Introduction

I would like to start the chapter with a crow. This is not just any old crow. The Crow of poet Ted Hughes’ legend is one that survives apocalypse, traumatic birth and more (Hughes, 1972: 3):

Pass, Crow.

It might be unusual to begin a chapter on leadership in this way. The Crow of Ted Hughes’ legend is shaped by trickster mythology and as such is a roguish, rule- breaking creature (Radin, 1956) – a boaster, who enjoys playing tricks and taking down authority figures. As such, they undercut social norms and take us on journeys which challenge our awareness and perception. For the study of leadership, the trickster Crow of Hughes’ epic poem is invaluable and allows us to employ a sideways look at a very familiar organizational and management trope, and to analyse its claims. As noted by Tourish (2013), in good times or bad, it appears that many remain fascinated by leadership and enthralled by leaders. Leadership and leaders are argued to be central to organizational prosperity, the key to solving ‘wicked’ problems (Grint, 2010) and the assumption of leadership as the recipe for a range of good things in life and as central to organizations seems more popular than ever. Leadership is now often positioned as superior to management concerning the attaining and sustaining of enhanced organizational performance (Ford and Harding, 2007) or as a catch- all solution for nearly any problem, irrespective of organizational sector or industry (Alvesson and Spicer, 2012).

When I came across sisters and brothers, ‘siblings’, I had an experience common to many researchers in the field: One moment I hadn't noticed them; the next, they were everywhere … Looking back through the annals of psychoanalytic writings, they seem to have come up, been excitedly noticed with pleas for more exploration, and gone underground again. The good work has been dropped and later picked up once again rather than embraced and developed.

Introduction

The development agency

My first job after university was as an administrator in a Christian development agency, working with a small team composed of four regional officers. One of them, Morris, occupied the role of regional coordinator. A few months after I joined, Morris decided he was going to leave and to return to his former work as a vicar in his local parish. For Brigit, one of the regional officers, he was an important colleague. She was an activist in the burgeoning movement for women's ordination into the priesthood and Morris was a theological and emotional support as well as a mentor. The pain of his departure was made worse when, at the conclusion of the selection process, she wasn't appointed to his leadership role. Instead, a younger man, Chris, an established member of the team, was chosen for the job. Shortly after the leadership change, a new person, Fiona, was hired to cover Morris’ region. Very soon, a series of low- level frictions occurred between Chris, Fiona and Brigit, with the last usually being the instigator.

Introduction

In his account of the neoliberal business school, Fleming (2019) paints a picture of staff despair and depression, which is familiar to many working within an academic setting and might resonate with those who work in other organizations. Starting with a story of a staff ‘Away Day’, he describes a talk by the Dean:

consisting of corporate buzzword phrases: ‘significant stretch targets’; ‘get our friends in the tent’; ‘the aha effect’; ‘global mindset’; ‘clean up the box we live in’; ‘big buckets you then sharpen’ … A bewildered colleague beside me leant in and whispered, ‘these Away Days are so bloody depressing’. I nodded in agreement, mirroring the forlorn faces around me … This was followed by a team building exercise involving African drumming. As we banged away on our cheap djembes in embarrassment, the Dean was nowhere to be seen. Exhausted, tyrannised by office email and under pressure to meet performance targets, the Away Day felt like some kind of cruel joke. (Fleming, 2019: 1305)

For those working within this setting over the past 20 years, the account Fleming provides is a familiar one, with or without the drumming – the employment of a ‘fun at work’ initiative, an acting workshop or similar. I have found myself returning to his account because it resonates very powerfully with some of my own experiences.

This chapter deals with suicide and psychological traumas caused by work.

Introduction

This chapter considers the impact of work on the mental functioning and wellbeing of employees, a highly pertinent issue as the world faces significant challenges which will have profound effects on work and workers. However, even before the COVID- 19 pandemic hit, with this being something of an accelerant in relation to the mental health crisis, there was plenty of evidence showing that work- related psychopathology had rapidly increased over the past two decades with no signs of that escalation abating. For example, in the UK, the Health and Safety Executive found that over 16 million days were lost to work- related stress, anxiety or depression in 2023/ 24 (Health and Safety Executive, 2025).

