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Unleadership
Book

Unleadership

The Remarkable Power of Unremarkable Acts

Selen Kars-Ünlüoğlu, Carol Jarvis and Hugo Gaggiotti
De Gruyter, 2024
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8

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Recommendation

The world is run by people who take charge, illuminate a path forward, and prod others to follow, say professors Selen Kars-Ünlüoğlu, Carol Jarvis, and Hugo Gaggiotti. Drawing inspiration from their diverse disciplines and grassroots action during the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors introduce, analyze, and validate the concept of “unleadership.” In this style of leadership, they explain, direction doesn’t come from the top. Instead, it emerges from ordinary people, even if they lack a mandate or leadership training. Under conditions of duress, they see a need, step in to fill it, and achieve successes that may have been inaccessible to those on more traditional leadership paths. The question is: how do you summon – or replicate – unleaders when you need them. The answer is: step up.

Summary

The pandemic drew attention to a new style of leadership.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, informal leadership emerged worldwide as people came together and took action, even though many lacked formal, authoritative positions. This kind of leadership, which is referred to as “unleadership,” has four components: connecting and collaborating, catching the wave of action, living with the unknown, and paying it forward.

Unleadership is cooperative, emergent, and community-based. ​​It focuses attention on action, not actors. To take advantage of this trend, organizations should nurture collaboration between traditional leaders and emerging unleaders – people who wield informal influence or spur connectivity among your employees or teams.

Unleaders connect organically to build collaboration on the go.

History repeatedly shows that the most effective disaster responses often emerge from the grassroots level rather than from powerful leaders who exert hierarchical or militaristic control. Most unleaders step up to address problems, gathering collaborators as they move forward.

Their adaptability, openness, ...

About the Authors

The authors are faculty members at England’s University of the West. Selen Kars-Ünlüoğlu teaches organization studies, Carol Jarvis teaches Knowledge Exchange, and Hugo Gaggiotti teaches in the areas of professional mobility and nomadism.

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