Leadership in crisis: ‘Events, my dear boy, events’

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the theme for the 2009 8th International Conference on Studying Leadership (ICSL): Leadership in Crisis, which was hosted by the Centre for Leadership at the University of Birmingham (CLUB). We introduce five papers chosen from the conference which make up this special issue and that engage with different facets or manifestations of crisis — in context, method and theory. Prior to introducing the papers we offer our own reflections on the theme of crisis and its implications for new theorizing in leadership. In our necessarily brief review of the topic we suggest there is cause for optimism and opportunity to move forward — as is exemplified in the contributions we chose for this issue. We suggest crisis is inevitable, as summed up by the phrase ‘events, my dear boy’ — Harold MacMillan’s tongue-in-cheek answer when asked what was the biggest challenge facing him as a leader. At the same time, we identify three challenges in relation to current leadership studies. First, how to elevate the collective and the contextual dimensions of leadership without losing sight of the individual. Second, how to conduct ontologically diverse research which nevertheless promotes dialogue with less favoured and familiar discourses. Third, given the local and time-bound prism through which we access social phenomena, how to make the most of glimpses at crisis through occasional slivers of light.

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