Brent's Notepad

In today’s episode, we’re unpacking Chapter 9 of Exploring Leadership (2nd edition) written by Richard Bolden, Jonathan Gosling, and Beverly Hawkins. This chapter explores cross-cutting and emerging perspectives of leadership, guiding us through difficult conversations about gender, inclusion, technology, and ethics. The authors highlight the importance of inclusive and compassionate leadership, the ethical challenges posed by digi...

In today’s episode, we’re unpacking Chapter 8 of Exploring Leadership (2nd edition) written by Richard Bolden, Jonathan Gosling, and Beverly Hawkins. This chapter explores societal perspectives on leadership, focusing on how leaders respond to “Grand Challenges” like climate change, pandemics, and social upheaval which are complex problems with no simple solutions. The authors introduce sustainable and regenerative leadership, emph...

In this episode of Brent’s Notepad, we explore Chapter 7 of Exploring Leadership (2nd edition), written by Richard Bolden, Jonathan Gosling, and Beverley Hawkins, which expands our view from organizational to societal leadership. The authors distinguish organizations, with formal goals and structures, from communities, defined by informal relationships and trust, highlighting the role of social capital in leadership. They discuss g...

In this episode of Brent’s Notepad, we explore Chapter 6 of Exploring Leadership (2nd edition), written by Richard Bolden, Jonathan Gosling, and Beverley Hawkins, examining the complex relationship between leadership, power, and politics. The authors outline French and Raven’s five sources of power and Weber’s three types of authority, showing how legitimacy transforms power into influence. They discuss both “big P” politics in gov...

In this episode of Brent’s Notepad, we explore Chapter 5 of Exploring Leadership (2nd edition), written by Richard Bolden, Jonathan Gosling, and Beverley Hawkins. Here, the authors shift from individual perspectives to organizational perspectives, unpacking what it means to practice strategic leadership. We discuss how leaders navigate change and complexity, drawing on planned and process approaches, as well as frameworks like Snow...

In this episode of Brent’s Notepad, we dive into Chapter 4 of Exploring Leadership (2nd edition), written by Richard Bolden, Jonathan Gosling, and Beverley Hawkins. This chapter explores leadership through the lens of relationships, highlighting how authenticity, emotion, narrative, and identity shape the practice of leading. We look at transformational and transactional leadership, the role of charisma, and how emotional intellige...

In this episode of Brent’s Notepad, we explore Chapter 3 of Exploring Leadership written by Richard Bolden, Jonathan Gosling, and Beverley Hawkins. The chapter examines individual perspectives of leadership, focusing on traits, styles, skills, and competencies, and how each shapes our understanding of what makes someone a leader. From the “Great Man Theory” to situational leadership, Katz’s skills model, and the rise of competencie...

In this episode of Brent’s Notepad, we dive into Chapter 2 of Exploring Leadership (2nd edition), written by Richard Bolden, Jonathan Gosling, and Beverly Hawkins. The chapter traces leadership from Ancient Greece and Eastern thinkers to modern theories, showing how political, social, cultural, and economic contexts shape how we understand leadership. We unpack three major approaches: leadership as a property of leaders, as a relat...

In this episode of Brent’s Notepad, we launch a new series exploring Exploring Leadership (2nd edition), written by Richard Bolden, Jonathan Gosling, and Beverley Hawkins. In this episode, we dive into Chapter 1, examining leadership not as a set of traits or skills, but as a complex, socially embedded process shaped by context, culture, and relationships. Along the way, we question the classic leader-versus-manager distinction, ex...