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Palgrave Macmillan

Negative Capability in Leadership Practice

Implications for Working in Uncertainty

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

  • Adds a new understanding of Negative Capability as a way of being to the leadership and management literature

  • Inspires leadership practitioners to navigate in uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity in the knowledge economy

  • Supports leaders and managers to liberate their attention from capture in the Attention Economy

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

Working in uncertainty has become the new normal, but what do leaders have to draw upon when lacking the requisite knowledge? In this book, the authors make a case for Negative Capability, which enables leaders to work in a state of not knowing without simply reaching for old ideas or resorting to habitual behaviours. It is not a practice that can be measured, but its impact in leadership practice is immense and tangible.

Offering fresh insights for leadership students, researchers, and practitioners on the challenges of working in uncertainty, the book offers a novel perspective on Negative Capability as a way of being. Each chapter explores an aspect of Negative Capability through the accounts of leaders and managers who had the courage to explore this way of being and share the stories about its powerful impact. Ultimately, this book explores how a practice of attention can lead to new ways of understanding the role of purpose, leisure, and passion in leadership practice.


Authors and Affiliations

  • Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Charlotte von Bülow, Peter Simpson

About the authors

Dr Charlotte von Bülow is Senior Lecturer in Leadership at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, and Founder of Crossfields Institute. After twenty years in the private sector as an entrepreneur, CEO, educator, coach, consultant and governor, her research and publications are anchored in lived experience and practice.

Dr Peter Simpson is Associate Professor in Organisation Studies at Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, and Senior Consultant at Crossfields Institute. As a practitioner and researcher, he has held a range of leadership positions and published widely on leadership, change management, group dynamics, and workplace spirituality. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Negative Capability in Leadership Practice

  • Book Subtitle: Implications for Working in Uncertainty

  • Authors: Charlotte von Bülow, Peter Simpson

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95768-1

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Business and Management, Business and Management (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-95767-4Published: 14 May 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-95768-1Published: 13 May 2022

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXI, 125

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Management, Administration, Organization and Leadership

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