Narrative Leadership Development: Storytelling for Navigating Challenging Times

This book explores narratives’ contribution to leadership development and how the development of narrative leadership provides leaders with opportunities in an age of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

Bringing together educators, researchers, coaches, and practitioners, the book traverses the dark side of leadership storytelling, leadership storytelling for inclusiveness, and innovative narrative practices. It introduces critical concepts such as narrative betrayal, narrative humility, and narrative reflexivity in order to examine storytelling not only as a source of inspiration and belonging but also as a site of ethical tension, power, and responsibility. This book will deepen readers' understanding of how and why storytelling is important in leader and leadership development contexts and provide practical tools and strategies for leadership development.

Ideal for leadership educators, facilitators, researchers, and organisational practitioners, this book provides essential tools and perspectives for developing leaders in today’s complex world. More than a toolkit, it is an invitation to reflect more deeply on leadership itself.

Andrew Rixon is a Senior Lecturer in Leadership at Griffith Business School with a PhD in Complexity Science. His work integrates leadership development, coaching, and narrative approaches to sensemaking in complex systems, with a particular focus on health systems leadership and leadership in emergency medicine.

Linmin Zhang is the founder of IncluSmart, and a seasoned leadership coach and facilitator who specialises in using storytelling to inspire and connect with leaders. As the Director of Professional Development at the International Association of Facilitators (IAF), she believes stories can enhance understanding and drive meaningful change within diverse teams.