Event summary

In this seminar, Jeffrey will discuss the importance of conscious economics, defined as: the link between consciousness - being mindful of one’s thoughts, actions, wellbeing, and economic prosperity. Conscious economics leads to a more sustainable socioeconomic system that balances people, planet, and profit. It can also be referred to as the bridge between consciousness and economics or mindfulness and technological advancement. He will present a brief history of conscious economics through the lens of psychology and spirituality. He will also outline the current socioeconomic context, with a focus on mental health among the labour force. In particular, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the costs of mental health to the global economy were calculated at $2.5 trillion annually (The Lancet Global Health, 2020) with approximately $300 billion of this directly affecting organisations through productivity losses (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2020). Since the pandemic, the economic cost of mental illness has ballooned to approximately $5 trillion, globally (Centre for Health Decision Science, 2022) and expected to rise to $6 trillion by 2030 (World Economic Forum, 2024). To remedy this, research has shown that regular consciousness expanding practices have a profound effect on mental health and, by integrating conscious economics within the workplace, organisational productivity and overall sustainability can be enhanced.

Speaker biography

Dr Jeffrey Overall is a Professor of Conscious Economics and Entrepreneurship. He studies the link between consciousness and: mental health, optimum performance, increased productivity, sustainability, business ethics, financial performance, wakefulness, mysticism, and spirituality. With his expertise in strategic management, he has also studied the causes of entrepreneurial and organisational success and failure. He has about 50 publications with 25 of these in peer-reviewed academic journals. He is the author of Capitalist Buddha: Waking up to Conscious Economics that is available through Amazon.

Dr Overall has been an academic for over a decade. He was a tenured professor at Ontario Tech University in Canada. Before that, he held professorships at Nipissing University in Canada, Ryerson University in Canada, and Leibniz Universität Hannover in Germany. He taught at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in Russia and the University of Bradford School of Management in the UK.

He has 25 years of experience working directly with entrepreneurs within start-ups, incubators, and SMEs across various sectors and countries. He is the president and co-founder of the Global Institute for Conscious Economics – a forum dedicated to awakening business leaders to the benefits of consciousness. He has consulted on various research projects including: the Government of Canada through the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality, the National Health Service in the UK, and The Boston Consulting Group, among others.

Event summary

The last two decades have witnessed a surge in the demand for business education globally (Mesny et al., 2021). This demand has come with a growing expectation for business teachers to be innovative and creative in their teaching approaches and practices (Martell, 2007). Business schools are not only preoccupied with teaching quality and achieving student learning outcomes, but members of faculty are also expected to achieve more with less. Whilst several steps are taken by institutions to assure quality teaching and learning, not much has been done in terms of understanding teacher beliefs as a basis for supporting them and improving teaching and learning quality. Beliefs do not only mediate the relationship between teacher effectiveness and students learning outcomes (Sabarwal et al., 2021), they inform teachers’ interpretation of any given situation or circumstance (Schoenfeld, 1998). This argument resonates with a common tread in the teacher education literature and is in keeping with the idea that there is a possible connection between teacher beliefs and classroom practice (McMullen, 1999; Woolfolk-Hoy et al., 2006).

In this presentation, Lawrence will explore the beliefs of business teachers (educators) in the widening participation context with a view to understanding the extent to which these are reflected in their practice.

Speaker biography

Lawrence is a Lecturer in Business Management (specialism in Human Resources) at Greater Manchester Business School (GMBS) – University of Bolton. At GMBS, Lawrence teaches on a range of courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level, serves as module lead, supervises dissertations/projects, designs and delivers staff development workshops, and leads the seminar series at the Centre for Leadership and Empowerment (CLE) among other responsibilities. Lawrence puts students at the heart of his practice which is rooted in the principle of inclusivity, and believes in teacher learning and continuous growth as a basis for improving student outcomes. He is always keen to work collaboratively with academic colleagues, supporting them to develop their practice using a variety of tools including non-directive coaching.

Previously, Lawrence was a Lecturer in Business at the Global Banking School (GBS), a Senior Tutor in HRM at the Global Development Institute (GDI) – University of Manchester, and an Associate Lecturer in HRM at the University of Bradford School of Management. He has also been a visiting Lecturer at the University of Chester Business School where he taught Masters students on “how to get a distinction in your dissertation”. Lawrence also has industry experience, having worked in the retail and not-for-profit sectors. He has worked and lived in Africa, Asia and Europe, and always draws on this international experience to enliven and enrich his practice, and interactions with different stakeholders.

Lawrence is a Fellow of Advance HE, Academic Associate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), a Member of the Association for Coaching (AC), and an Academic Member of the Academy of Management (AOM) – USA.

Event summary

Entrepreneurial leadership is an emerging paradigm from the domains of leadership and entrepreneurship. While both fields of leadership and entrepreneurship have developed considerable bodies of research spanning several decades, independently the concepts have achieved little definitional consensus. Although entrepreneurial leadership has received little attention, it has been acknowledged as an evolving approach to leadership towards achieving strategic value creation. However, despite the growing interest and developing perspectives related to entrepreneurial leadership, empirical development of the concept has been hindered by the lack of focused research and the absence of adequate tools towards assessing a leader’s entrepreneurial skill set.

To address this gap, Prof Harrison’s study provides a critical examination of the concept of entrepreneurial leadership. He will be providing the associated entrepreneurial leadership skills required for success. His study offers the first empirical skill-based model of this phenomenon and has had strong implications in theory and practice.

