Discover André Lacroix's Leadership with Soul. Learn the 10 principles from the Intertek CEO's four decades leading global organisations.
Written by Laura Bouttell • Tue 30th December 2025
Leadership with Soul by André Lacroix presents a comprehensive leadership model built over four decades with world-leading organisations including Ernst & Young, Colgate Palmolive, PepsiCo, Burger King, Euro Disney, Inchcape, Reckitt Benckiser, and Intertek—offering 10 principles that, when applied consistently, deliver superior and sustainable performance in any organisation. The book represents Lacroix's distillation of lessons learned across diverse industries, geographies, and business challenges.
André Lacroix brings unusual credibility to leadership writing. As Chief Executive Officer of Intertek since 2015, following successful tenures as Group Chief Executive of Inchcape and Chairman and CEO of Euro Disney, Lacroix has tested his leadership model across vastly different contexts. His framework isn't academic theory but practical wisdom refined through real-world application.
What distinguishes Leadership with Soul from typical business books is its explicit focus on humanist, stakeholder-centred leadership. Lacroix argues that true leadership prioritises sustainability and making the world an "ever-better" place—not through sacrifice of business results but as the path to achieving them.
Understanding the author's background contextualises his leadership philosophy.
André Lacroix's career spans over four decades across global corporations:
| Period | Role | Organisation |
|---|---|---|
| 2015-Present | Chief Executive Officer | Intertek Group |
| 2005-2015 | Group Chief Executive | Inchcape Group plc |
| 2003-2005 | Chairman & CEO | Euro Disney S.C.A. |
| 1996-2003 | President | Burger King International |
| Earlier career | Various leadership roles | PepsiCo, Colgate Palmolive, Ernst & Young |
This progression through consumer goods, restaurants, entertainment, automotive distribution, and quality assurance provides breadth few executives accumulate.
Lacroix's approach has delivered consistent results:
Lacroix reports developing his leadership model since 2002, refining it through subsequent roles. This extended development period means the principles in Leadership with Soul aren't recent formulations but battle-tested frameworks proven across different organisational contexts.
The book centres on several interconnected themes that distinguish Lacroix's approach.
At the heart of Leadership with Soul lies an empathetic, humanist approach to leadership:
People-First Philosophy
Lacroix attributes his success to taking a fundamentally people-centred approach. For him, business success flows from focusing on people rather than treating people as instruments of business success. The distinction is subtle but significant.
Dignity and Respect
The "soul" in the title refers to leading with genuine care for people's dignity, potential, and wellbeing. Leadership with Soul means treating people as whole human beings, not merely employees performing functions.
Authentic Care
This isn't performative concern deployed strategically. Lacroix advocates genuine care that people experience as real—the kind that builds trust and commitment over time.
Lacroix explicitly rejects shareholder primacy in favour of stakeholder value:
Multiple Stakeholders
The book emphasises delivering sustainable value for all stakeholders:
Sustainable Growth
Growth pursued at the expense of any stakeholder group proves unsustainable. True growth creates value for all—and Lacroix argues this approach ultimately delivers superior shareholder returns as well.
Long-Term Orientation
The stakeholder model requires long-term thinking. Short-term extraction of value from any stakeholder group—whether employees, customers, or communities—undermines sustainable performance.
Leadership with Soul connects business leadership to larger purpose:
Making a Difference
Lacroix believes each person is here to make a difference in their own world. Leadership becomes the vehicle for that contribution—not merely a path to personal success.
Ever-Better World
The book positions true leadership as prioritising sustainability and making the world better for everyone. This isn't corporate social responsibility bolted onto strategy but purpose integrated into how leadership operates.
The book is structured around 10 principles that, applied consistently, deliver superior and sustainable performance. Each chapter addresses one principle, providing both conceptual foundation and practical application.
While specific principles are detailed in the book, they address key leadership challenges:
Vision and Direction
People and Culture
Execution and Results
Stakeholder Relationships
Lacroix emphasises that principles must be applied consistently to deliver results. Selective application—choosing convenient principles whilst ignoring difficult ones—undermines the framework's effectiveness.
The book argues these principles apply regardless of:
This universal claim reflects Lacroix's experience applying similar principles across vastly different organisational contexts.
Sustainability—in its business sense of enduring performance—runs throughout Leadership with Soul.
For Lacroix, sustainable performance means:
Consistency Over Time
Not single-year achievements but consistent delivery across market cycles, competitive challenges, and leadership transitions.
Stakeholder Durability
Performance that doesn't exhaust any stakeholder group. Growth that burns out employees, exploits customers, or damages communities isn't sustainable regardless of short-term returns.
Organisational Capability
Building capabilities that persist beyond individual leaders. Sustainable organisations don't depend on heroic individuals but on systems and cultures that enable ongoing excellence.
Lacroix argues against viewing sustainability and performance as trade-offs:
Reinforcing Relationship
Done properly, stakeholder focus and sustainable practices enhance rather than constrain performance. Engaged employees, loyal customers, and supportive communities create competitive advantages.
Long-Term Returns
Short-term profit maximisation often sacrifices long-term value. Sustainable approaches may moderate immediate returns but build value over extended periods.
