1st Edition

Leadership as Art What Leaders Can Learn from the Performing Arts

By Morten Svalgaard Nielsen Copyright 2027
132 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

132 Pages 12 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Reimagining leadership as an aesthetic and human practice, this book offers a new perspective inspired by the performing arts and suggests innovative ways to navigate complexity, uncertainty, and relational dynamics in organizations. This book introduces a fresh conceptual framework for leadership, emphasizing relationships, timing, and shared meaning over traditional control models. Readers... Read more

Forewords. Acknowledgements. Preface. Prologue — BEGIN! ACT I — Diagnosis: Seeing the Stage. Stage 1 — UNDERSTAND: A Complex World. Stage 2 — IMAGINE: Generating Insight. ACT II — Shaping the Work. Stage 3 — LEAD: Directing, Devised Leadership & Power. Stage 4 — ORGANIZE: Space and Dramaturgical Process. Stage 5 — IMPROVISE: Courage, Uncertainty, and Errors. ACT III — Share the Stage. Stage 6 — COLLABORATE: Democratisation and Dynamics. Stage 7 — SENSE: Emotions and Embodied Presence. ACT IV — Living Leadership. Stage 9 — REFLECTION: Learning and Meaning. Epilogue — Leadership as Art

Biography

Morten Svalgaard Nielsen is an author, director, and leadership practitioner working at the intersection of leadership, art, and organizational transformation. He is the initiator and leader of the program Leadership as Art, developed in collaboration with Roskilde University (RUC) and Betty Nansen Theatre, Denmark.