ABSTRACT
In our current knowledge era paradigm, the rapid production of knowledge and innovation have become critical to organizational survival. This new reality demands of leadership to expand its form and embrace different qualities. More than ever, leadership is called to successfully include diversity, as the engagement of diverse talent is crucial to organizational creativity and innovation. However, leadership finds it challenging to re-create itself anew, as there is no toolkit with concrete directions and no successful models of future leadership. The future is not here yet! Accordingly, leadership remains stuck with a lived past and ruminates on the language and actions of outdated leadership discourse. Inclusion is inevitably trapped within the same discourse. In this chapter, I use the philosopher Martin Buber’s “dialogical existentialism” to conceptualize a potential future leadership configuration and I propose that “female” leadership qualities is the tool required to shape leadership, advance inclusion, and create a culture of inclusiveness. First, I explore how leadership has moved from individual to collective form. Second, I look into the literature review of inclusion. Third, I conceptualize the new relational context of leadership through the Buber’s “I” and “we.” Finally, I propose the development of “female” leadership qualities as a way to enhance inclusion.
