-- A Bold New Approach to Leadership
In today's fast-paced and often unpredictable world, leadership has become more crucial than ever. Amid economic challenges and global disruptions, the quality of leadership determines the success or failure of organisations. However, despite its importance, leadership often remains the weakest link in many businesses, with strategies failing, trust eroding, and cultures becoming toxic.
In response to this growing leadership crisis, the Global Kindness Institute has launched an innovative approach to leadership, introducing the Kindness Quotient (KQ) a new framework designed to foster trust, credibility and purpose.
“We are witnessing a leadership crisis,” says Mark Doughty, Founder of the Global Kindness Institute. “This crisis isn’t just about ineffective leaders, it’s about a systemic issue that needs to be addressed. The quality of leadership today determines whether businesses thrive or simply survive. The Global Kindness Institute was founded to challenge this, and KQ is the key to unlocking true leadership potential.”
The Problem with Traditional Leadership Models
For decades, leadership development has revolved around two key concepts: IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Quotient). While important, these models fall short in addressing the real demands of modern business environments, which require leaders who are not only smart and emotionally aware but also courageous, clear, and execution-driven.
KQ is presented not as a soft skill, but as a leadership imperative that drives tangible business outcomes. It measures a leader’s ability to integrate trust with performance, credibility with results, and purpose with decisive action and outcomes. Through this lens, leaders gain the tools to unlock higher levels of team engagement, customer loyalty, and organisational resilience.
The KQ framework emphasises three key areas:
- Trust: How relatable a leader is aligned to the ability to be dignified and show gratitude
- Credibility: How believable a leader is aligned to their ability to be adaptable and be a steward of the company.
- Purpose: How clear is the leader in their role, the direction and the outcomes they are driving that inspires others.
One of the most valuable aspects of the KQ process is that it provides a genuine measure of leadership. Leaders gain crucial insight into whether those colleagues currently working around them would willingly and happily choose to work with them again in the future.
By focusing on KQ, it responds directly to a growing body of research that links trust-based leadership with improved innovation, lower attrition, and higher profitability. Unlike many traditional leadership frameworks, the KQ model does not trade results for empathy; instead, it treats kindness as a catalyst for performance.
This emphasis on kindness is not abstract or philosophical. Rather, it is operationalised through data-informed methodologies and practical toolkits that guide leaders at every stage, from onboarding to executive development. As organisations confront growing complexity and stakeholder expectations, the Institute positions KQ as a blueprint for leadership longevity and culture-led competitiveness.
Kindness as a Leadership Strategy
The Global Kindness Institute was born from a deeply personal journey, sparked by a pivotal event that led Founder Mark Doughty to resign from his corporate position. Witnessing firsthand how an unkind act can disrupt organisational culture, Mark's decision to leave his job was the catalyst for his broader mission: to redefine leadership and create a global movement built on kindness.
“Our aim is to change the way people think about leadership,” Mark explains. "Kindness is far from taking the easy route or merely being a pleasing leader. Instead, it’s about cultivating an environment where colleagues feel valued yet challenged, empowered yet held accountable, and inspired yet aligned. Kind leaders engage in difficult conversations too. They drive performance, achieve key business outcomes, and play to win while ensuring success for those around them.”
By embedding kindness at the core of leadership practices, the Global Kindness Institute believes that businesses can unlock higher levels of engagement, collaboration, and ultimately, productivity. This approach is especially critical in light of Gallup's 2025 State of the Global Workplace report, which has revealed a worrying decline in global employee engagement, with 2024 figures showing a drop from 23% to 21%. The report further estimates that disengaged workplaces result in a staggering $438 billion in lost productivity, equal to 9% of global GDP underscoring the importance of effective leadership.
A Global Movement with Real Impact
The Global Kindness Institute isn’t just a leadership development organisation, it’s a ‘think tank’ and movement. Backed by a Collaboration & Advisory Board featuring seasoned leaders who have shaped some of the world’s most respected brands, the Institute is equipped to drive meaningful change. The organisation is also supported by a highly esteemed patron known for advocating for kindness in leadership globally.
“We are not just theorising about leadership,” says Mark. “We are real practitioners with decades of experience in the world's leading brands. This team has come together because we share a singular vision: to make kindness an integral part of leadership and redefine what great leadership looks like in today’s world.”
The Time for Transformation is Now
The Global Kindness Institute invites organisations to reconsider the effectiveness of their current leadership development strategy and culture. The leadership crisis is real, but with the introduction of the KQ, there is a clear path forward. By embracing KQ, businesses can begin to cultivate a culture of trust, credibility, and high performance, qualities that are critical in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world.
"As the world faces unprecedented challenges, the time for transformation is now," Mark concludes. "The global workplace demands leadership that inspires, drives results, and fosters lasting, meaningful connections. But most importantly, leaders need to know where they stand. If the KQ results showed a leader that 50% of their team wouldn’t choose to work with them in the future, that feedback alone serves as a catalyst for change, provided the leader embraces it or the organisation as a whole becomes more accountable for the quality of its leaders. The KQ provides powerful insights and strategic leadership choices, unlocking the full potential of true leadership."
About the Global Kindness Institute
The Global Kindness Institute is committed to redefining leadership through kindness. With a powerful new leadership framework called the Kindness Quotient (KQ), the Institute helps businesses develop high-trust, high-performance cultures. Founded by Mark Doughty in response to a personal story of workplace unkindness, the Institute is on a mission to empower leaders to create environments where people thrive, and businesses succeed.
For more information, visit www.globalkindnessinstitute.com.
Media Contact:
Mark Doughty
Founder, Global Kindness Institute
+44 203 305 9026
LinkedIn: Mark Doughty
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Name: Mark Doughty
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Organization: Global Kindness Institute
Website: http://www.globalkindnessinstitute.com/
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