LEADERSHIP TECHNIQUES
BIOGRAPHIES Jonathan Gosling is emeritus professor of leadership at Exeter University. He started out as a community mediator, taught and researched leadership and management for more than 30 years and is now an independent academic and consultant with Pelumbra.com. He received the International Leadership Association (ILA)’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. He acts as a mentor to founders in consulting, healthcare and the arts in Europe and Africa, co-ordinates One Planet Leadership RoundTables for experienced managers and hosts writing retreats Elnura Irmatova is a researcher at the NLB Chair in Leadership Development and a DBA candidate at IEDC-Bled School of Management. She conducts research that bridges academia and practice, with a focus on developing leadership frameworks. She is actively involved in exploring the intersection of arts and leadership to enhance self‑awareness in leaders. Irmatova’s research interests include leadership development, leader identity, arts-based leadership and complexity leadership Arnold Walravens is a professor of arts & leadership and corporate governance at IEDC-Bled School of Management and professor emeritus at the University of Technology, Delft. His research covers corporate governance, human resources, arts and leadership, executive development and AI. Walravens has chaired the boards of Achmea Insurance, Connexxion, Tauw Infra Consult and Sneep bv; he has also served on the boards at Rabobank, Bull Netherlands, CSM and Wolters-Kluwer
the cognitive versatility necessary to not only respond effectively to present challenges, but also to recognise and amplify the strategic potential embedded within tactical necessities. How to apply key learnings Both approaches acknowledge a fundamental truth: developing dynamic capabilities requires more than technical knowledge or structural flexibility; it demands transformations in how leaders perceive, interpret and engage with complex systems. These transformations include shifting from linear to systems thinking, from control to emergence, from exploitation to interdependence and from heroic individualism to collaborative sense-making. We can distill several key elements essential for shaping and shifting leadership mindsets: • Craft a manifesto that articulates the beliefs and mindsets you seek to nurture, giving form to the ideals that guide the journey • Foster an openness of expression, allowing thoughts to flourish without the constraints of prescribed ways of thinking • Create a risk-free zone where participants are free to explore the art of questioning, embracing curiosity without fear of judgment • Base the learning journey on real current challenges facing participants, working on how they make sense of these rather than what the challenges are • Encourage iterative re-framing of their understandings, responsibilities, sense of agency • Keep at least 50 per cent of your time for structured, progressive peer learning • Include immersive experiences of power, accountability, moral challenges, as well as facilitated reflection on these experiences. The challenge for business education is to evolve beyond knowledge transmission towards a certain kind of wisdom, creating experiences that not only impart skills but invite fundamental questioning, that not only provide answers but nurture the art of asking better questions and nurturing the confidence to address them through action. This evolution requires educational approaches that engage the whole person – cognitive, emotional, perceptual, relational – rather than merely the analytical mind. A cultural adaptation of these approaches will be necessary as they extend globally, respecting distinctive aesthetic traditions and collaborative norms. The relationship between AI capabilities and human leadership mindsets will continue evolving, requiring ongoing exploration of how these technologies might augment rather than replace distinctly human capacities. The extension of these approaches from individual to collective mindsets represents a critical frontier for development. In the end, the true measure of leadership education lies not in the knowledge imparted but in the quality of attention cultivated – an attention that can discern patterns within complexity, meaning within chaos and possibility within constraint. By fostering such quality of attention through mindset development, we prepare leaders to navigate the profound challenges of our time with wisdom, purpose and responsibility towards (hopefully) creating a flourishing environment for both humans and the planet.
Ambition • ISSUE 1 • 2026 39
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