Inside Navigating the Organisational Landscape: Three Perspectives on Modern Leadership
Navigating the Organisational Landscape: A Scholar-Practitioner’s Guide to Effective Leadership was released last week on Zenodo and is now publicly available at
https://zenodo.org/records/18407123
This book captures the essence of leadership as a disciplined integration of insight and action. Bringing together theory, lived experience, and practical frameworks, it equips leaders to navigate complexity, uncertainty, and change with clarity and purpose. Written by thirteen graduates of the Diploma in Organisational Leadership programme at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, the volume reflects the scholar-practitioner tradition where rigorous thinking meets real-world responsibility. Together, the authors offer grounded, globally informed perspectives on what it means to lead effectively in today’s organisational landscape.
The book opens with Section I: Contemporary Leadership Perspectives, establishing a conceptual foundation for the chapters that follow. This section explores how leadership thinking must evolve to remain relevant in an increasingly complex, high-expectation world and how leaders can combine reflection, influence, and practical judgement to guide organisations effectively.
Chapter 1 – Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice in Leadership
Author: Shawn D. Mathis
Serving as the opening chapter of the volume, Mathis introduces leadership as a disciplined blend of thinking and doing. He demonstrates how leaders who adopt a scholar-practitioner mindset use frameworks not as abstract theory, but as practical tools for clearer decision-making, stronger judgement, and effective action in complex, real-world organisational settings. As Mathis states directly,
Bridging the gap between theory and practice in leadership requires embracing the role of a scholar-practitioner.
He further emphasises the functional role of leadership frameworks, noting that
These frameworks provide structure, decision design, reasoned analysis, and architecture to your leadership endeavours, offering a roadmap for success.
Building on this foundation, the section then turns from frameworks and judgement to the subtler, often underestimated forces that shape influence inside organisations.
| Teaching focus | Core idea | Application |
|---|---|---|
| Theory + practice | Leadership is strongest when thinking and action are intentionally integrated. | Match one real leadership problem to one relevant framework. |
| Frameworks | Frameworks are decision tools that add clarity and structure in complexity. | Apply a single framework to a live case in small groups. |
| Active learning | Leadership capability grows through action, reflection, and iteration. | Run a short try → reflect → revise exercise. |
| Scholar–practitioner | Effective leaders are both disciplined thinkers and purposeful doers. | End sessions with one learning insight and one action commitment. |
Chapter 2 – Moving the Elephant Without a Stick: The Invisible Force of Leaders’ Core Behaviours
Author: Shamini Murugesh
Murugesh challenges traditional command-and-control models by examining the less visible dimensions of leadership that shape behaviour and culture. The chapter explicitly focuses on what often goes unnoticed in leadership practice, explaining that
Contemporary leadership demands a nuanced approach that leverages the purpose-driven roles of prophet and ambassador. These roles are rooted in the establishment of a leadership framework that defines evolving leadership responsibilities.
Rather than relying on authority or coercion, Murugesh frames leadership as a practice rooted in behaviour, meaning, and values, observing that
It equips future leaders with practical tools to move the proverbial elephant without a stick.
From there, the section widens the lens again—moving from behavioural influence to the deeper question of how leaders gain, maintain, and responsibly balance power.
| Teaching focus | Core idea | Application |
|---|---|---|
| Influence | Real leadership influence does not rely on force or authority. | Discuss a leader people followed voluntarily and why. |
| Core behaviours | Everyday leadership behaviours shape trust, motivation, and culture. | Observe one meeting and identify behaviour signals. |
| Purpose | Meaning and purpose mobilise people more effectively than control. | Have teams restate their purpose in one sentence. |
| Culture | Culture is the cumulative effect of what leaders model and tolerate. | Identify one behaviour that must change to shift culture. |
Chapter 3 – The Power-Tetrahedron in Organisational Leadership
Author: Lukas-Kajetan Gruber
Gruber reframes power not as a fixed possession, but as a dynamic relationship that must be earned, calibrated, and sustained. Drawing on philosophical perspectives and professional experience, he introduces the “Power-Tetrahedron” as a mindful leadership model built on balance. As Gruber notes, power can grow only where it does so on a balanced basis underscoring the need for equilibrium between professional competence, organisational role, and human relationships.
Once leaders in organisations have figured out that something in their execution of power is out of balance, preventive and targeted actions are needed to strengthen and re-solidify respective/affected areas and to bring the bases of The Power-Tetrahedron back into balance.
Gruber's model of The Power-Tetrahedron "serves as a visualisation and analytical tool to help figure out what kind of actions need to be taken to lead in a more powerful and mindful way."
| Teaching focus | Core idea | Application |
|---|---|---|
| Power | Power is relational and exists only with group recognition. | Ask: “Who actually sustains your authority?” |
| Power-Tetrahedron | Leadership power depends on balance between role, professionalism, and relationships. | Map current leadership strengths and imbalances. |
| Legitimacy | Fairness and consistency sustain trust and authority. | Review a decision for perceived legitimacy. |
| Collective responsibility | Leadership collapses when relationships fracture. | Identify one practice that strengthens group cohesion. |
Together, these opening chapters set the tone for a volume that treats leadership not as a formula, but as a disciplined, human practice—one that integrates judgement, influence, and responsibility. Navigating the Organisational Landscape: A Scholar-Practitioner’s Guide to Effective Leadership invites readers to think deeply, act deliberately, and lead with purpose in an increasingly complex world.
To explore these insights in full and to engage with the voices of thirteen Oxford-trained scholar-practitioners, visit Zenodo and read the book here:
👉 https://zenodo.org/records/18407123
Whether you are an experienced leader or an emerging one, this book offers frameworks, reflections, and perspectives designed to sharpen thinking and strengthen practice.