In The Age of Outrage: How to Lead in a Polarized World, Karthik Ramanna provides a framework for leaders to navigate outrage—the intense, polarized reactions to perceived social injustices, political stances, and misaligned corporate actions—by addressing root causes, engaging stakeholders, and building resilience.

Ramanna, a professor of Business and Public Policy at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, specializes in business-government relations and corporate accountability.

In conversation with Martin Reeves, chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, Ramanna discusses the three causes of outrage (fear of the future, past injustices, and ideologies of othering), common instincts that mislead leaders, and his five-step framework for navigating the age of outrage.

Key topics discussed: 

[01:08] Managing in the age of outrage
[4:21] Three causes of outrage: fear of the future, past injustices, and ideologies of othering
[5:48] The five-step framework for navigating the age of outrage
[19:04] Instincts which mislead companies into taking the wrong stance or making the wrong analysis
[20:45] The impact of “temperate leadership” and leadership attributes
[25:22] Key factors impacting the age of outrage

Additional inspirations from Karthik Ramanna:

• Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy (The University of Chicago Press, 2015)