New book for WEO academic

Professor Barbara Simpson’s new book, ‘Diffracting collaborative leadership: a Pragmatist project’ was published by Oxford University Press on November 18.  

The book has been endorsed by Professor Donna Ladkin, Professor of Inclusive Leadership, University of Birmingham: 

“Influenced by a range of thinkers including John Dewey, Virginia Woolf, and Donna Haraway, Simpson’s reconstruction of leadership as a ‘collaborative process of in-flow-ence’ is unique in a field which remains fixed on individual heroism as the touchstone of effective leading. Not only is the book stretching conceptually, its form fosters a holographic experience of sense making, which like the theory of leadership it offers, emerges through uncertainty, asking ‘what if’, and play.  Thank you, Professor Simpson for this dis-orienting and re-orienting take on leadership.” 

Ann Cunliffe, Professor of Organisation Studies, Fundação Getulio Vargas-EAESP, Brazil, has also endorsed the book, saying:  

“Barbara Simpson challenges the fundamental assumption that leadership is something that individual leaders do, while followers follow. Drawing on Pragmatist and process philosophy, music, and various strands of literature, she weaves a compelling argument that leading is movement, emerging in the ebbs and flows, the chords and discords, and the unexpectedness of life. Beautifully written around five movements, we are encouraged to rethink traditional approaches to leadership and engage with the much-needed idea of leading as future-making together.” 

Published: 27 November 2024