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Sly and Mighty
- Author
- Kathleen Saxton
- Narrator
- Kathleen Saxton
- Publisher
- John Murray Press
- Publish Date
- 24 September 2026
- Run Time
- 9 hours 13 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
'Rare and necessary... essential reading for anyone who leads, or is led.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Jon Slade, CEO, Financial Times
'Every boss, every board member and every employed person should read this.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Theo Paphitis, Dragon, Entrepreneur and Retail Champion
'An essential guide to power, politics and personality at work." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Anna Jones, CEO, The Telegraph
'Indispensable... I will be recommending it.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Prof. Andrew Stephen, Saïd Business School, Oxford
We are all, at times, awakened by the courage of another.
Great leadership expands us: possibility, conviction, a sense of what we might become.
But where there is light, there is also shadow.
Across boardrooms, staffrooms and communities, a corrosive style of leadership has taken hold, rooted in narcissism and Dark Triad traits, low in empathy, high in control and quietly destructive. It erodes confidence, silences dissent and leaves lasting harm.
'Sly and Mighty' names it, and shows you what to do next.
Drawing on an extraordinary triple perspective as a global board-level executive, leadership headhunter and acclaimed psychotherapist, Kathleen Saxton brings a uniquely full-spectrum lens to how toxic power operates, and why it is so often allowed.
Combining high-stakes case studies with the latest research on narcissism and workplace dynamics, this book helps you to:
🐊 Spot the warning signs early
🐊 Stop enabling what you know is wrong
🐊Decide how to challenge, navigate or leave
🐊 Reclaim your confidence and assert your agency
'Sly and Mighty' bears witness to recognition, resistance and recovery - because leadership should never diminish you, or anyone else.
Critics Review
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Positive leadership is key to a successful business and fulfilled employees - if it's not working it needs to be brought sharply into focus. Kathleen Saxton names the challenges, explains them and, crucially, shows you how to deal with them. Every boss and every board should read this.
Theo Paphitis, Retail entrepreneur, Dragons' Den investor
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Kathleen Saxton has done something rare and necessary. She has taken the lived experience of toxic power and given it both a clinical framework and a human face. Essential reading for anyone who leads, is led or sits on a board.
Jon Slade, CEO, Financial Times
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A rare and important contribution, rigorous in its psychological grounding yet utterly accessible. Saxton bridges the gap between clinical insight and organisational reality with true authority.
Professor Andrew Stephen AM, Saïd Business School
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Sly & Mighty is the book I wish had existed earlier in my career; for anyone in a leadership or management role, building a culture or simply trying to survive one, it will be hugely valuable. Saxton writes with authority, compassion and the hard-won wisdom that only comes from having seen this world from every angle.
Anna Jones, CEO, The Telegraph
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I have seen first-hand how a deeply toxic individual can distort an entire organisation around them. Kathleen's book is a long-needed and essential examination of some of the disturbing truths behind power. What begins as an attempt to manage one 'valuable' individual's behaviour allows the toxicity to spread through the culture, crippling the organisation itself and making one person's pathology become the organisation's dysfunction.
Zelda Perkins CBE, CEO and Founder of Can't Buy My Silence UK
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Kathleen Saxton
- Narrator
- Kathleen Saxton
- Duration
- 9 hours 13 minutes
- Release Date
- 24 September 2026
- ISBN
- 9781399836890
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- John Murray Press
- Genre
- Management: leadership and motivation, Personality traits / Personality types, Office and workplace, Popular psychology, Coping with / advice about stress and stress-related issues or topics
Synopsis
The groundbreaking new book which exposes the psychology of destructive leadership and how to rise above it 'Rare and necessary... essential reading for anyone who leads, or is led.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Jon Slade, CEO, Financial Times 'Every boss, every board member and every employed person should read this.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Theo Paphitis, Dragon, Entrepreneur and Retail Champion 'An essential guide to power, politics and personality at work." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Anna Jones, CEO, The Telegraph 'Indispensable... I will be recommending it.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Prof. Andrew Stephen, Saïd Business School, Oxford We are all, at times, awakened by the courage of another. Great leadership expands us: possibility, conviction, a sense of what we might become.But where there is light, there is also shadow. Across boardrooms, staffrooms and communities, a corrosive style of leadership has taken hold, rooted in narcissism and Dark Triad traits, low in empathy, high in control and quietly destructive. It erodes confidence, silences dissent and leaves lasting harm.'Sly and Mighty' names it, and shows you what to do next.Drawing on an extraordinary triple perspective as a global board-level executive, leadership headhunter and acclaimed psychotherapist, Kathleen Saxton brings a uniquely full-spectrum lens to how toxic power operates, and why it is so often allowed.Combining high-stakes case studies with the latest research on narcissism and workplace dynamics, this book helps you to:🐊 Spot the warning signs early🐊 Stop enabling what you know is wrong🐊Decide how to challenge, navigate or leave🐊 Reclaim your confidence and assert your agency 'Sly and Mighty' bears witness to recognition, resistance and recovery - because leadership should never diminish you, or anyone else.
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