A new philosophy of leadership

And yet,
it is the heart. Leadership beyond rationality, in the age of AI.

For decades, business has worshipped a single god: rationality. But neuroscience reveals a quieter truth — the heart has its own intelligence, and in a world where machines outperform us at logic, this is what remains stubbornly, magnificently human.

Keynote speaker Leadership workshops Executive coaching
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SAPIENTIA · CORDIS
"The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know." — Pascal
The Book

A quiet revolution
in how we lead.

The Leader's Heart — Leadership beyond rationality in the age of AI

In 1991, neurophysiologists discovered that the heart contains a network of around forty thousand neurons — a "little brain" that learns, remembers, and decides on its own.

For centuries, we have treated emotion as the enemy of clear thinking. From Descartes' cogito to the modern obsession with KPIs, leadership has been engineered to look like a science. But study after study now confirms what every great leader quietly knew: the most consequential decisions integrate logic with something deeper.

The Leader's Heart traces this story — from Galileo to neuroscience, from the tyranny of metrics to the algorithms now reshaping our work — and proposes a different compass for the executive of the next decade. One in which head, heart and silicon work in concert, not in conflict.

40,000 Neurons in the heart's intrinsic nervous system
4–7s Cardiac signals precede conscious cognition
$8.9T Global cost of disengaged leadership (Gallup)
The Three Powers

What machines
cannot replicate.

While artificial intelligence accelerates past us in the realm of pure computation, three deeply human capacities become not less, but more, valuable. They are the heart's contribution to leadership — measurable, trainable, decisive.

i.

Courage

From the Latin cor — heart.

The capacity to decide and act under uncertainty, to dissent when the data points one way and your judgement another. Not the absence of fear, but the willingness to move through it.

ii.

Intuition

The heart's predictive intelligence.

The body knows before the mind can prove. Trained intuition reads patterns algorithms cannot see — the meeting that is about to fail, the candidate who does not fit any template but is exactly right.

iii.

Connection

Authentic presence creates trust.

No algorithm has ever inspired a team to do its best work. People follow leaders who see them — and who can be seen in return. This is the relational fabric every strategy ultimately depends on.

" In a world increasingly dominated by machines, our greatest competitive strength lies in our ability to feel, intuit, and connect authentically — not in incremental improvements in managerial skills.
— from The Leader's Heart
Working Together

Three ways to bring
heart-led leadership in.

Three decades inside multinationals — from boardrooms to factory floors, across continents — translated into formats that meet your organisation where it is.

No. 01

Keynote Speaker

For conferences, leadership summits, off-sites.

A 45–60 minute talk that re-frames the question every executive is now asking: if AI can think faster than us, what is left for human leaders to do? Built around stories from the field, with sharp neuroscience and a clear call to action.

  • And Yet, It Is The Heart — flagship keynote
  • Heart & Silicon — leading in the age of AI
  • Custom keynotes for your audience
No. 02

Leadership Workshops

For intact senior teams, half-day to two days.

A workshop format designed for boards and executive committees. We work on the team's real decisions — strategy, succession, transformation — surfacing the rational and emotional inputs each member is bringing, and aligning around a more integrated way of deciding.

  • Heart-led decision-making
  • Trust, dissent, psychological safety
  • Integrating AI without losing humanity
No. 03

Executive Development

One-to-one coaching for senior leaders.

A 6 to 12-month engagement for CEOs, C-suite executives, and high-potential leaders preparing for a step-up. Confidential, structured around the situations you are actually navigating, drawing on three decades of operational experience — not theory.

  • Pre-CEO and first-90-days transitions
  • Strategic clarity under uncertainty
  • Presence, voice, and difficult conversations
About
Augusto Abbarchi

Augusto Abbarchi

Manager · coach · author

Over thirty years inside multinational organisations — leading teams from a few people to several thousand, across countries and cultures, in roles that ranged from frontline sales to global executive responsibilities.

Former CEO of SAP Italy, Chief Operating Officer for EMEA, and Global Head of Maintenance. Senior Vice President of Global Support Services and Global Head of Renewals at Software AG. Engineer by training, executive by trade, student of philosophy and neuroscience by conviction.

The Leader's Heart is the distillation of those three decades — what worked, what didn't, and the quiet research that finally explained why.

Education
Mechanical Engineering
University of Florence
MBA
Politecnico di Milano
(MIP)
Roles
CEO Italy · COO EMEA
SAP & Software AG
Off-stage
Top-100 international fencer
Jazz enthusiast · Florentine
The Book

Read The Leader's Heart.

Available worldwide in paperback and digital editions. The book is a short, dense read — designed to be finished on a long flight and re-read on the way back.

Author  Augusto Abbarchi ISBN  9798249520403 Edition  2025 Language  English
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The Leader's Heart — book cover
Get in touch

Tell me about
your organisation.

Whether you are organising a leadership event, planning an off-site for your executive team, or considering one-to-one coaching for a senior leader — send a few lines about the situation and I will reply personally.

For media enquiries, podcast appearances and book reviews: same address, please mention "media" in the subject.

Direct
augusto.abbarchi@mac.com
Based in
Florence, Italy — available worldwide