted in numerous foreign editions. It was a Publishers Weekly annual best-selling trade paperback.

Co-edited with Peter J. Frost. Sage Publications, 1997.

"Strongly recommended to anyone involved in the academic process." --Cynthia Lengnick-Hall, ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT REVIEW

Students and scholars in fields related to psychology, sociology, and business--particularly those who are pursuing a career in college teaching--will find these personal essays thought-provoking. With candor and warmth, our contributors discuss the hard choices they have made between their commitment to teaching and their interest in research.

Writers Club Press, 2002.

This is a short book I wrote for comic relief from all of the other stuff I write. It is an adventure story populated with some of the great characters in the Hobby. Filled with baseball trivia, it will challenge and maybe even amuse you. BE THE FIRST IN YOUR STATE TO BUY ONE!

The University of Chicago Press, 1980. Out of Print.

"An extremely important book." --Elaine Tyler May, MINNEAPOLIS TRIBUNE. 

"One of the strengths of Andre's book is her observation about the ways in which traditional assumptions about women as homemakers influence the fate of the growing numbers of young women who combine homemaking with part-time jobs, or who hold paying jobs for much of their lives but drop out of the labor force when their family responsibilities are heaviest...Good ideas...raises the right questions." --Susan Jacoby, THE NEW REPUBLIC.

"Useful...based on admirable values [and] practical familiarity with the situation of homemakers."
--Elinor G. Barber, POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY

"An ambitious attempt, perhaps the first by an academician, to respond to Betty Friedan's dictum that 'the second feminist agenda, the agenda of the '80s, must call for the restructuring of the institutions of home and work."
--Laurie Shields, NEW DIRECTIONS FOR WOMEN