What Do the Women’s March and Brexit Have in Common?

Session Submission Type: Panel Discussion

Short Description

International panelists will explore connections between invisible leadership, ongoing processes in contemporary civil society — such as Brexit, Women’s Marches, global migration, and terrorism — and the engagement of future generations in the world of quick changing contexts. Invisible leadership emphasizes shared values and deeply held common purpose as the activating element in people's actions. Members create strong bonds in their pursuit of higher aims and are willing to take on either follower or leader roles. This non-personal leadership driven by deeply held bonds in the contexts of today and of tomorrow will be discussed by British, American, Dutch and Czech scholars and practitioners.

Detailed Abstract

Turbulent times cause a variety of responses. As an example serves the Women’s March which the Euro-American society had the chance to witness recently. Strengthening voice of initiative taking women, however, is only one out of a variety of real-life cases demonstrating the significant role of non-personal leadership of purpose in the world of today.

This international panel discussion of British, American, Dutch and Czech scholars and practitioners aims at understanding naturally occurring circumstances leading to rise of Invisible Leadership, and at exploring ways to stimulate the process. Connection between Invisible Leadership, presence of meaning in the contemporary society and generations to come will be discussed.

The concept of Invisible Leadership emphasizes shared values and deeply held common purpose as the activating element in people’s actions. Members of groups or organizations driven by Invisible Leadership create a strong bond and in their pursuit of higher aims are willing to take on either follower or leader roles. As Gill Hickman and Georgia Sorenson (2014) describe, they connect with the meaning, take on ownership and moral responsibility, accept an active dialogue with the purpose. And as Rens van Loon and Gerda van Dijk state, ‘dialogue and reflection are essential in the process of opening up to new ideas and possibilities’ (2015, p.63).

Non-personal leadership driven by deeply held common purpose can serve as the factor that makes people tick in both groups or organizations with clearly set boundaries, and in large, fuzzy and little delimited social environments. In the panel discussion, presenters will elaborate on a number of case studies from various contexts. Gradually, the following topics will be developed:

• Impact of similarities and variations of contexts on the process of embedding Invisible Leadership
• Role of non-personal leadership in underlying processes of social movements of today
• Facilitation of rise of Invisible Leadership as enablement of the process of creating an authentic response to the needs of turbulent times
• Process of personal engaging – and disconnecting - of generations to come in contemporary societal changes
• Non-personal leadership of purpose and the possible “invisible” societal revolution.

The environment of contemporary societies is changing faster than ever before. The change, represented by hyperconnectivity, accessibility of information or exponential growth of number of existing professions, is part of everyday life reality. However, changes at the socio-psychological level are often following a slower pace. Soon it might be possible to see young, economically active people following societal standards sedimented from the past, while at the same time, this generation, as well as those to come, will have only indirect experience with the original source of these norms. How can shared purpose and non-personal leadership engage the people who face changes on various levels today, as well as the future generations, in a proactive dialogue with purpose, and facilitate the authentic process of change?

Through this panel discussion, the impact of Invisible Leadership on the context of today’s societies, and the possible implications of spread of the concept on the contemporary society and on generations to come will be explored. Variety of case studies, experience of participants and their different yet complementary views bring in unique dynamics and allow transfer of outcomes of this panel discussion to a broad spectrum of contexts.

Sub Unit

• Public Leadership

Chair

• Ted A. Baartmans, The Leadership Group

Presenters

• Gill R. Hickman, University of Richmond

• Georgia Sorenson, Moller Centre, Churchill College, University of Cambridge

• Ivana Mrozkova, University of Defence

• Tereza Herodkova, The Leadership Group