Negative Capability in Leadership Practice Implications for Working in Uncertainty

Author / Creator

von Bülow, Charlotte. author

Available as

Online

Summary

Dr Charlotte von Bülow is Senior Lecturer in Leadership at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, and Founder of Crossfields Institute. After twenty years in the private sector...

Dr Charlotte von Bülow is Senior Lecturer in Leadership at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, and Founder of Crossfields Institute. After twenty years in the private sector as an entrepreneur, CEO, educator, coach, consultant and governor, her research and publications are anchored in lived experience and practice. Dr Peter Simpson is Associate Professor in Organisation Studies at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, and Senior Consultant at Crossfields Institute. As a practitioner and researcher, he has held a range of leadership positions and published widely on leadership, change management, group dynamics, and workplace spirituality. Working in uncertainty has become the new normal, but what do leaders have to draw upon when lacking the requisite knowledge? In this book, the authors make a case for Negative Capability, which enables leaders to work in a state of not knowing without simply reaching for old ideas or resorting to habitual behaviours. It is not a practice that can be measured, but its impact in leadership practice is immense and tangible. Offering fresh insights for leadership students, researchers, and practitioners on the challenges of working in uncertainty, the book offers a novel perspective on Negative Capability as a way of being. Each chapter explores an aspect of Negative Capability through the accounts of leaders and managers who had the courage to explore this way of being and share the stories about its powerful impact. Ultimately, this book explores how a practice of attention can lead to new ways of understanding the role of purpose, leisure, and passion in leadership practice. In the face of real complexity, a leader can do more by resisting the many pressures for rushed solutions. This book is for leaders who understand this, and who want more of the depth that it implies. It is beautifully crafted, evoking the ‘evenly suspended attention’ that it describes at the start; then illuminating, naming and honouring the more profoundly human, spiritual aspects of leading that are not really talked about, beyond brash labels, in other books. Read it with care and - unlike any other book on the topic - it will bring great joy, and a widening intuition, into your leadership. Jonathan Gosling, Emeritus Professor of Leadership, University of Exeter and Lead Faculty, The Forward Institute. The authors artfully re-imagine negative capability as an essential attention practice in the contemporary leader’s toolkit. Weaving currents of western philosophy with the lived experience of leaders grappling with real life situations, their discoveries and case studies show how uncertainty and doubt have a paradoxical power for non-linear insights and innovations in moment-to-moment interactions and high stakes decisions. Brilliant and timely. Dr Julia Wolfson, leadership coach and whole-system facilitator, author of Applying Deep Democracy in Human Services: Diversity, Inclusion and Innate Powers. As the world heads towards a future characterised by its discontinuity, this timely volume on how to be, and lead, amidst states of uncertainty is an essential resource for anyone in a position of leadership. The authors offer reflective as well as practical gems of insight to support leaders learning how to be in an unfamiliar world, while in a state of not knowing, in ways that can enable right action through enhanced awareness. Beautiful, thoughtful and practical. Charlene Collison, Sustainability Director, Futurist and Systems Change Convenor, Associate Director for Sustainable Value Chains, Forum for the Future The corporate world is facing turbulent times with increasing levels of uncertainty and ambiguity. This seminal book on the topic of Negative Capability makes an important contribution to tackling the challenges that confront organisational leadership now and in the days to come. Sekhar Rajagopalan, President / COO Mavenvista Technologies Private Limited, Mumbai Former Managing Director Bayer Vapi Private Limited, Vapi Gujarat, India .

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