Think, Leadership.
Introduction
“Rethinking Leadership,” by Dr. Annabel Bereel. The title makes me wonder and ask myself, is there something wrong, or missing from what we have been learning about leadership? Or this is an exhortation to leaders to take their leadership role seriously. It makes me curios about where she was coming from and what she would say in her book. Dr. Bereel has a very impressive list of qualifications: Doctorate in Religious studies (Social Ethics) – Boston University, Master of Arts Creative Writing – Lancaster University, Master of Arts in Transformational Psychology – University of Philosophical Research, Master of Theological Studies – Weston Jesuit School of Theology, Advanced Leadership Studies – J.F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Master of Business Administration – Cranfield University and Bachelor of Accountancy (CPA) – University of South Africa. In addition to these were lists of professional qualifications and high-level positions held.[1]
Rethinking Leadership
Before doing an inspectional reading, I had to see what others say about the book. Following are some of the comments:
“This book provides a detailed review of the key leadership theories and skills required during times of crises and radical uncertainty, how these can be developed, and how they can be applied in practice…” [2]
“This book provides a comprehensive understanding of the key leadership theories and skills required during times of crises and radical uncertainty, how they can be developed and how they work in practice.” [3]
Interestingly, most of the reviews echoed the same tones, ‘key leadership theories and skills required in times of crises and radical uncertainty.’ There were couple individuals that think differently. This is good to be aware of before my inspectional reading.
Inspectional Reading
As I read, I wanted to see the key leadership theories and skills. Not only that, but I wanted to see if these were new thoughts that were never mentioned or explored before. So, I decided to peek at ‘systemic leadership, adaptive leadership, transpersonal leadership, and transformative leadership.’ Following is what I gleaned from my inspectional reading.
- Systemic leadership – “Given our volatile and uncertain world filled with systemic challenges, quite clearly, we need insightful, systemic leaders to help us regain our balance. The systemic challenges that confront us are beyond the reach of existing institutions and their hierarchal authority structures and thus call for unprecedented collaboration among different organizations, sectors, and even countries.” [4]
- Adaptive leadership – “With adaptive leadership, the primary goal of leadership is to develop and foster the adaptive capacity of the organization. Adaptation refers to changing, or more specifically learning, how to be effective in a changing environment. In many ways, adaptive leadership is akin to creating a learning organization with a specific emphasis on values and meaning in making.” [5]
- Transpersonal leadership – “Transpersonal leadership focuses on this ability to transcend the ego and thus lead with greater insight and wisdom by not being held hostage to the ego’s needs and defenses…. It is an approach to leadership that optimizes the combination of the transpersonal Self and the egoic self. The differentiating factors of this style of leadership lie in its emphasis on great self-awareness and the integration of intellectual, emotional, and spiritual intelligence.” [6]
- Transformational leadership – “Transformational leaders are those who stimulate intrinsic motivation within their followers, which results in their producing extraordinary outcomes…they are most often charismatic and authentic, and they gain commitment and loyalty through the ability to engender trust., Transformational leaders motivate followers to raise their levels of consciousness to where they transcend their more immediate mundane needs (Northouse, 2019).” [7]
There are more to read and to learn, when time allows. However, I found nothing new, the same leadership concepts that were echoed by the other authors like Northouse (Leadership: Theory and Practice), Freidman (Failure of nerve), Dweck (Mindset), and Camacho (Mining of Gold).
Summary
This book to me personally, it sounds different from the previous readings. Maybe because it was written with ‘management and leadership’ both in perspective. To me it was looking at leadership from a different angle. Its kind of the way the ‘synoptical gospels’ [8] are related. It may also because of the author’s background as well, her educational credentials and professional background.
I like it as a good to book for it has references to the leadership theories as to how it came about. It makes you think and ask questions as you read; sometimes, I feel like total disagreement to what was mentioned. But the most important part of it, or what I got out of this book are a lot. The most important one is what was emphasized by Poole in referenced to the simulation, “The core learning objective simulation is about templating. It is designed to give leaders ‘muscle memory’ about this archetypal leadership activities.”[9] And in this case it is the templating of the leadership theories explored.
Furthermore, is the concept of ‘Mapping’ [10] as mentioned by Dr. Clark. As a student of ‘leadership with global perspective,’ I consider it valuable to gather from the theories, perspectives and learnings with regard to leadership and make my own mapping, or map overlays.
[1] Annabel Bereel. https://annabelbeerel.com/curriculum-vitae/. Accessed February 9, 2025.
[2] Taylor & Francis Group. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003044444/rethinking-leadership-annabel-beerel. Accessed February 9, 2025.
[3] Google Books. https://books.google.com/books/about/Rethinking_Leadership.html?id=_wY3zgEACAAJ. Accessed February 9, 2025.
[4] Bereel, Annabel. Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories (p. 189). Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition.
[5] Ibid. (p. 219).
[6] Ibid. (p. 241).
[7] Ibid. (p. 294-295).
[8] Synoptical Gospel. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Synoptic_Gospels#:~:text=The%20gospels%20of%20Matthew%2C%20Mark%2C%20and%20Luke%20are,contrast%20to%20John%2C%20whose%20content%20is%20largely%20distinct. Accessed February 9, 2025.
[9] Poole, Eve. Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership (p. 11). Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
[10] Clark, Jason S. Mapping.
About the Author
Noel Liemam
3 responses to “Think, Leadership.”
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Hi Noel, I like that you discussed the different leadership types. Seeing them in one place makes it easy to compare them. I also appreciated your recognition that Beerel spent time in her book discussing leadership in a time of crisis. What leadership theory resonates most with you in ordinary times and which one would you say you lean on in difficult times?
Thank you for your comment, Diane. Personally, I believe that these theories have uses in both in ordinary times and in difficult times. It is good for leaders to learn and to have all these theories since situation that demand leadership does not have a specific prescription. Certain situations may have impromptu way of dealing with it.
Hey Noel. Thanks for covering some of these theories, to build a framework, or make a map. Did anything really become a threshold concept for you in your professional life, or in relation to your NPO?