Leadership: A Supercomplex Phenomenon

Treating leadership as a supercomplex phenomenon and relating leadership research to the philosophical disciplines is a way to begin to understand its enigmatic and fluid nature. Its theories are living theories that change in an ever-dynamic world. Leadership is a phenomenon embedded in experience. This article examines leadership against the backdrop of the disciplines of philosophy (ontology, epistemology, politics, axiology and ethics, and aesthetics) with particular emphasis on phenomenology. I suggest that leaders and followers understand and filter subjective experiences through self-reflection until self-awareness is achieved in the moment by pausing and filtering subjective experiences before responding to people and situations. As a consequence, our intentions can be ethically focused, politically mitigated, and directed appropriately. Additionally, inappropriate intentions can be assuaged if the leader is self-aware and present in the moment.