Peter Simpson Peter.Simpson@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor
Thoughtful leadership. Lessons from Bion
Simpson, Peter; French, Robert
Authors
Robert French
Abstract
In the competing discourses within organisations, primacy tends to be given to decisive, action oriented, knowing leadership in contrast to more reflective, patient, thoughtful leadership. This paper argues that there is an important place for ‘thoughtful leadership’ as one of the necessary responses to the challenge of liquid modernity and the danger of organisations going ‘off task’. Thoughtful leaders are first of all concerned with keeping their organisation ‘on task’. It pursuit of this, thoughtful leadership provides containment, is available for thought, and mobilises others in the organisation to be thoughtful. Throughout the paper lessons are drawn from the work of the psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion on the development of the capacity for thought.
Citation
Simpson, P., & French, R. (2005). Thoughtful leadership. Lessons from Bion. Organisational and Social Dynamics, 5(2), 280-297
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | Jan 1, 2005 |
Publicly Available Date | Jun 9, 2019 |
Journal | Organisational and Social Dynamics |
Print ISSN | 1474-2780 |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 5 |
Issue | 2 |
Pages | 280-297 |
Keywords | leadership, psychodynamics, Bion, containment, negative capability, capacity |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1052102 |
Publisher URL | http://www.opus.org.uk/prveds05.htm#Vol5-No2-2005 |
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