Risk Reduction
Stakeholder-focused leadership reduces risks that purely shareholder-focused approaches create—reputational damage, regulatory intervention, talent flight, and community opposition.
Several factors distinguish Leadership with Soul in the crowded leadership literature.
Unlike academic leadership books, Leadership with Soul comes from a practising CEO:
Real-World Testing
Every principle has been tested across multiple organisational contexts. Lacroix isn't theorising about what might work but documenting what has worked.
Operational Detail
The book addresses practical implementation challenges that academic treatments often overlook. How do you actually do this when facing real organisational constraints?
Credibility of Results
Lacroix can point to track record across diverse organisations. The principles aren't untested hypotheses but frameworks that have delivered measurable results.
Rather than isolated insights, Leadership with Soul offers an integrated system:
Coherent Model
The 10 principles work together rather than independently. Understanding their interaction matters as much as understanding each principle.
Systematic Application
The book provides guidance for applying principles systematically rather than selectively. Consistent application across principles yields results that partial application cannot.
Leadership with Soul explicitly integrates values into leadership practice:
Beyond Technique
The book isn't just about what leaders do but who leaders are. Character and values matter alongside skills and methods.
Purpose Connection
Leadership connects to larger purpose beyond organisational success. The "soul" language signals this deeper dimension.
Understanding principles matters less than applying them. Leadership with Soul provides guidance for implementation.
Begin by evaluating current leadership practice:
Principle Alignment
How well does your current approach align with the 10 principles? Where are gaps between your practice and the framework?
Stakeholder Balance
Are you creating value for all stakeholders or prioritising some at others' expense? How would different stakeholders assess your leadership?
Sustainability Evaluation
Is your current approach sustainable? What would happen if you continued present practices for five or ten years?
Use the framework to guide leadership development:
Extend principles beyond individual leadership:
Cultural Alignment
Does organisational culture support or undermine the principles? What cultural shifts would enable better implementation?
Systems Integration
Do organisational systems—performance management, compensation, decision processes—align with the principles?
Leadership Development
How can you develop these principles in other leaders throughout the organisation?
Leadership with Soul by André Lacroix presents a 10-principle leadership model developed over four decades leading global organisations including Intertek, Inchcape, and Euro Disney. The book advocates humanist, stakeholder-centred leadership that creates sustainable value for customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and society—arguing this approach delivers superior long-term performance.
André Lacroix is the Chief Executive Officer of Intertek Group, a position he has held since 2015. His career spans four decades across global corporations including Inchcape (Group Chief Executive), Euro Disney (Chairman and CEO), Burger King International (President), and earlier roles at PepsiCo, Colgate Palmolive, and Ernst & Young. He also served as Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of Reckitt Benckiser.
The book devotes chapters to 10 principles that, when applied consistently, deliver superior and sustainable performance. These principles address vision, people, culture, execution, stakeholder relationships, and sustainable value creation. Lacroix argues the principles apply universally regardless of organisation size, geography, or business model.
Leadership with Soul comes from a practising CEO with four decades of real-world experience rather than academic theory. The principles have been tested across diverse industries and geographies. The book provides an integrated framework rather than isolated insights and explicitly connects leadership to values, purpose, and making a positive difference beyond business success.
Leadership with soul means leading with genuine care for people's dignity, potential, and wellbeing—treating people as whole human beings rather than merely employees. It involves connecting leadership to larger purpose beyond profit, prioritising sustainability, and creating value for all stakeholders. The "soul" refers to the authentic, humanist dimension of leadership.
The book benefits current and aspiring leaders at all levels—from emerging managers to senior executives. Those responsible for organisational strategy, culture, and people will find particular value. Leaders questioning purely shareholder-focused approaches or seeking frameworks for sustainable, stakeholder-centred leadership will find Lacroix's perspective compelling.
Lacroix's philosophy centres on humanist, stakeholder-centred leadership. He believes business success flows from focusing on people first, creating sustainable value for all stakeholders (customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and society), and connecting leadership to purpose beyond profit. He argues this approach ultimately delivers superior long-term performance whilst making positive difference.
André Lacroix's Leadership with Soul offers something increasingly rare in business literature: a comprehensive leadership framework from someone who has actually led large, complex organisations across diverse contexts. The principles aren't theoretical constructs but tested approaches refined through decades of practice.
What makes the book particularly relevant for contemporary leaders is its explicit rejection of shareholder primacy in favour of stakeholder value. As businesses face increasing pressure to consider impacts on employees, communities, and society—not just investors—Lacroix's framework provides practical guidance for navigating this expanded responsibility.
The "soul" language might seem unusual for business writing, but it signals something important: leadership is ultimately about character as much as competence, about who leaders are as much as what they do. In an era of declining trust in institutions and leaders, this integration of values and practice deserves attention.
Whether you adopt Lacroix's framework wholesale or extract selected principles for your context, Leadership with Soul provides substantive thinking about sustainable, humanist leadership from someone who has proven these approaches deliver results.
The invitation is clear: lead in ways that create value for all stakeholders, connect leadership to larger purpose, and build organisations that make the world better. The evidence suggests this path delivers not just ethical satisfaction but superior long-term performance—leadership with soul and with results.