Middlesex University Research Repository An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Riddiford, Jane (2016) Enchantment and the mechanical: an autoethnographic inquiry into leadership framed within a cosmic and ecological story. PhD thesis, Middlesex University / Ashridge Business School. [Thesis] Final accepted version (with author’s formatting) This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/21308/ Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners unless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. 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See also repository copyright: re-use policy: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/policies.html#copy Enchantment and the Mechanical: An Autoethnographic Inquiry into Leadership framed within a Cosmic and Ecological Story Jane Riddiford - Participant Code M00375366 Thesis Submission – October 1st, 2016 1 Acknowledgements When I was interviewed for a place on the Ashridge Doctorate in Organisational Change programme I knew it would be a collective endeavour. I was told that’s what would be expected. At the time I had no idea how many different people would be involved in this inquiry and how much I would need their support. Particular thanks go to: My supervisor Dr Steve Marshall: for giving me the space to find artistry and inquiry and for your perfectly timed challenge and support. The rest of the faculty on the Ashridge Doctorate for Organisational Change programme: Drs Kathleen King, Gill Coleman, Chris Seeley and Robin Ladkin for making this journey such a relevant and meaningful endeavour. My doctoral colleagues and learning group companions: Kathy Skerritt and Karen Partridge for your love and encouragement. The team of staff and volunteers at Global Generation for your willingness to participate in our on-going experiment into what an organisation inspired by an evolving Universe Story might actually be. Special thanks to: Nicole van den Eijnde, Rachel Solomon, Rod Sugden and Silvia Pedretti for helping to shape this inquiry through our Engaged Philosophy sessions. My family: especially my mother Yvonne Riddiford, my sister Liz Riddiford and my nephew Sean Conway. It has been a privilege to collaborate with three generations of my family. Your interest gave me courage to dig deeper. My Māori mentors; Professor Mānuka Henare and Dr Chellie Spiller of the University of Auckland Business School for helping me to find my Tūrangawaewae. My ‘Journey of the Universe’ mentors; especially Professor Mary Evelyn Tucker and Professor John Grim of Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Divinity School respectively, for your inspiration, backing and blessing. Jonathan Halliwell, Professor in Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London for your encouragement in regards to the way I have interpreted science as a meaningful and contemporary creation story and for being such a helpful reader of my work. Finally I am deeply grateful for the patience and creative input of my husband and universe story collaborator Rod Sugden. 2 Abstract What difference would it make writing and sharing autoethnographic stories that locate self within the context of ecology and evolutionary cosmology? How might it change the way I understood my role as a leader of an environmental education charity? Would it help me to step into, let go of and share power? Through this inquiry I have recognised myself as being indigenous to the Cosmos; an identity which I maintain provides context and foundation for collaborative leadership. It is an identity that liberates inherited and often unconscious views of the universe as a machine of separate parts into a living story which endlessly reveals the dynamics of an integrated whole. As a fifth-generation, Pākehā, (New Zealander of European descent1) working in a multicultural setting in the centre of London, I needed to understand two fundamental and seemingly opposing forces that motivate me. One is the opportunistic and single minded drive of the pioneer and the other is a pull to deeper values of connection and wholeness. What shaped my values? Excavating the past made me curious about the shadow colonialism has cast upon the present. I noticed my ambivalence towards the word ‘leadership’ despite being in leadership roles for many years. I paid attention to discomfort in the face of difference and discord. Recognising fractures within a culture