This event has now finished.
  • Date and time: Friday 23 June 2023, 11am to 1pm
  • Location: In-person and online
    CL/A/028, Church Lane Building, Campus West, University of York (Map)
  • Audience: Open to staff, students, the public
  • Admission: Free admission, booking not required

Event details

The craft of leadership

How often have you heard the expression, “the art of leadership”? If you want to practice the art of leadership well, you have to master the craft of leadership. What is the craft of leadership? A simple answer is that crafts are defined by their medium – woodworking is the craft of working with wood in order to make things and glass blowing is the craft of working with glass to make things. But what is the medium of the craft of leadership? I believe that the connection between people is the medium of the craft of leadership. The primary work of being a leader is about creating, shaping, moulding – in short, working – the connections between people. I will offer a variety of insights and ideas into the nature of connection and what that might mean for the practice of the craft of leadership.

Zoom link

About the speaker

Steve Taylor

Steve Taylor is a Professor of leadership and creativity at the WPI Business School, Massachusetts. His research is focused in two areas: organisational aesthetics and reflective practice. The former applies art-based scholarship and practice to management and organisations. The latter focuses on the ability to analyse our own actions and learn how to be more effective, ethical, and artful as managers and leaders. His research has been published in academic journals including Organization Studies, Leadership Quarterly, Leadership, Academy of Management Learning and Education, and Journal of Management Studies.

Steve is the author of the books: Leadership Craft, Leadership Art; You’re a Genius: Using Reflective Practice to Master the Craft of Leadership; and Staging Organization: Plays as Critical Commentaries on Workplace Life. He is also the founding editor of the journal Organizational Aesthetics.

He received a PhD in Management from Boston College; an MA in Performing Arts from Emerson College; and a BS in Humanities from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Venue details

  • Wheelchair accessible
  • No hearing loop