Great leaders don't choose between results and wellbeing — they build both
Leadership is tough. When it comes to delivering success, you face higher demands, yet you receive less support. Meanwhile, your team members are stressed, tense and on the verge of burnout. Most leadership books focus solely on driving results, while ignoring a critical truth: you can't sustain high performance when you and your team are running on empty. That’s where
Great Leaders Care is different — it delivers a practical, evidence-based framework for building teams that are both high-performing and resilient.
Graeme Cowan, Founding Director of R U OK?, draws on extensive interviews with successful CEOs plus his own personal journey with mental health, revealing what really matters in leadership. Inside, you’ll discover how caring cultures transform both people and business outcomes, including stronger engagement and performance, reduced liability and higher retention. When people feel genuinely cared for, productivity rises, turnover drops and teams become magnets for top talent.
Great Leaders Care shares the tools to:
- Master the three pillars of caring leadership: self-care, team care and support for people who are struggling.
- Spot burnout early and use the VIP (Vitality, Intimacy, Prosperity) framework to stay steady, focused and resilient.
- Build psychological safety so your team members can speak up, share ideas and take the risks that lead to innovation.
- Put care into practice with daily habits and tools that lift workplace wellbeing and performance.
Leaders who care build teams that thrive.
Great Leaders Care equips you with immediately actionable strategies to become the leader people actually want to work for — while delivering the results your organization demands.
‘Great Leaders Care is a compassionate, practical guide for managers on how to care for themselves and their teams in ways that reduce burnout and build psychological safety at work. Opening with the author’s deeply personal journey through severe depression and recovery, the book provides evidence-informed tools and stories from his work, and the celebrated R U OK? movement he helped to grow. Great Leaders Care offers a clear roadmap for anyone who wants to create workplaces where struggling is okay, speaking up is welcomed, and thriving is the result.'
- Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School, author, Right Kind of Wrong and The Fearless Organization
About the Author
Graeme Cowan is a former senior executive at Johnson & Johnson and Kearney and host of the #2 globally-ranked workplace mental health podcast. He helps busy leaders build teams that deliver results without burning out.
Industry Reviews
‘This book shows that caring leadership isn’t just morally right — it’s directly tied to superior organisational performance, creating workplaces where discretionary effort is the norm.’
—Steven Worrall, CEO Telstra InfraCo, and Chair, Corporate Mental Health Alliance
‘When one team member shared his battle with depression and recovery — then went on to complete the Hawaiian Triathlon three times — everything shifted. Graeme’s Great Leaders Care framework shows how vulnerability breaks down competitive barriers where people feel they must appear perfect. It creates permission for teams to stop pretending and start being human with each other. That’s when real transformation begins.’
—Dave Banks, former Executive General Manager, NAB
‘Graeme understands that those we have the privilege to lead are somebody’s precious child who simply want to know they matter. This book provides the practical tools to embrace this profound responsibility of leadership, with genuine care while building high-performing teams. It’s the bridge between knowing what matters and actually doing it.’
—Bob Chapman, Chair, Barry-Wehmiller; co-author, Everybody Matters; 2025 Top 50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc.
‘Graeme understands what leading teams through complexity has taught me: if you’re asking people to be their best, you must create environments where they feel supported when they’re not. Great Leaders Care provides the practical tools to build psychologically safe, high-performing teams where care and accountability reinforce each other.’
—Ellen Derrick, Deloitte Asia-Pacific Government and Public Services Leader
‘This book shows how caring can be a super strength for leaders and their organisations. Effective leadership isn’t reserved for those with all the answers. Graeme reveals how acknowledging your humanity and leading with kindness creates psychological safety where teams don’t just survive challenges — they thrive.’
—Todd Harper AM, CEO, Cancer Council Victoria
‘What made our team high-performing during COVID? Everyone had a common why. Graeme’s Great Leaders Care proves what I’ve witnessed: clear goals plus flexibility for teams to do their best work equals performance. When people understand the impact they’re making and feel genuinely cared for as individuals, not just productivity units, that’s when sustainable high performance happens.’
—Emma Hogan, former Secretary (CEO), NSW Department of Customer Service
‘Becoming purpose-led requires more than getting ideas and excitement from TED talks on purpose — it demands an emotional energy and relentless commitment. It is a promise to not just deliver results but to care! Graeme’s Great Leaders Care provides the roadmap for leaders championing causes beyond profit, showing how to invite teams on the journey, connect them to purpose personally, and sustain caring cultures that recognize people’s lives extend beyond 9-to- 5.’
—Damen Mu, CEO, AIA Insurance Australia
‘After more than 30 years leading teams, I’ve learned that deep purpose transforms organisations. Graeme captures this beautifully — showing how amplifying client voices, practicing gratitude, and connecting work to meaning creates teams that don’t just perform, they thrive. Essential reading for purpose-driven leaders.’
—Melissa Reynolds, CEO, State Trustees Victoria
