Sociology of Leadership. Creativity, Presence, and Meaning in the Time of War

The seminar will be led by two experts on leadership: prof. Michał Łuczewski, a sociologist and psychologist with 20+ years of experience in leading organizations, and Piotr Czekierda, an entrepreneur and top-expert in mentoring and coaching.

Contemporary world is torn apart by deepening polarization. Even universities have become the arena of intense political and ideological struggles. Poland has not been spared by this trend. This calls for a new type of leadership that could bring about trust, collaboration and relational goods, such as friendship and solidarity, which have become increasingly rare. Our seminar seeks to develop the idea and the practice of this new type of leadership, i.e. the idea and practice of integral leadership.

Polarization is a primordial process characteristic of first human societies. The paradox lies in the fact that the typical polarization between rivals (culturally represented in the omnipresent myth of warrying brothers) is overcome by even more powerful polarization of rivals against a scapegoat. Thus the cycle of polarization is perpetrated infinitely – polarizations are fought with polarizations. Admittedly, the ensuing social anxiety might be mitigated by forming dramatic triangles and building institutions which stabilize social relations. Yet, with the advent of social media and the crisis of traditional institutions (judiciary, economy, education, churches) our societies are engulfed with rivalry, polarization and scape-goat mechanisms, which eventually leads to growing challenges to our well-being and mental health.

In our seminar, we will conceptualize this growing anxiety as an effect of global struggle for recognition, dignity and reputation, i.e. for moral capital, whereby I define moral capital define as a set of – embodied and institutionalized – stories that bestow victim/perpetrator/hero statuses. The highest stake of this struggle is moral and ultimately sacred status, which puts us beyond any judgment. This is the ultimate source of contemporary polarization. Integral leadership would be the activity of leaving the social game for moral capital to become a non-anxious presence (Edwin Friedman). Non-anxious presence is not only a crucial characteristic of leadership but also a fundamental prerequisite of our well-being and sanity.

The sociology of leadership is virtually a non-existing discipline, as the question of leadership has been strangely relegated to other disciplines. However, since leadership addresses the fundamental question of social sciences, i.e. why there is something (social groups, public sphere, societies) rather than nothing, it should be brought back to the center of sociological focus.

Throughout the course, we will combine classical literature with cutting-edge research. As knowledge with regard to leadership is scattered across disciplines, our seminar will have a thoroughly interdisciplinary character. In the search of the new model, we will draw on theory of systems, psychology, group psychoanalysis, organization-studies, therapy, consulting, philosophy, management and spirituality. As leadership cannot be confined to scholar knowledge, as it is first and foremost a lived-practice based on tacit and implicit wisdom, we will focus on the cases of inspiring leaders. Eventually, the seminar will offer an opportunity of experiential learning, which would enable the participants to get to know their leadership model.

In the final instance, we would like to take up both novel and penetrating insights of Florian Znaniecki, the founding father of future sociology of leadership, who understood leadership as creative reorganization handling the polarity/polarization between revolution and conservatism. This entails moving beyond unconscious group processes, i.e. the unending social game for moral capital, to become non-anxious presence in the face of processes of scapegoating and forming anxious dramatic triangles between the roles of perpetrators, victims and heroes. The first step to creative leadership are thus questions: who is my scapegoat and what role do I take in dramatic triangles?

I hope that for all the participants the seminar would be an exercise both in sociology as well as in practice of leadership.

K_W01 Knows and understands basic concepts of various sub-domains of sociology (e.g. law, ritual, liturgy, peace, war, love, beauty)

K_W03 Is aware of ongoing theoretical and methodological disputes conducted in modern sociology; is reflective and critical of various positions

K_U04 Can critically select information and materials for academic work, using various sources in Polish and a foreign language as well as modern technologies

K_U16 Knows how to interpret the role of culture in the life of the individual and society

K_U17 Can relate an academic text to the problems of social life and its empirical studies

The students will be expected to write 7 to 15-page leadership cases.