S5-Ep5: Revitalizing Leadership: Putting Theory and Practice into Context

Guest: Brad Jackson

Brad talks about his book: Revitalizing leadership – Putting Theory and Practice into Context. He connects leadership theory and practice with context. It argues that the universal prescriptions favoured by most leadership scholars ignore the reality that context always matters in leadership practice – and in leadership theorizing too. Addressing this gap, the book offers a novel framework that enables the development of context-sensitive leadership theory and practice that directs attention to the key challenges for leadership in different organizational contexts. It involves developing a specific purpose for leadership in a given context, as well as formulating the values, norms and domains of action that guide leadership efforts in that context. Determining these various matters then informs the role, responsibilities, rights, behaviors and attributes relevant to leaders and followers for that context, and the focus, purpose and boundaries of the leader-follower relationship.