Professor Jonathan Gosling

Professor Gosling joins the Strategy and Security Institute as an affiliate member of staff. Of his association with the Institute Professor Gosling states, "Leaders inhabit the present and the future at the same time. They oppose inertia, and nurture continuity. The SSI will be the most exciting place to discover how this blend is effected in some of the most stressful situation; and it will contribute specifically to the vital challenges to security and peace that we face on so many fronts".

For the past 20 years he has worked in leadership education, mostly with international companies and NGOs. His work is published in journals such as Leadership, Harvard Business Review, and Social Epistemology. Trained as an anthropologist, Professor Gosling specializes in culturally diverse and boundary-spanning organizations.

He is currently researching leadership through catastrophe – how does leadership work when cultural norms and socially accepted beliefs about a 'well-lived life' break down completely. This extends earlier work on how leaders provide continuity through disruptive change. He has recently completed the second of two major studies of leadership in UK Universities.

His 2005 book Nelson‘s Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Commander is the basis of a popular series of lectures and workshops. Other books include Key Concepts in Leadership Studies (2008, with Marturano); Foundations in Leadership: articles in celebration of John Adair (2008, with Witzel and Case); Exploring Leadership: Individual, Organizational and Societal Perspectives (2011, with colleagues at Exeter); and Leadership: Key Concepts (2012 with Jones and Sutherland).

He was co-founder of the One Planet MBA (www.oneplanetmba.org) and played a significant role in the so-called ‘critical management‘ movement. His early career was as a mediator in neighbourhood conflicts in London, where he directed the UK‘s first community mediation service and was the founding Secretary of the European Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution. He is on the Advisory Board of the Defence Academy, a co-director of the European Leadership Centre, and a director of Coaching Ourselves Inc.  In 2009, Professor Gosling served as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership Development at INSEAD, France and has been Visiting Professor at McGill University, Quebec, and at Lund University, Sweden.  He is currently co-President of the UCU Branch at Exeter.