Dr. Mary Uhl-Bien, a prominent leadership scholar and Professor at Texas Christian University, discusses the intricacies of complexity leadership. She shares insights on how leaders can adapt to technological changes and global disruptions, particularly highlighted by the shift to remote work during the pandemic. Uhl-Bien emphasizes the importance of relationship-oriented leadership in navigating societal tensions and harnessing conflict for positive outcomes. She also reflects on how personal and professional realms are intertwined in today's complex world, urging leaders to embrace this dynamic for growth.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
State Farm Experience
Mary Uhl-Bien realized traditional leadership theories weren't practical when she consulted for State Farm.
A VP, Jim Smith, initially tried her relationship-building advice but abandoned it because "it's not my job."
question_answer ANECDOTE
Introduction to Complexity
Mary Uhl-Bien's introduction to complexity leadership stemmed from a chance encounter with Jerry Hunt, editor of Leadership Quarterly.
Hunt connected her with Russ Marion, a complexity expert, leading to a collaboration and her exploration of complexity theory.
insights INSIGHT
Interconnectivity and Complexity
Interconnectivity drives complexity, leading to rich interactions and transformations.
Increased interconnections increase the likelihood of "rich interconnections," resulting in more complexity events.
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This book delves into the application of chaos and complexity theories to formal social systems. It explores how organizations function within dynamic and unpredictable environments, emphasizing the importance of adaptability and emergent behavior. The authors challenge traditional organizational models, proposing alternative frameworks for understanding and managing complexity. The book's insights are relevant to various fields, including management, leadership, and organizational studies. It provides valuable tools and perspectives for navigating uncertainty and fostering innovation within complex systems.
Mary Uhl-Bien is the BNSF Railway Endowed Professorship in Leadership, Professor of Management at Texas Christian University. She has been named one of the most influential leadership scholars since 1990. She is widely published in the world's top leadership and management journals and since 2000 has focused her work on complexity leadership.
Select Articles by Dr. Uhl-Bien
Uhl-Bien, M. & Arena, M. (2018). Leadership for organizational adaptability: A theoretical synthesis and integrative framework. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), 89-104.
Uhl-Bien, M. & Arena, M. (2017). Complexity leadership: Enabling people and organizations for adaptability. Organization Dynamics, 46, 9-20.
Uhl-Bien, M., Riggio, R., Lowe, K., & Carsten, M. (2014). Followership theory: A review and research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 83-104.
Uhl-Bien, M., Marion, R., & McKelvey, B. (2007). Complexity Leadership Theory: Shifting leadership from the industrial age to the knowledge era. The Leadership Quarterly, 18(4), 298-318. (Elsevier Most Cited Paper Recognition 2007-2012)
Marion, R., & Uhl-Bien, M. (2003). Complexity theory and Al Qaeda: Examining complex leadership. Emergence: A Journal of Complexity Issues in Organizations and Management, 5(1), 54-76.
Marion, R., & Uhl-Bien, M. (2001). Leadership in complex organizations. The Leadership Quarterly, 12(4), 389-418. (Center for Creative Leadership/Leadership Quarterly Best Paper Award for 2001)
Graen, G., & Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspective. The Leadership Quarterly, 6(2), 219-247. (Most cited article in first two decades of LQ)
Quotes From This Episode
"So when you have complexity, it opens up adaptive space. Adaptive space is a situation in which you have to do something different. So it creates an adaptive challenge, and it loosens up so you can get things done."
"So the rich interconnectivity means that there are rich interactions or dynamics that occur in the inner interconnections. And when things bump up against each other, they fundamentally transform each other."
"The reason it's happening more now is because our world is so interconnected. So when you increase the base number of interconnections, then you increase the chance of a rich interconnection, which means we have more complexity."
"(Biden) has to figure out how to enable an adaptive process. And what we found in our work is at the core of leading for adaptability is enabling the adaptive process. The adaptive process occurs when there's a push for novelty, and there's a push for stability. Those are that's a polarity in organizations theory they talk about. It's ambidexterity. It's a polarity. So, or a paradox."
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