Exploring Leadership: Chapter 7

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 globalization and localized, cross-cultural leadership, introducing etic (outsider) and emic (insider) approaches to understanding culture and leadership practices. Chapter 7 emphasizes worldly leadership, which adapts to local contexts while connecting diverse communities, showing that effective leadership balances structure, belonging, and context. Ultimately, the chapter reminds us that leadership is not one-size-fits-all but grounded in immersion, relationships, and the specific needs of people and places.

Exploring Leadership:

Bolden, R., Gosling, J., & Hawkins, B. (2023). Exploring leadership: Individual, organizational and societal perspectives (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Social Capital:

Day, D. V. (2024). Developing leaders and leadership: Principles, practices, and processes. Palgrave Macmillan.

Day D. V. (2000) Leadership development: A review in context, The Leadership Quarterly, 11(4), 581-613. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(00)00061-8

Putnam, R. D. (2000) Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Globalization: 

Eriksen, T. H. (2007) Globalization: The Key Concepts, 2nd edition. Oxford: BERG.

Cross-Cultural Leadership:

House, R.J. et al. (2004) Culture, Leadership and Organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

House, R.J. et al. (2014) Strategic Leadership Across Cultures: The GLOBE Study of CEO Leadership Behavior and Effectiveness in 24 Countries. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Etic & Emic Approaches: 

Schedlitzki, D., Ahonen, P., Wankhade, P., Edwards, G., & Gaggiotti, H. (2017). Working with language: A refocused research agenda for cultural leadership studies. International Journal of Management Reviews, 19(2), 237-257. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12100

Schedlitzki, D., Case, P., & Knights, D. (2017). Ways of leading in non-Anglophone contexts: Representing, expressing and enacting authority beyond the English-speaking world. Leadership, 13(2), 127-132. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715017694233

Understanding Leadership: 

Ray, T., Clegg, S., and Gordon, R (2004) 'A new look at dispersed leadership: power, knowledge and context', in j. Storey (Ed.) Leadership in Organizations: Current Issues and Key Trends, pp. 319-336. Oxon: Routledge.