Dr James Whitehead FRSA

Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Creativity | Writer | Consultant

I am a Senior Lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University specialising in leadership, creativity, and systemic change. My academic and creative work explores how individuals and organisations navigate the tensions between societal expectations and personal authenticity, how creativity and agency emerge under constraint, and how historical insight can illuminate present challenges.

From early work on reflective practice within the military and the role of education in peacebuilding, to my PhD on integrated education in divided societies, I have investigated how individuals and systems learn, adapt, and transform in contested environments. My research has expanded into network leadership, Strategic Leadership 5.0 in a human-centric, technological world, and the role of white male allyship in advancing systemic equity within organisations.

Alongside academic research, I use historical and speculative fiction to test these ideas narratively, bringing to life the complexities of power, creativity, and authenticity within layered historical settings.

Currently, I lead modules on Strategic Leadership and Creativity, Innovation and Difference at Cardiff Metropolitan University, supervise dissertations on leadership and creativity, and contribute to research initiatives connecting leadership theory with applied creative practice.

Across these domains, I am committed to fostering ethical, creative, and adaptive agency, using scholarship and storytelling to illuminate pathways to individual and collective flourishing in a complex world.