What does it really mean to lead today?
One of the most memorable definitions I’ve come across is from James G. March, the late Stanford scholar whose work shaped a generation of organisational research. In On Leadership, March and co-author Thierry Weil suggest that great leadership blends 'plumbing' and 'poetry'. Plumbing is the hard, often invisible work of keeping organisations running. Poetry is the imaginative act of framing a vision, what March calls 'interesting interpretations of reality', that inspires collective action.
But in 2025, that’s no longer enough. Leadership now also demands compelling interpretations of the future. Not just where we are, but where we are going, and why.
When my colleagues and I researched digital transformation for our book Digital Transformations: The Science Behind the Success, one surprising pattern emerged: the clearer a leadership team’s vision, the more resistance they often encountered. A tidy, rational story about the future didn’t inspire people. It alienated them. It closed down the very dialogue transformation needs to succeed.
The conclusion? Leadership isn’t about delivering a polished blueprint. It’s about inviting others into a shared exploration of the future. It’s about co-creation, not prescription.
This philosophy was at the heart of the inaugural UQ-Oxford Executive Leadership Programme, developed in partnership between the University of Queensland and Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. The programme was designed to test and refine these ideas in the real world, with real leaders under real pressure.
And it delivered.
Leadership in complexity: What we learned
Today’s leaders are tasked with delivering both public and private value: often simultaneously, and in environments shaped by uncertainty, automation, global interdependence, and rising expectations.
That’s where the 'plumbing' comes in: building systems that flow, teams that perform, organisations that adapt. But good plumbing alone won’t get you there.
You also need 'poetry': the ability to frame the future with imagination, to put humans at the centre of complex systems, and to lead through meaning, not just metrics.
This duality 'pragmatic and visionary' is woven throughout the programme. Participants aren’t handed abstract models. They’re given space to test, co-create, and apply ideas in the context of their own live leadership challenges.
A moment that stuck with me
Every programme offers moments that stay with you. For me, that moment came during a session in Brisbane led by the Turrbal songwomen Maroochy and Baringa and Luke who is Wiradjuri. The Turrbal are the traditional custodians of the land in the Brisbane area.
Their task was deceptively simple: complete the sentence 'I am…'
Over the course of three hours, we explored personal identity, relationality, trust, and decision-making through the lens of ancient wisdom. It was a powerful reminder that leadership is ultimately a human practice. One rooted not just in logic, but in connection.
As academic director of the programme, I don’t often get to be a participant. But that session reframed how I think about leadership, and how I approach my own role.
It also made something clear: the future of leadership is not about delivering answers. It’s about holding the space for others to explore the questions that matter.
An invitation to lead differently
If you’re a leader facing complexity (and who isn’t?) the UQ-Oxford Executive Leadership Programme offers something rare: not just new tools, but new ways of thinking. Not just content, but transformation.
You’ll come away with fresh strategies to:
- Build trust and psychological safety
- Navigate conflict and uncertainty
- Align teams and ecosystems with purpose
- Mobilise stakeholders and deliver change that sticks
But more importantly, you’ll come away with a deeper sense of the kind of leader you want to be.
