Leadership in Complexity and Change: For a World in Constant Motion: 1 (De Gruyter Transformative Thinking and Practice of Leadership and Its Development, 1)

If we needed a reminder that the world is complex and in constant motion, then 2020 certainly delivered. Suddenly, the inherent uncertainties and ambiguities of leadership were starkly revealed for all to see as the dynamics of complexity and change played out intensively, and very publicly, on the global stage.

Leadership in Complexity and Change draws on complexity science to paint a picture of a world in constant motion, where leadership is enacted in the midst of complexity and continuous change. We must learn to engage with complexity. If not now, when?

Part I of this insightful book brings complexity science to life by considering the practical challenges of complexity and its implications for leadership. Part II considers how leaders can reinvigorate existing tools and approaches with a new mindset, before offering some new tools and practices for learning informed leadership. Part III concludes by considering the person in the practice of leadership in complexity and change. Key ideas are presented through mini-cases and practical examples embedded throughout the book.

This book will help executives, managers, and professionals

• recognise where some of the challenges come from
• understand why those challenges persist
• engage with the dynamic patterning of organisational life
• appreciate the scope for leadership
• recognise the choices that can be made
• choose how to manage themselves

Published in the series De Gruyter Transformative Thinking and Practice of Leadership and Its Development
Series editor: Professor Bernd Vogel, Henley Business School, UK

“This book is a revelation and will be a must for anyone wanting to understand how to take an insider view of leadership and change in today’s fast-changing and ambiguous times. With marvellous clarity Dr Sharon Varney lays bare the essence of complexity thinking as it applies to leadership, bringing theory vividly to life with rich case studies and key insights. The book challenges management orthodoxy – in complexity leaders are not in control of what happens, but like everyone else, leaders are active participants in the entangled web of formal and informal relationships, what Sharon calls the dynamic patterning of organisational life, full of paradoxes, power play and anxiety. Moreover, all models are wrong, including models of strategy and leadership because models are simplifications of our complex reality. And yet they have their place, as Sharon points out, when used appropriately to open minds.

Sharon encourages the reader to embrace complexity thinking, to spot the vital signs, including weak signals of emerging trends and to truly notice the social patterning (i.e., the history of choices made in a particular context) that also enable and constrain behaviour. And, while complexity is inherently paradoxical and there are no easy answers, as the author suggests, this is good for the system because it spurs adaptation. Sharon’s call to spread the thinking is well made: “Let us empower ourselves and others to bring leadership in complexity and change into the mainstream of thinking and practice. If not now, when?”

Dr Linda Holbeche, Adjunct Professor, Imperial College Business School

Sharon Varney is a scholar-practitioner who specialises in developing people and organisations. Sharon developed her deep expertise in leadership and change working in large, complex organisations. She was Vice President for international learning and development at a US bank, before joining a global engineering and construction company in the offshore oil and gas industry as their group head of learning and communications. In the early 2000s, Sharon was bitten by the complexity bug. This changed the trajectory of her career and she left the offshore business to take a deep dive into academia. Her award-winning doctoral research, which has a very practical edge, explored the complex dynamics of organisational change and the role of change leaders within it. Sharon now effectively bridges academia and practice. Working across a wide variety of business settings, she applies complexity science insights in her leadership and organisational development (OD) work. This includes bringing thought and practice leadership to The Henley Forum, an applied research centre at Henley Business School, and to Masters’ programmes at Henley and beyond.