Simon Western – författare

A critical, global counterpoint to more western-centric texts that will appeal to critical leadership scholars, those teaching leadership from a critical perspective and those teaching leadership with an international focus.

 

Split into two parts; its first part presents the local and regional variations in leadership from across the globe, with each of the twenty individual authors presenting the histories, cultures, tensions and social changes that shape the practice of everyday leadership in their respective region.

 

Regions and countries included are: the Arab Middle East, Argentina, ASEAN, Australia, Brazil, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, USA.

 

In the second part, the editors then critically analyse these chapters and identify the key themes and specific issues, enabling the reader to challenge their own leadership perceptions and move beyond the normative, uncritical approach to leadership.

 

Suitable reading for leadership students, researchers and practitioners looking to enhance their knowledge of global leadership.

A critical, global counterpoint to more western-centric texts that will appeal to critical leadership scholars, those teaching leadership from a critical perspective and those teaching leadership with an international focus.

 

Split into two parts; its first part presents the local and regional variations in leadership from across the globe, with each of the twenty individual authors presenting the histories, cultures, tensions and social changes that shape the practice of everyday leadership in their respective region.

 

Regions and countries included are: the Arab Middle East, Argentina, ASEAN, Australia, Brazil, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, USA.

 

In the second part, the editors then critically analyse these chapters and identify the key themes and specific issues, enabling the reader to challenge their own leadership perceptions and move beyond the normative, uncritical approach to leadership.

 

Suitable reading for leadership students, researchers and practitioners looking to enhance their knowledge of global leadership.

In this original text, Simon Western deconstructs and reconstructs leadership to challenge the popular notion of the individual or hero leader, instead using his own framework to present leadership as a distributed process.

New to the third edition:

A new chapter on leadership symptoms that offers a novel approach to researching and conceptualizing leadership.An expanded chapter on “Leadership and Diversity” with Pooja Sachdev.Updated material on “The Eco-Leadership Discourse”, with the chapter now differentiating between ethical eco-leadership and commercial eco-leaders (e.g Facebook, Google, Amazon).Analysis of contemporary leadership trends, including leadership in the gig economy, algorithmic management, and the rise in messiah and authoritarian leadership in populist parties.Updated case studies with references to current politicians and organizations.

 

In this original text, Simon Western deconstructs and reconstructs leadership to challenge the popular notion of the individual or hero leader, instead using his own framework to present leadership as a distributed process.

New to the third edition:

A new chapter on leadership symptoms that offers a novel approach to researching and conceptualizing leadership.An expanded chapter on “Leadership and Diversity” with Pooja Sachdev.Updated material on “The Eco-Leadership Discourse”, with the chapter now differentiating between ethical eco-leadership and commercial eco-leaders (e.g Facebook, Google, Amazon).Analysis of contemporary leadership trends, including leadership in the gig economy, algorithmic management, and the rise in messiah and authoritarian leadership in populist parties.Updated case studies with references to current politicians and organizations.

 

Entanglements: Weaving Our Futures brings a fresh re-imagining of the challenges facing us in our disruptive age that provides rich and nourishing food for thought. At the heart of the book is the recognition that we live in a new Precarious-Interdependent Age (P-I Age). This calls for a radical shift in how we relate to ourselves, each other, and to our environment. Simon Western presents a score and more of short essays that each respond to a dislocating social or political event: Covid-19, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the rise of ‘woke’ culture and populism, the climate crisis, the meaning of monarchy, and much, much more. Western invites us to ‘look awry’ at the world, enabling us to observe the unconscious currents and symbolic meanings that shape collective experience and personal identity.These evocative reflections with a psychoanalytic sensibility are grounded in lived experience. Drawing on his unique journey from factory floor to nursing, family therapy, academia, and organisational leadership, plus a highly valued time as a stay-at-home father, Western bridges personal narrative with social critique. Themes of loss, care, power, desire, belonging, re-enchantment, and digital disruption are explored, always with the intention to provoke reflection and uncover possibilities for ethical and soulful ways of being.Thus, Western does not deliver glib answers, pithy soundbites, or certainties. Rather, he opens a radical space to explore our troubled and entangled times. This book is unusual as it engages with the deeply personal, the political and the spiritual, utilising a critical but loving lens.

Coaching and Mentoring: A Critical Text is a unique contribution to the field. It traces coaching influences back to pre-modern times showing connections with ‘soul healers’ of the past, taking a journey through modernity to post-modernity and making links that helps us better understand coaching today. Positioning coaching as working between the 'wounded-self' (of therapeutic culture) and 'celebrated-self' (of the human potential movement), it reveals four discourses that underpin contemporary coaching practice:

1. The Soul Guide Coach: coaching the 'inner-self', focusing on values, authenticity and identity. 2. The Psy Coach: coaching the 'outer-self', using psychological techniques to focus on personal performance and how we relate to others. 3. The Managerial Coach: coaching the 'role-self', focusing on work, task, output and productivity. 4. The Network Coach: coaching the 'networked-self', focusing on the wider networks in which we live and work.

This vital new book brings a fresh and critical perspective on coaching and mentoring, challenging its taken-for-granted assumptions and narratives. It is written by a practitioner-scholar, and develops an exciting vision for coaching today.

Key features:

Accounts for the diverse influences on contemporary coaching practice Reveals how coaching is the new 'post-modern confessional' Develops a meta-theory of coaching that acts as a baseline for future developments Offers frames of thinking to guide coaching and mentoring practitioners and educators.