Best book

Winner: Dr John Blakey

This article is taken from the 2025 Awards supplement in the Summer 2025 issue of Think Global People magazine

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“Full of hope, the book is written to create force multipliers who can help others to do their own purpose-driven work”. John Blakey

There was no mistaking the pride and joy John Blakey felt at accepting his Award for Best Book at the Think Global People & Relocate Awards.

Our winning book packs a punch. I am a big fan of this powerful and concise book, and I will treasure my signed copy as I endeavour to become a force for good.

I enjoyed getting inside the head of Alisa, the case study leader, who we follow through the course of her leadership fable. Having left her high-flying role in financial services she lands abruptly in the brave new world of a CEO in a not-for-profit organisation and enlists the help of Executive Coach, Ajit to guide her through the highs and lows of purpose-driven leadership. We discover through her eyes the UP, the IN and the OUT of the dilemmas and pressures of modern organisational life. She learns how to thrive rather than just survive by achieving a worthwhile mission that aligns with her own personal purpose. Secondly, she learns to take care of her energy, physical and mental health and to enjoy her new role. Thirdly to bring others along, from staff to clients and stakeholders, how to inspire them and build positive relationships.

Thrive not just survive

This human story illustrates the changed leadership landscape: the Post-modern; Post-pandemic and Future-fragile. A neat table illustrates what we have lost, how it makes us feel and what we need to rediscover. John Blakey describes six paths to follow to become a force multiplier: B Corp, coach, community leader, speaker, writer, philanthropist. The road isn’t easy but we fallible international leaders will enjoy unpicking our path to success, as a combination of the personality types described as zealot, martyr or Pied Piper. On any one day of course, we can show up as all three! The art is to understand why and what takes over your emotional personality. I loved the reference to the three elephants. Dust off your ‘thrival kit’ and discover how you can thrive, not just survive, as a purpose-driven leader. As John Blakey explains, ‘Inside us are two wolves – a force for good and a force for bad. Which one wins? The one you feed’.

A big takeaway, no doubt reaching back to his years spent as an elite sports coach, is for the reader to discover the joy that comes from experiencing who you really are. ’The joy comes from briefly appearing at level six in Maslow’s hierarchy. Full of hope, the book is written to create force multipliers who can help others to do their own purpose-driven work’, he writes.

The judges praised the book saying, “Force for Good stood out as an inspiring and practical guide to purpose driven leadership, well researched and accessible. It offers a powerful framework for ethical, impactful leadership, and delivers a message of real change that resonates with audiences worldwide”.

Hope and encouragement when you need it most

In his acceptance, he joked revealing his authentic humanity, “Various spiritual gurus will tell you, that you shouldn't rely upon external recognition. It should all come from inside you.

“Well, even at my mature years, I can't quite rely on that. I love external recognition.

“I hope one day to be enlightened enough not to need it. But for now, this makes me feel good, and it motivates me, encourages me to carry on doing what I'm doing and what I'm passionate about, because we all need that little bit of encouragement, don't we on the tough days?

“Thank you to the judges and most of all to my clients who inspired this book”.

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