Alex Haslam: Public Lecture 17 October

The New Psychology of Leadership: Identity, influence and power
Professor Alex Haslam,School of Psychology 

• When: Wednesday 17 October, 2.00pm to 4.00pm
• Where:  Conference Room (Level 1), SS&H Library, Duhig Building 2 [map]
• RSVP: Click here to register for this event
• To download a flyer: Click here
• To download the presentation from the session: Click here

Effective leadership lies at the heart of human progress and it is generally explained in terms of the personal qualities of leaders that set them apart from others — as superior, special, different. In contrast to this view, The New Psychology of Leadership argues that effective leadership is grounded in leaders’ capacity to embody and advance a social identity that they share with others. It argues that leadership is the product of individuals’ ‘we-ness’ rather than of their ‘I-ness’. This perspective forces us to see leadership, influence and power not as processes that revolve around individuals acting and thinking in isolation, but as group processes in which leaders and followers are joined together — and perceive themselves to be joined together — in shared endeavour. In order for this to succeed, leaders need to represent and champion the group and they also need to create and embed a sense of shared identity. This talk presents evidence of these processes in action, and spells out implications for all-important questions of theory and practice related to a range of key topics in contemporary society.

Professor Alex Haslam recently began an ARC Laureate Fellowship in the School of Psychology. He is renowned for his influential work on social identity theory, which is setting the international agenda for understanding group dynamics and the way they shape human behaviour. His landmark monograph, Psychology in Organizations: The Social Identity Approach provides an alternative view to mainstream organizational psychology — arguing that behaviour is shaped as much by the psychology of ‘us' and we' as that of ‘I' and ‘me'. His work is heavily cited (Google Scholar identifies around 10,000 citations) and strongly relevant to social issues in Australia today.

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