built on Arcadian idealism held clues to limited notions of leadership that influenced my behaviour. The Three Baskets of Knowledge, drawn from Māori mythology, helped me find ground beneath the fault lines of the past. Listening to the land and looking back into the depths of time I drew meaning and direction from an ancient and emerging story. Within the 14-billion year account of our origins that science is now revealing, I came home to my own story. I identified with what I consider to be a contemporary form of indigeneity; cosmic indigeneity. I came to welcome non-idealised ways of being and the unpredictable nature of life itself. I learnt to embrace a process of leadership that is fluid and changing, sometimes singular and often collaborative. 1 King 1985, p.194 3 Contents Introduction 8 - Context 8 - Locating the Inquiry 10 - Contribution to Practice and Literature 11 Chapter 1 – Finding Form and Method 15 - Finding my Feet 15 - First Steps 16 - Permission to Focus on Self 17 - Aligning with Cosmic Context 22 - Doing It with Quality Criteria in Mind 23 - Ethics of Insider Research 27 - Summary 29 Chapter 2– Cosmic Roots 31 - Grounding Literature in Experience 31 - Losing Cosmos 32 - Extended Epistemology 35 - Summary 39 - Post Script 40 Chapter 3 – Unearthing Leadership 41 - Champagne in my Veins 41 - How it all Began 41 - How am I Leading? 45 - From Small Stories to a Big Story 50 - Linking Practice to Literature 52 - Summary 55 4 Chapter 4 – Worldviews and the Universe Story 57 - Framing History 57 - An Enchanted Story 58 - A Mechanical Story 60 - A Living Universe 62 - Diving Deeper into Universe Story Literature 65 - Summary 70 Chapter 5 – Fault Lines 72 - Surfacing Colonialism 72 - Sharing Ownership 73 - A Difficult Conversation 74 - Tūrangawaewae 76 - Can Do 80 - Land 82 - Values 83 - Linking Practice to Literature 85 - Summary 87 Chapter 6 – Indigeneity 89 - Expanding Identity 89 - The Three Baskets of Knowledge 90 - The First Basket of Knowledge: Kete Tūāuri 91 - The Second Basket of Knowledge: Kete Aronui 92 - The Third Basket of Knowledge: Kete Tua-Tea 94 - Standing on Indigenous Ground 97 - Travelling with the Three Baskets of Knowledge 98 - Linking Practice to Literature 102 - Summary 105 Chapter 7 – Boundaries in a Boundaryless Land 107 - Negotiating Power 107 - Boundaries around Global Generation 108 - In the Shadow of Colonialism 110 5 - A Deeper Knowing 112 - A Different Kind of Leadership 118 - Linking Practice to Literature 119 - Summary 122 Chapter 8 – The Winds of the Universe 124 - Finding Ethical Orientation 124 - Boundaries within Global Generation 125 - Linking Practice to Literature 133 - Summary 136 Chapter 9 – Moving on From the Mechanical 138 - Identifying Rhythms 138 - Shifting Gears 139 - Growing a greater We 144 - Linking Practice to Literature 146 - Summary 147 Chapter 10 – A Closer Look at Enchantment 149 - It’s Not a Smooth Story 149 - Niceness 150 - Letting Go 153 - Inhabiting a Cosmic Story 154 - Linking Practice with Literature 157 - Summary 160 Chapter 11 – Expressions of Collaborative Leadership 164 - Giving Voice to the Cosmos 164 - Individually and Collectively 165 - Leaning into the Unknown 172 - Linking Practice to Literature 176 - Summary 179 Conclusion 181 Postscript 184 6 Bibliography 192 Photographss 209 Appendices 210 - Appendix 1: Nicole’s Story 210 - Appendix 2: Vero’s Story 211 7 Introduction The ground under our feet reveals the creative and connective impulses of how all of life came to be. Evolution and ecology are written everywhere, even in the concrete terrain of the construction site where much of my work is based. Land-based experiences evoke a different sensibility in me; my pace slows, I trust, I connect and I embrace the rhythm of change. As I was growing up, and still now, I take myself into wild places and almost intentionally try to get lost. Gravity pulls me to the hidden land, which is both still and moving; it reminds me that all things are distinct but not separate; the intertwining growth of grass underfoot, the sound of a solo bird, the sky. Land provides a doorway to the story of the universe. Context Dear Reader, This thesis is an autoethnographic study into the development of collaborative leadership. Contrasting stories drawn from a colonial heritage with what I call 'being indigenous to the cosmos’ helped me shift the underpinning narrative for leadership from control to a more participatory way of being.