Thinking Differently about Leadership asks why and how we have come to understand leadership in the way we now do, and the consequences which arise from these understandings. Its critical interrogation of Classical Greek, Medieval and modern social scientific ideas reveals that troubling assumptions and problematic expectations are key features of leadership theorizing both in the past and today. By tracing developments in leadership thought over time, this book reveals the influence of ideas from the past on current thinking, inviting reflection on what we now seek from leaders and followers. Its unique, multi-faceted analysis identifies non-scientific factors which have profoundly influenced the development of leadership science in the modern era. Arguing that conventional understandings of leadership today are deeply problematic, the book examines why we ought to think differently about leadership and offers an approach for so doing. The book offers a framework for leadership theory-building which readers can use to apply to their own context, making it an ideal resource for critical management and leadership scholars as well as students and practitioners who will value its novel focus and perspective.

Revitalising leadership connects leadership theory and practice with context. It argues that the universal prescriptions favoured by most leadership scholars ignore the reality that context always matters in leadership practice - and so it should matter in leadership theorizing too. Addressing this gap, the book offers a novel framework that enables the development of context-sensitive leadership theory and practice. This framework directs theoretical and practical attention to the key challenges for leadership in different organizational contexts. It involves developing a specific purpose for leadership in a given context, as well as formulating the values, norms and domains of action which should guide leadership efforts in that context. Determining these various matters then informs the role, responsibilities, rights, behaviours and attributes relevant to leaders and followers for that context, and the focus, purpose and boundaries of the leader-follower relationship. Deploying this framework, six in-depth illustrative theorisations are provided, showing how leadership practice might best take shape in the contexts of supervisory management; HR management; innovation and entrepreneurship; strategy; governance; and leadership studies itself. Revitalising leadership will appeal to diverse audiences, due to its theoretical novelty, its diversity of illustrative examples, its practice-focussed orientation and its clear, engaging style. These include leadership scholars concerned with the lack of attention being paid to context in leadership theorizing; organizational scholars wanting to learn how leadership thinking can be brought to bear on the different management functions the book explores; practitioners seeking leadership ideas that are tailored to the context they lead and follow in; and those involved in MBA or leadership development programmes who are looking to combine the personal reflection sought by such programmes with a tho

Thinking Differently about Leadership asks why and how we have come to understand leadership in the way we now do, and the consequences which arise from these understandings. Its critical interrogation of Classical Greek, Medieval and modern social scientific ideas reveals that troubling assumptions and problematic expectations are key features of leadership theorizing both in the past and today. By tracing developments in leadership thought over time, this book reveals the influence of ideas from the past on current thinking, inviting reflection on what we now seek from leaders and followers. Its unique, multi-faceted analysis identifies non-scientific factors which have profoundly influenced the development of leadership science in the modern era. Arguing that conventional understandings of leadership today are deeply problematic, the book examines why we ought to think differently about leadership and offers an approach for so doing. The book offers a framework for leadership theory-building which readers can use to apply to their own context, making it an ideal resource for critical management and leadership scholars as well as students and practitioners who will value its novel focus and perspective.

Revitalising leadership connects leadership theory and practice with context. It argues that the universal prescriptions favoured by most leadership scholars ignore the reality that context always matters in leadership practice - and so it should matter in leadership theorizing too. Addressing this gap, the book offers a novel framework that enables the development of context-sensitive leadership theory and practice. This framework directs theoretical and practical attention to the key challenges for leadership in different organizational contexts. It involves developing a specific purpose for leadership in a given context, as well as formulating the values, norms and domains of action which should guide leadership efforts in that context. Determining these various matters then informs the role, responsibilities, rights, behaviours and attributes relevant to leaders and followers for that context, and the focus, purpose and boundaries of the leader-follower relationship. Deploying this framework, six in-depth illustrative theorisations are provided, showing how leadership practice might best take shape in the contexts of supervisory management; HR management; innovation and entrepreneurship; strategy; governance; and leadership studies itself. Revitalising leadership will appeal to diverse audiences, due to its theoretical novelty, its diversity of illustrative examples, its practice-focussed orientation and its clear, engaging style. These include leadership scholars concerned with the lack of attention being paid to context in leadership theorizing; organizational scholars wanting to learn how leadership thinking can be brought to bear on the different management functions the book explores; practitioners seeking leadership ideas that are tailored to the context they lead and follow in; and those involved in MBA or leadership development programmes who are looking to combine the personal reflection sought by such programmes with a thoughtful analysis of the context in which their leadership practice takes place.

Leadership studies today resembles a bewildering diversity of theories, concepts, constructs and approaches, struggling in huge part for meaning, relevance and impact. As Dennis Tourish so eloquently puts it, much of the literature suffers from 'unrelenting triviality' and 'sterile preoccupations'. Seeking to create a clean break from this current state of leadership studies, After Leadership begins with the premise of a post-apocalyptic world where only fragments of 'leadership science' now remain, echoing Alisdair McIntyre's imagining of such a scene as the basis for re-establishing the foundations and focus of moral theory. From these fragments, the authors seek to construct a new leadership studies that challenges much of the established thinking on leadership, exposes its limitations and biases, and, most importantly, seeks to construct the foundations of a more inclusive, participatory, bold, relational and social platform for leadership in the future. After Leadership thus imagines a brave new world where what leadership is and what we seek from it can be developed anew, rather than remaining bound up in the problematic traditions and preoccupations that characterise leadership studies today. Offering both full length chapter explorations that explore new ways of understanding and practicing leadership, as well as shorter essays that aim to provoke further reflection on leadership and what we seek of it, After Leadership offers a uniquely critical and creative collection that will inspire students, scholars and leadership educators to reconsider their understanding and practice of leadership.

Leadership studies today resembles a bewildering diversity of theories, concepts, constructs and approaches, struggling in huge part for meaning, relevance and impact. As Dennis Tourish so eloquently puts it, much of the literature suffers from 'unrelenting triviality' and 'sterile preoccupations'. Seeking to create a clean break from this current state of leadership studies, After Leadership begins with the premise of a post-apocalyptic world where only fragments of 'leadership science' now remain, echoing Alisdair McIntyre's imagining of such a scene as the basis for re-establishing the foundations and focus of moral theory. From these fragments, the authors seek to construct a new leadership studies that challenges much of the established thinking on leadership, exposes its limitations and biases, and, most importantly, seeks to construct the foundations of a more inclusive, participatory, bold, relational and social platform for leadership in the future. After Leadership thus imagines a brave new world where what leadership is and what we seek from it can be developed anew, rather than remaining bound up in the problematic traditions and preoccupations that characterise leadership studies today. Offering both full length chapter explorations that explore new ways of understanding and practicing leadership, as well as shorter essays that aim to provoke further reflection on leadership and what we seek of it, After Leadership offers a uniquely critical and creative collection that will inspire students, scholars and leadership educators to reconsider their understanding and practice of leadership.