In this chapter I focus on the work of developing leaders. My aim is to paint a rich picture of this process that is deeply embedded in the fabric of the communities within a few kilometres of the Business School. Learning to become a leader is not located solely in a Business School; the context of the individual’s work, their background as well as their relationships are vital, as is chance and happenstance.
I am keen to avoid heroic tales of daring do and to pay attention to the fascinating everyday ordinary work that the leader does and how they interact with the people around them (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2003; Alvesson, 2013). Indeed, I have taken inspiration from Alvesson and Sveningsson (2003, p. 1451) when they say that managers ‘…may benefit from an un-fixing of leadership from heroic and masculine connotations: more humanistic and democratic workplace relations are to be encouraged’. This chapter is based on just three interviews.
The worlds of all three leaders overlap to some degree in knowing and being influenced by each other as well as locality. In short, this chapter focuses on how leaders are developed and develop others in the context of their everyday lives at work and where they live. This includes how they interact with us at the University but also with other important influences at their work.
From the conversations, several themes emerged in the development of a leader, including the benefits of leader development being widely spread and hard to pin down, emergent and contingent on context; taking risks and making mistakes where outcomes matter but where there is support when things go wrong; and an awareness that being a leader matters.