Vu Jade describes our new world as somewhere we have never been and do not know (Day & Harrison, 2007; Elkington, 2015). Previous leadership paradigms seemed sufficient to navigate stable and predictable environments. However, we left those shores a while ago and are navigating uncharted waters. This poses our greatest Wicked leadership challenge: “How do we lead for the flourishing of all forever in this new world?” 

In Grint’s taxonomy of problems (Grint, 2005), the role of leadership when confronting Wicked problems is to get the right people together in the same room and create space for collaboration on best choices.  The 25th ILA is our opportunity to embark on the amazing journey of collaborating to bring our best selves to a pivotal moment to collaboratively reflect on this most Wicked of problems: “How do we lead so that our planet, our people, and our future generations flourish” (Elkington & Upward, 2016).  

Come and join us as we utilize technology and facilitation to collaboratively spark new conceptions of leadership and generatively co-construct the first pathways of a new agenda for leadership research, thinking, and practice. As we move through the session, we will pay particular attention to Indigenous worldviews, communal leadership, and leading in complex environments. Our goal for this session is that it might be the first step to help us find the pathway to flourishing, hope, and new ways of being and leading.  

To explore how a new way of leadership  for flourishing might unfold, we move through the following pathways in our workshop: 

1. 1. Welcome and Land Acknowledgement – 5 Minutes.
   2. Connecting “Sawubona – I see you (Caldwell & Atwijuka, 2018).” – 10 Minutes.
      Here participants find someone they do not know and learn six facts about that person.  
   3. Introduction of our three guest speakers and Sharing By our Guest Speakers– 50 Minutes. 
      1. Dr. Zweli Ndevu – Southern African Communal Leadership 
      2. Erin Dixon Gizhagate – Wise Practices for Indigenous Leadership 
      3. Dr. Alice MacGillivray –Leadership and Change in Complex Environments 
   4. Reflective and Refreshment Break: What Struck Me as I Listened – 10 Minutes.
      1. Formulate any questions for the Q & A session. 
   5. Lightning Round Questions for the Guest Speakers – 10 Minutes. 
   6. Roundtable discussions on the Intersection of the Guest Speakers Reflections and how these reflections inform their leadership paradigm – 30 Minutes.
   7. Sharing Ideas from the Roundtables – What Is Leadership in this New World – 30 Minutes.
   8. Closing Reflections from our Guest Speakers and Suggestions on How We Move Forward – 15 Minutes.

References: 

Caldwell, C., & Atwijuka, S. (2018). “I See You!” – The Zulu Insight to Caring Leadership. Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 11(1), 159–168. https://doi.org/10.22543/0733.111.1211 

Day, D. V., & Harrison, M. M. (2007). A multilevel, identity-based approach to leadership development. Human Resource Management Review, 17(4), 360–373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2007.08.007 

Elkington, R. (2015). Creative Leadership Requires Creative Leadership Development in a Vu Jade World. Journal of Leadership Studies, 9(3), 69–71. https://doi.org/DOI:10.1002/jls 

Elkington, R., & Upward, A. (2016). Leadership as enabling function for flourishing by design. Journal of Global Responsibility, 7(1), 126–144. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGR-01-2016-0002 

Grint, K. (2005). Problems, problems, problems: The social construction of ‘leadership.’ Human Relations, 58(11), 1467–1494. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726705061314