OrgDev with Distinction Rethinking Leadership When the World Won't Behave with Professor Chris Mowles - OrgDev Episode 84
6 snips
Nov 28, 2025 
In this discussion, Professor Chris Mowles, Director of the Doctor of Management program at the University of Hertfordshire, dives into the messy realities of leadership. He critiques the illusion of control that many leaders embrace and emphasizes the importance of embracing uncertainty. Mowles stresses that leadership should be viewed as a group improvisation, shaped by everyday interactions. He also discusses the impact of AI on workplace dynamics, advocating for its use as a tool, not a shortcut to learning. Key advice includes nurturing solidarity among practitioners.
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Learning By Doing Complexity
- Chris Mowles runs a Doctor of Management program that researches participants' real workplace dilemmas.
- The program practices complexity by meeting as a psychodynamic community and studying itself in groups.
Emergence Over Control
- Complexity science models systems with many interacting agents to show unpredictable emergent patterns.
- Agent-based computer models reveal how simple local interactions produce unforeseeable global order.
The Seduction Of Simple Models
- Management language and tools often simplify complex human problems into tidy models.
- Two-by-two grids and similar heuristics misrepresent messy organizational realities.
