Leadership in Complexity and Change - For a World in Constant Motion

If we needed a reminder that the world is complex and in constant motion, then 2020 certainly delivered. Suddenly, the inherent uncertainties and ambiguities of leadership were starkly revealed for all to see as the dynamics of complexity and change played out intensively, and very publicly, on the global stage.

Leadership in Complexity and Change draws on complexity science to paint a picture of a world in constant motion, where leadership is enacted in the midst of complexity and continuous change. We must learn to engage with complexity. If not now, when?

Part I of this insightful book brings complexity science to life by considering the practical challenges of complexity and its implications for leadership. Part II considers how leaders can reinvigorate existing tools and approaches with a new mindset, before offering some new tools and practices for learning informed leadership. Part III concludes by considering the person in the practice of leadership i n complexity and change. Key ideas are presented through mini-cases and practical examples embedded throughout the book.

This book will help executives, managers, and professionals
recognise where some of the challenges come from understand why those challenges persist engage with the dynamic patterning of organisational life appreciate the scope for leadership recognise the choices that can be made choose how to manage themselves


Events around the book
Link to a De Gruyter Online Event in which the author Sharon Varney together with Jean Boulton, Leading authority on complexity theory and its implications for the social world, and Ian Rodwell, Head of Client Knowledge and Learning at Linklaters LLP, discuss what it means to be an effective leader in an uncertain world and that one should develop the ability to keep an eye on the emerging future:
https://youtu.be/vSi732fdqbc

Rezension:

"The book takes us on a journey into how this can enrich and lift the way we think and act while changing and leading organisations."



--Bernd Vogel, Professor in Leadership and Founding Director of Henley Centre for Leadership at Henley Business School


"This is the best book I have read on complexity and leadership. It is very accessible and yet does not shirk from providing a clear account of the theory. The implications for change and leadership are nuanced and rich and practical at the same time. And I like the focus on the individual and what it means for personal practice. Highly recommended. This is a difficult topic to tackle as every author takes different meanings from complexity and weaves in different strands; there are some assertions I might argue with, but this is also a strength and an inevitability in tackling the complex topic of complexity. There is much to inspire, to engender debate and further study as well as to offer new per spectives, new insights and practical actions".



--Dr Jean Boulton, lead author of Embracing Complexity



"This book is a revelation and will be a must for anyone wanting to understand how to take an insider view of leadership and change in today's fast-changing and ambiguous times. With marvellous clarity Dr Sharon Varney lays bare the essence of complexity thinking as it applies to leadership, bringing theory vividly to life with rich case studies and key insights. The book challenges management orthodoxy - in complexity leaders are not in control of what happens, but like everyone else, leaders are active participants in the entangled web of formal and informal relationships, what Sharon calls the dynamic patterning of organisational life, full of paradoxes, power play and anxiety. Moreover, all models are wrong, including models of strategy and leadership because models are simplifications of our complex reality. And yet they have their place, as Sharon points out, when used appropriately to open minds.



Sharon encourages the reader to embrace complexity thinking, to spot the vital signs, including weak signals of emerging trends and to truly notice the social patterning (i.e., the history of choices made in a particular context) that also enable and constrain behaviour. And, while complexity is inherently paradoxical and there are no easy answers, as the author suggests, this is good for the system because it spurs adaptation. Sharon's call to spread the thinking is well made: "Let us empower ourselves and others to bring leadership in complexity and change into the mainstream of thinking and practice. If not now, when?"



--Dr Linda Holbeche, Adjunct Professor, Imperial College Business School