Leadership Unravelled

Why is it that leaders ¿ in social, political, and (most importantly) organisational contexts ¿ are seemingly unable to address meaningfully the wicked problems and complex challenges that we currently face? There¿s enormous busyness around reconfiguring departments and adopting ¿transformational¿ operating models, but in general plus ca change, plus la meme chose.

Eyewatering amounts of treasure and time are spent in corporate life on leadership development, with people working hard to try and demonstrate that something useful has happened as a result. An entire pseudo-science has emerged to try and prove its worth, in part to justify the economic dividend that goes to those who make it to the upper levels of positional power. The fetishisation of leadership, especially strong leadership, fills our news outlets holding up carefully distorted images of great men (leadership is still deeply gendered) from across the worlds of politics, business, and sports. This