‘Make it a large one’

We are in a packed venue waiting for the main event, but we know what's coming and it's not good. The UK higher education sector is in serious financial trouble, and my own institution is not immune. The financial statements are worse than many feared and there are some audible gasps. As the Vice Chancellor's presentation proceeds, I look down to the front to see who's there in the support capacity. Who's being looked to and being spoken with before the address begins? Who's mentioned in warm terms within the Vice Chancellor's keynote speech? The head of finance is there, a couple of corporate level managers, but no human resource management

(HRM) people. They’re not in evidence and they’re not mentioned, despite the announcement of another round of voluntary severance and the organizational restructuring that is going to occur in its wake, only it's not called ‘restructuring’ until one of the speakers slips up and uses the term. It's grim and I experience a sense of sadness, as well as a sense of impending loss and fear as compulsory redundancies are not ruled out. At the end, the audience applauds, which I don't understand because what is there to praise in this, and I decide to go down the pub. As I pay for my wine, a colleague comes in:

‘What will you have?’

‘A Shiraz, make it a large one.’

Such organizational scenarios have become commonplace in many contemporary organizations whatever their size, age, sector or type. More recently, they have become familiar to academics as well as professional services staff who work alongside us.

Introduction

This chapter will pull apart the term ‘HRM’, focusing on the ‘human’ in this acronym and what it means for HRM as well as psychoanalysis, as both have ‘skin’ in this specific intellectual domain. I want to begin the process of unsettling HRM and engaging with an excavation of the term is an excellent place to start. How we understand key terms is very important and provides a means by which psychoanalysis might have something interesting and relevant to say about how HRM theorists and practitioners view what it is to be a human. A human that works, and as the term ‘HRM’ suggests, is viewed as a ‘resource’ to be managed alongside financial and other resources. Psychoanalysis also has something to say about why managing this ‘human resource’ might also be trickier than accounted for, something that I will argue the HRM literatures fail to engage with either carefully or fully. As the chapter will highlight, this failure to give an account of what it is to be a human subject or self at work is important and will be taken up repeatedly in this book, especially in Chapter 5's detailed exploration of work.

What does it mean to be human? In the film Arrival, the first word linguist Louise Banks uses to engage with the extraterrestrials (the Heptapods) is ‘human’. In a shaky voice, she writes it on a board and holds it up so that they can see it. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply before moving closer to them.

Introduction

The women's conference

It is our biannual women's conference. This year we’re using the theatre at Newcastle University as our venue and staying in halls of residence. All the delegates are women, as are all of the staff – there's no male presence at all. There is the usual round of political activity as delegates decide which motions to prioritize for debate, and this dominates the early pre- event activity. For the previous few conferences, the issue of sexual abuse has dominated the agenda as women have sought to break the taboo regarding this subject and to seek greater support for survivors. However, where this conference is concerned, motions put forward on this subject were unsuccessful in terms of being put on the agenda as delegates chose other issues to prioritize. The conference starts. Staff supporting the event in an administrative capacity sit in. I’m a Regional Officer, so I’m in the hall to ensure I know what's going on because it will have ramifications for my work after the conference. I also want to be around if anyone wants to talk, ask questions or make arrangements to meet up later. The session is now heading for lunch.

But before we break, a group of women who are unhappy with the lack of focus on sexual abuse take to the stage. A few enter the control box at the back of the hall which regulates the sound and lighting, ensuring that microphones on the stage cannot be switched off.

This chapter explores the implications of China’s energy transition and geopolitical changes on its engagement in global energy governance (GEG). It begins with an exploration of the current GEG landscape and China’s role within it, outlining gaps and limitations from both international and Chinese perspectives. The chapter employs the notion of constructive versus destructive competition to gauge China’s future interactions within GEG.

This chapter introduces an original framework for understanding international energy relations (IER) by dissecting them into three interlinked dimensions: international business operations of energy firms, state energy diplomacy and statecraft, and China’s approaches to global energy governance. This conceptualization offers a multifaceted approach to analyzing the complex and nuanced nature of IER.

This chapter delves into the firm-level dynamics within China’s IER amidst its ongoing energy transition and geopolitical shifts. It reviews relevant international business theories and analyzes the international business activities of Chinese energy firms. Using the OLI framework, the chapter examines how China’s energy transition and geopolitical changes impact the international operations of Chinese energy firms, illustrated through case studies.

This chapter shifts the focus to the state perspective, offering a critical examination of the Chinese government’s evolving international energy policies. It traces the evolution of China?s international energy policy and introduces the concept of energy statecraft to analyze how the country’s energy transition impacts its energy resources and capabilities, forming the foundation for its shifting international energy policy priorities. The chapter also discusses internal political challenges to China’s international energy policy.