Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories
Ratings1
Average rating2.5
15
Ratings1
Average rating2.5
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. Written over the course of the 2020 pandemic, the book highlights the immense lack of leadership competencies required for effective leadership in times of radical uncertainty and provides in-depth insights into the capacities and skills that should be part of all leadership development. The latest leadership theories, as well as existing key styles, including mindful leadership, the neuroscience of leadership, and transpersonal and adaptive leadership, are discussed and critiqued along with their potential contribution to developing effective leaders. Each chapter concludes with a convenient executive summary and questions that can be used for teaching purposes and class discussion. This is a comprehensive book about the interdisciplinary and multifaceted requirements of leadership and how to attain those capacities to develop effective leaders. It will be valuable for advanced undergraduate as well as postgraduate courses as a foundational resource on leadership theory and its application in practice.
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This title was incredible difficult for me to rate, so I copped out and rated it down the middle.
Beerel is obviously well-versed in leadership studies, and she condenses extensive literature on all of the covered approaches and related topics into manageable and accessible chunks. Her writing is scholarly without being stuck on itself. I appreciated that she wrote energetically about topics like mindfulness, and I was pleased to see a diligent exploration of neuroscience within leadership studies, spiritual leadership, and transpersonal leadership. I learned numerous factoids and found myself digging further into the literature on several topics because of this text. These are all good things.
But it’s not all good things. The tone of the writing veers into the snarky far too much for my taste. There is a way to suggest a more critical view of certain approaches (like transformational or authentic leadership) without being flippant or near-insulting. I am not against scholars citing their own work in subsequent writings, but Beerel’s prior texts were foundational sources for much of the discussion. I understand she wrote the book during the coronavirus pandemic, but in my opinion, she overused the pandemic as a case too often. It would be an effective highlight here and there, but otherwise, she may have wanted to consider a “leadership in the time of COVID-19” book. Finally, the chapter on crisis leadership was limited and devoid of the depth that it has received in scholarly literature. These were the negatives that made the book tough for me to finish.
I would recommend this title for leadership students, but unless the students were graduate or doctoral with some prior background in leadership studies, I would hesitate to make it a text for a course.
