Leadership, Gender and Ethics

'...a refreshing sweep of leadership genealogical history. Leave it to David Knights to delve into the undiscussable post-humanistic heritage of leadership meaning, especially its gendered identity, embodiment, ethics, and affect. If you ride along, your destination will be changed.' Joseph Raelin,Professor Emeritus, Management and Organizational Development, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

'Knights has written a timely and erudite rebuke to mainstream, or rather malestream, leadership scholars who have ignored or avoided many of the critical aspects of ethics, power and resistance in maintaining the status quo.' Keith Grint,Emeritus Professor, Warwick Business School, UK

'David Knights brings his usual erudition and critical spirit to question some of the core assumptions on how we study and how we practice leadership. By focusing on its gendered, bodily and ethical dimensions, Knights rightly seeks to restore the missing heart to leadership and dispel many of the simplistic and wish-fulfilling assumptions that surround it. His book is a must for students, teachers and, especially, those who wish to lead in more enlightened ways.' Yiannis Gabriel, Professor at the School of Management at Bath University and Visiting Professor at the University of Lund, Sweden

'This book is a refreshing and stimulating departure from well-trodden taken-for-granted conceptions of what leadership is and who leads. The book insightfully integrates thinking about gender, masculinity, the body and ethics to offer a novel perspective of leadership as ethically, embodied and involved engagement with self and others. Knights also draws upon his considerable practical experience to demonstrate the applicability of his ideas to leadership practice in different contexts.' Stella M. Nkomo,University of Pretoria, South Africa

"David Knights can be relied on to have his finger on the contemporary intellectual pulse, and this book is no exception. At once philosophically sophisticated and grounded, Knights’ critique eschews the individualism, scientism and implicit muscularity of much mainstream leadership theory. Inspired by the writings of Foucault and more recent post-humanist writing, he argues passionately for de-centred intersectional conceptions of leadership that hold the prospect of more egalitarian, a-gendered and just forms of leadership practice. So called ‘strong leadership’ is a symptom of our troubled times, not a solution. Read this book to discover the rich possibilities of a vision of leadership as an embodied and collective art of living." Professor Peter Case, Bristol Business School

"Should we be seduced by yet another book with leadership in its title? In this instance, we have to say "yes!" Decades after his retreat, David Knights returns to the subject with not "another book on leadership" but a book for thinking with "leadership" in the times of the more than human. Cautious in not declaring itself as the last word on the subject (pun intended), the book both effaces and reclaims "authorship" for bodies and affects floating through its conceptual materiality. An assemblage becoming for all to be part of…" Marta B. Calás and Linda Smircich,University of Massachusetts - Amherst

"How might we foster more ethical leadership? David Knights goes to the heart of the matter – it is about challenging reliance on masculinised reason and re-valuing affect and embodied relations. David’s lively theorising, practical experience and wisdom are welcome guides on this path." Amanda Sinclair, Professorial Fellow, Melbourne University, Australia.

"Leadership failure devastates people, communities and organizations. Considering the gendered, ethical nature of leadership is vital for responsible leadership practice which create and sustain humane workplaces. David Knights, with theoretical eminence and insightful illustrations, demonstrates that post-Covid-19 recovery relies on thinking about leadership differently." Alison Pullen,Professor of Management and Organization Studies, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and Joint Editor-in-Chief Gender, Work and Organization.