RMIT University

Graduate Student, Global Studies, Social Science and Planning

College of Design and Social Context

Thesis Title: Into the Wilderness: A Navigation of Postformal Leadership

About

POSTFORMAL: THE FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP

From management's dehumanising to leadership's integral higher purpose ...

RESEARCH PATRONS

1. PATRON: Worldview.
Emeritus Professor Sir Gustav Nossal AC, CBE,  FAA, FRS
University of Melbourne, Australia
-Australian of the Year 2000
-Albert Einstein World Award for Science 1990
-President: Australian Academy of Sciences 1994-1998
-Chairman: Advisory Committee - The Global Foundation
-Chairman: World Health Organisation (WHO) Vaccines Program 1993-2002
-Chairman: Strategic Advisory Council, Bill & Melinda Gates Children's Vaccine Program 1998-2003

2. PATRON: Psychology.
A.J.W. (Tony) Taylor PhD, DHC (Reims)
Emeritus Professor of Psychology
Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand
-Honorary Consultant – New Zealand Antarctic Division 1967-1983
-Organiser: International Biomedical Expedition to Antarctica 1980-81
-Honorary Consultant: Greenpeace Antarctica 1983-1986
-Polar Personnel Selection Panel – WHO Panel of Experts 1984
-Convener: Polar Psychology Symposium, World Congress of Psychology 1988

3. PATRON: Philanthropy.
To be advised


DOCTORAL SUPERVISORS

1. PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR:
Professor Rob Watts BA (HONS), MA, Dip Ed (LaTrobe), PhD (Melb)
-Professor of Social Policy & Director, Social Sciences,
Global Studies, Social Sciences & Planning
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

2. SECONDARY SUPERVISOR:
Professor John Fien BA, Grad Dip SA, MA (London), BpHDA (UQ)
-Professor of Sustainability,
Innovative Leadership Program
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia


CRITICAL ADVISORS

1. DOCTORAL CONSULTANT: Postformal Futures
Professor Jennifer M. Gidley PhD
-Visiting Professor, School for Transformative Leadership,
Palacký University, Czech Republic
-President: World Futures Studies Federation (UNESCO)
-Research Fellow: Global Cities Research Institute
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
-Visiting Fellow: Centre for International Studies and Research,
SciencesPo, Paris, France
-Senior Research Fellow: Global Dialogue Institute
Haverford College, Philadelphia PA, USA
-Fellow: Botin Platform for Innovation in Education, Santander, Spain
-Member: Scientific Advisory Board
Institute for Integral Studies, Freiburg, Germany.

2. DOCTORAL CONSULTANT: Postformal Reasoning
Dr Gary P. Hampson
-Senior Research Fellow
School for Transformative Leadership
Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic


DISSERTATION DETAILS

TITLE:
Into the Wilderness:
A Navigation of Postformal Leadership

INTRODUCTION:
Traditional leadership is characterised as a series of skills that are externalised as one's 'style', practised as distinct from lived; existing in action, rather than occurring within.

Postformal leadership is a totally new concept that draws on the work of American psychologists who have built on the work of Piaget to create the discipline of Postformal Reasoning. Postformal Leadership is visualised as a metonymic state of being where both leadership and the leader are one. It comes from within, exists in a state of flow and cannot be reduced to an MBA or similar externalised program.

Postformal leadership may have always existed without ever being formally recognised as such. How would we know? Is postformal leadership in fact our natural state? And if we created new ways to see, would it suddenly appear before us: self-evident and ubiquitous?

These notes are brief, incomplete and will be updated on a rolling basis.


AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:
For Arctic explorer, acclaimed author and futurist Earl de Blonville, exploring the very essence of leadership itself has become the new whitescape; a consciousness where continual uncertainty can be utilised to create endless possibility for post-industrial futures.

Earl's integrated leadership philosophy is underpinned by 25 years of field leadership experience and 10 years of executive leadership coaching.

Earl is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London, and has advised major expeditions that include a British woman's record-breaking camel expedition, the longest in recorded history, and an Irish Arctic sailing expedition that won the coveted Blue Water Medal.

His adventure career includes firsts in the European Alps, Greece, Himalayas and Kimberley, together with the first sea kayak circumnavigation of Tasmania in 1979 and first northerly crossing of notorious Bass Strait. In 1988 Earl was Director of the Tall Ships spectacular that officially opened Australia's Bicentenary before international television audiences.

He mounted and led Australia’s first expedition to the Arctic in 1986, with HRH The Prince of Wales as patron, and has explored half of Greenland’s navigable coast by sea kayak and his 50' ice-strengthened yacht. In late 2010 he conducted reconnaissance in East Greenland for future scientific work.

In 1987 he produced an internationally released television documentary film, screened in Canada, Europe Australia and the USA, and in 2010 he published his critically acclaimed book, ‘Seventh Journey’, exploring the real-life application of  postformal leadership for future-focused leaders.









   

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