Table Of ContentPost-Heroic Leadership
Context, Process
and Outcomes
Post-Heroic Leadership
Miha Škerlavaj
Post-Heroic
Leadership
Context, Process and Outcomes
Miha Škerlavaj
School of Economics and Business
University of Ljubljana
Ljubljana, Slovenia
BI Norwegian Business School
Oslo, Norway
ISBN 978-3-030-90819-5 ISBN 978-3-030-90820-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90820-1
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Preface
Itallstartedinaratherunusualwayforascientificmonograph.Theseed
has been planted with an idea from Anja Hlacˇa Ferjancˇicˇ, a brilliant jour-
nalist at the trend-setting Slovenian national radio Val 202. “Let’s do a
series of conversations with leaders about their struggles and victories”, she
said. It felt like an opportunity to get the research about leadership that
works across to a broader audience. It also felt like a challenge to try out
somethingnewasaradioco-host.WemadeaseriescalledWithanEarfor
Leadership. Because Good Leaders Listen. During the same period, I also
hadanhonourofcommunicatingleadershipresearchtothepopularaudi-
enceviaseriesofop-edsintheleadingSlovenianJournalDelo.Eversince,
the radio broadcasts, podcasts, and op-eds have been truly well received.
Why is it that so many people are interested in research and stories about
leadership?
Our societies, organizations, leaders, and employees are in need to
learn about healthier and more productive ways of leading. Heroic,
macho, and ego-centred leadership should be on its way out. We need
more narrative about leadership as a shared and servant process and
less about ego-charged leaders as some sort of heroic figures. We most
certainly need even more research about such types of leadership. This
led me to consider writing a scientific monographwith an aim to provide
a more overarching, evidence-based model of post-heroic leadership. A
leadershipthat is bothsharedand servant.Aleadershipthat isapt todeal
with wicked problems of the present and future.
v
vi PREFACE
I would like to thank Anja and her team for her initiative and
collaboration, and all our guest speakers for their invaluable inputs and
kind sharing. My sincere gratitude goes to colleagues from School of
Economics and Business at University of Ljubljana and BI Norwegian
Business School from and with whom I have learnt about leadership,
people, organizations, and life in general. I would particularly like to
thank my colleagues at the School of Economics and Business, Univer-
sity of Ljubljana and BI Norwegian Business School for their friendly
feedback and guidance. Special mention goes to Ula Kocˇevar and Lucija
Perne for their help in preparing the manuscript. Above all, I would like
to thank my family for being supportive in all the transitions that make
for an academic life and a sea of growth opportunities associated to it.
Thank you!
Ljubljana, Slovenia/Oslo, Norway Miha Škerlavaj
September 2021
Contents
Part I Context of Post-Heroic Leadership
1 Time of Paradoxes and Uncertainty 3
1.1 COVID-19 and the Future of “Ego-Free” Leadership 3
1.2 Time of Paradoxes 5
1.3 Future Wicked Problems 6
References 7
2 What Is Post-Heroic Leadership and Why Do We
Need It? 9
2.1 What Is Post-Heroic Leadership? 9
2.2 Why Do We Need Post-Heroic Leadership? 13
2.3 What Do We Know About Post-Heroic Leadership? 16
References 99
3 Post-HeroicLeadershipintheContextofHumanizing
Hybrid Work 103
3.1 The Rise of Hybrid Work 103
3.2 Algorithmic Management vs. Humanizing Hybrid
Work 106
References 108
vii
viii CONTENTS
Part II Process of Post-Heroic Leadership
4 Becoming a Post-Heroic Leader: From Expert
to Leader 113
4.1 Transitioning from an Expert to a Leader 113
4.2 Choosing the Right People for the Job 114
4.3 Developing Post-Heroic Leadership Competencies 115
4.4 Changing Followers’ Implicit Leadership Theories 118
References 120
5 Sustainable Post-Heroic Leadership Practices 123
5.1 Post-Heroic Leadership—The Missing Piece
of the Sustainability Puzzle 123
5.2 How to Make Organizational Life Sustainable
for Followers? 124
5.3 How to Make Post-Heroic Leadership Sustainable
for Leaders? 127
References 129
6 Leading Change by Engaging and Involving 133
6.1 Myths and Science of Leading Change 133
6.2 How do Post-Heroic Leaders Approach Change? 136
References 141
7 Building Communities and Collaborative Cultures 145
7.1 Post-Heroic Leaders as Community Builders 145
7.2 Post-Heroic Leaders as Anchors of Collaborative
Culture 149
References 152
Part III Post-Heroic Leadership Outcomes
8 Post-Heroic Leadership of Creativity and Innovation:
From Idea to Excel 157
8.1 Post-Heroic Leadership and Innovative Working
Methods 158
8.2 Post-Heroic Leadership and Innovative
Organizational Cultures 162
References 169
CONTENTS ix
9 Post-Heroic Leadership, Resilience, and Well-Being 173
9.1 Resilience and Post-Heroic Leadership 174
9.2 Post-Heroic Leadership and Well-Being in the Age
of Disruption 178
References 182
10 Post-Heroic Leadership: Epilogue and Agenda
for Future Research and Action 185
10.1 Conceptual Model of Post-Heroic Leadership 186
10.2 Agenda for Future Research 188
10.3 Agenda for Future Action 189
References 189
Index 191
About the Author
Miha Škerlavaj, Ph.D. is a Vice-dean for research and a Professor
of Management at University of Ljubljana School of Economics and
Business and an Adjunct Professor of Leadership and Organizational
Behaviour at BI Norwegian Business School. He is an active as a
member of the Scientific council to Slovenian Research Agency. He is a
valued member of the scientific community and an awarded researcher
who published in prestigious international research journals including
Academy of Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, Journal
of Organizational Behavior, Leadership Quarterly and Human Resource
Management. He is involved in several international research collabora-
tions with colleagues from top global business schools. He received the
prestigious Zois certificate of recognition by the Republic of Slovenia in
2020forhisresearchinthefieldknowledgeandinnovationmanagement.
HepublishedandeditedCapitalizingoncreativity:FosteringtheImple-
mentation of Creative Ideas at Work and the Outfit7 case study at
INSEAD.HisresearchreceivedattentioninglobalmediasuchasTheNew
York Times. Škerlavaj is also an Active Research Disseminator as a radio
co-host, podcast creator, op-ed writer, and blogger. He gained extensive
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