Latest post on pragmatic and process approaches to change.

Ex-Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan William's challenge to AI during his talk about recognition at the Oxford Literary Festival: how was dinner?

Thinking about the practice of courage A contribution to this years' Complexity and Management Conference 5-7th June 2026

Thinking about the ordinary, every day practice of courage in groups: enduring the inevitable uncertainty of social life.

chrismowles.substack.com/p/thinking-a...

Complexity and Management Conference 2026 Transformative possibilities in the everyday – habit, affect and the unconscious.

This year’s Complexity and Management Conference 5-7th June 2026 is entitled ‘What does it mean to say the world is complex? Implications for practice,’ and we are delighted to have Jean Boulton as our key note speaker. And the booking page is here: www.eshop.herts.ac.uk/pd/2632/comp...

Absolutely agree. When i pursued this with the chair of my ethics committee it turned out that the university's concern was not about ethics at all (obvs) but about the potential for having their asses sued. Hard to write about what's going on if you have to cover everything over with consent forms.

Yes, good quotation.

Pulling levers for organisational change Or taking talk and identity seriously

On inadequate metaphors in organisational life.

chrismowles.substack.com/p/pulling-le...

'An organisation is not a talking shop' - or is it? Different approaches to researching organisational life

Different perspectives on what's important in organisational life.

chrismowles.substack.com/p/an-organis...

Who are we and who do we think we are becoming? Local and global: personality structure and institutions

Linking the local and the global.

chrismowles.substack.com/p/who-are-we...

Complexity and Management Conference 2026 Transformative possibilities in the everyday – habit, affect and the unconscious.

Booking for this year's Complexity and Management Conference 5th-7th June 2026 is live: www.eshop.herts.ac.uk/pd/2632/comp...

The title of the conference is: 'What does it mean to say the world is complex? Implications for practice.' We are delighted to have Jean Boulton as our key note speaker.

Thinking about supervision Professional intimacy in a tradition of transmission

Is supervision a unique relationship, or does it say something about about professional relationships. in general? chrismowles.substack.com/p/thinking-a...

Rethinking Leadership When the World Won't Behave | Professor Chris Mowles | OrgDev Podcast #85 YouTube video by Garin & Dani - Distinction Consulting

I was invited onto the OrgDev Podcast with Garin & Dani. We talked about a great range of things: the role of anxiety and emotions in organisations, the limitations of grids and frameworks, on what we mean by being accountable to one another. youtu.be/yY2zVyXfAt0

Developing the practice of living together more productively Complexity and 'convivencia'.

Assessing complexity-mindedness.

open.substack.com/pub/chrismow...

Helps me think further about the resentment vs ressentiment distinction.

Enjoyed your article Aurelien, thanks.

You can watch my session at the Complexity Lounge here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG83... History, relationships, argument, all matter in the production of thought collectives.

Appreciate your work, btw, not just being critical.

Ok, that makes sense.

You use the term 'hardwired'. but then give a social evolutionary account of why we might believe more confident people. What has this got to do with wiring?

Noticing and talking about power Unsettling what's going on at work provokes ethical dilemmas

Ethical dilemmas and being critical at work.

chrismowles.substack.com/p/noticing-a...

The politics of uncertainty. ...and how novelty requires redundancy, not efficiency

How uncertainty is unevenly distributed in society.
chrismowles.substack.com/p/the-politi...

Improving performance From KPIs to group mindedness

From KPIs to group mindedness.

chrismowles.substack.com/p/improving-...

Playing the ratings game How consumerism reduces qualities to quantities

How consumerism turns qualities into quantities.

chrismowles.substack.com/p/playing-th...

It’s all very well being critical, but what should we do? On the importance of thinking without a bannister

On the importance of thinking without a bannister.
chrismowles.substack.com/p/its-all-ve...

Organising as continuous conversation The business of talk

The business of talk.
chrismowles.substack.com/p/organising...

Always going forward On the idealisation of the future at the expense of the past

Reinterpreting the past in the present, in anticipation of the future.
chrismowles.substack.com/p/always-goi...

Becoming more fully human in praise of experiential groups

Thinking about the importance of experiential groups as a particular method for developing our humanity open.substack.com/pub/chrismow...

Transformative possibilities in the everyday: habit, affect, and the unconscious. A talk by Prof Carolyn Pedwell. Prof Carolyn Pedwell gave an overview of her book Revolutionary Routines at the Complexity and Management Conference, 2025. You can watch her presentation here: In her talk she covered a number of …

You can find a link to the talk given by @carolynpedwell.bsky.social to this year's Complexity and Management Conference and my response here: complexityandmanagement.com/2025/06/19/t...

What kind of leaders do we need in a complex world? On complexity.

chrismowles.substack.com/p/what-kind-...

Move fast and break things Strategies to avoid organisational politics

chrismowles.substack.com/p/move-fast-...