Aarhus University Seal

CHEF Talk: Leading Playfully

Dr. Alex Mosely, Head of Curriculum Enhancement, University of Leicester, UK, was the invited speaker at the CHEF Talk on October 27th on the topic ‘Leading Playfully’.

Dr. Alex Mosely on Playfulness. (Screenshot from CHEF Talk: Leading Playfully).

Dr. Mosely began the talk playfully by letting the participants guess where he was situated based on his virtual background in Zoom (changed his camera background into a view from inside the Oslo Opera House).

Playfulness is an alternative to formal and top-down leadership approaches – whether in business or in higher education. Instead of leadership involving a subject conquering another subject (the antidialogical action), leadership can rely on cooperation and dialogue (the dialogical action).

Dr. Mosely presented 6 Playful Leadership Principles to apply when becoming a playful leader:

Dr. Mosely summarized his talk by highlighting three Playful Principles that pull everything together: Openness, accepting failure, and engagement.

Dr. Mosely concluded his talk by emphasizing that by keeping these three Playful Leadership Principles in mind across all areas of leadership activity: “it’s almost impossible not to become more playful in your outlook”.