Diffracting Collaborative Leadership

Reviews / Votes

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 heroicism 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. * Donna Ladkin, Professor of Inclusive Leadership, University of Birmingham, UK * Simpson's book promotes a leadership to come by putting to work philosophical concepts like pragmatism, immanence, and diffraction. Encouraging experimentation and new approaches to inquiry using those concepts, her convincing scholarship promises to disturb over-determined descriptions of the field and open it to new imaginaries for the new century. * Elizabeth St Pierre, Professor of Education Theory and Practice, University of Georgia, USA * This book is a compelling and novel engagement with Pragmatist philosophy. It is grounded in the processual ontology of writers such as Jane Addams, John Dewey, George Herbert Mead, and Mary Parker Follett, and in addition it draws inspiration from diverse disciplinary sources including physics, literature, and music. Professor Simpson's writing style is innovative and refreshing. Read this book with your students and colleagues, and you'll feel wiser when closing it on the last page. * Bente Elkjaer, Professor Emerita, Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark * 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. * Ann L Cunliffe, Professor of Organization Studies, Fundacao Getulio Vargas-EAESP, Brazil *