Speaker biography

Christian Harrison is a Professor of Leadership and Enterprise in the University of Bolton. He is the Director of the Centre for Leadership and Empowerment in Greater Manchester Business School. He is also leading the Research Excellence Framework (REF) for Unit of Assessment 17 in the Business School. Christian is a well-known and recognised scholar in the field of Leadership and provides regular expert media commentary on Scottish Television News (STV), Scotland Tonight, the Herald, the Conversation, Sunday Post and the Guardian Nigeria. He is also the author of numerous published research papers on Leadership which is his major research interest and serves as the Director of Studies/First Supervisor of several Doctoral students. He has successfully supervised several doctoral students to completion and his current students are working on projects on Authentic leadership, Entrepreneurial leadership, Transformational leadership, Ethical leadership etc.

Furthermore, he is an active member of several learned organisations. He is the Chair of the Leadership and Leadership Development Special Interest Group of the British Academy of Management and Chair of the Academy for African Studies. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Business Administration and Knowledge Management (FIBAKM), Associate Vice President, Chartered Institute of Business Administration and Knowledge Management and serves on several review panels, committees and editorial boards. He is an external examiner to other UK universities such as Heriot Watt University, De Montfort University and University of Aberdeen. Christian is the editor of New Frontiers in African Business and Society by Emerald Publishing and Routledge Studies in Leadership and Leadership Development. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and a Certified Management and Business Educator of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CMBE).

Christian works extensively as a consultant, speaker and trainer on leadership skills development within organisations. He has delivered several CPDs and sessions on leadership to the Scottish Government Directors, UK Cabinet office staff, NHS, corporate organisations, SMEs etc. He is the founder of the NGO; The Leadership Mould Initiative International and the author of the bestselling book entitled ‘Leadership Theory and Research: A Critical Approach to New and Existing Paradigms’ published by Palgrave MacMillan. In addition, Christian has also authored several video publications on leadership. These videos cover established leadership theories providing a nuanced conceptualisation of the field.

Event summary

The event “Publishing in Business and Management: Insights from the Editor” is designed to support scholars and practitioners by creating a space for discussion and reflection on submitting articles in peer reviewed journals. This will be an opportunity to meet the editor of a highly ranked peer reviewed journal in Business and Management. The event will focus on the publishing process and what editors and reviewers of journals are looking for in the articles they accept. Dr Chidozie Umeh will provide more insight on the process of publishing high quality research, selecting appropriate channels, common grounds for rejection and strategies for learning from academic journal rejections.

Speaker biography

Dr Chidozie Umeh is the Special Issues Editor of Personnel Review. He is also an assistant professor in Human Resource Management and Programme Leader for MSc HRM in the School for Business and Society, University of York. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Research Methods (with distinction) from the University of Bradford, a Postgraduate Certificate in learning and teaching in higher education (with distinction) from Queen Mary University of London, an MSc in Human Resource Management from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, and a PhD in Business and Management from QMUL. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (ACIPD). Before joining academia, Dr Umeh had over 14 years of industry experience, including over a decade in the banking sector. He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at Université Paris Nanterre in Paris, France.

Event summary

Entrepreneurial leadership is an emerging paradigm from the domains of leadership and entrepreneurship. While both fields of leadership and entrepreneurship have developed considerable bodies of research spanning several decades, independently the concepts have achieved little definitional consensus. Although entrepreneurial leadership has received little attention, it has been acknowledged as an evolving approach to leadership towards achieving strategic value creation. However, despite the growing interest and developing perspectives related to entrepreneurial leadership, empirical development of the concept has been hindered by the lack of focused research and the absence of adequate tools towards assessing a leader’s entrepreneurial skill set.

To address this gap, Prof Harrison’s study provides a critical examination of the concept of entrepreneurial leadership. He will be providing the associated entrepreneurial leadership skills required for success. His study offers the first empirical skill-based model of this phenomenon and has had strong implications in theory and practice.

Speaker biography

Christian Harrison is a Professor of Leadership and Enterprise in the University of Bolton. He is the Director of the Centre for Leadership and Empowerment in Greater Manchester Business School. He is also leading the Research Excellence Framework (REF) for Unit of Assessment 17 in the Business School. Christian is a well-known and recognised scholar in the field of Leadership and provides regular expert media commentary on Scottish Television News (STV), Scotland Tonight, the Herald, the Conversation, Sunday Post and the Guardian Nigeria. He is also the author of numerous published research papers on Leadership which is his major research interest and serves as the Director of Studies/First Supervisor of several Doctoral students. He has successfully supervised several doctoral students to completion and his current students are working on projects on Authentic leadership, Entrepreneurial leadership, Transformational leadership, Ethical leadership etc.

Furthermore, he is an active member of several learned organisations. He is the Chair of the Leadership and Leadership Development Special Interest Group of the British Academy of Management and Chair of the Academy for African Studies. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Business Administration and Knowledge Management (FIBAKM), Associate Vice President, Chartered Institute of Business Administration and Knowledge Management and serves on several review panels, committees and editorial boards. He is an external examiner to other UK universities such as Heriot Watt University, De Montfort University and University of Aberdeen. Christian is the editor of New Frontiers in African Business and Society by Emerald Publishing and Routledge Studies in Leadership and Leadership Development. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and a Certified Management and Business Educator of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CMBE).

Christian works extensively as a consultant, speaker and trainer on leadership skills development within organisations. He has delivered several CPDs and sessions on leadership to the Scottish Government Directors, UK Cabinet office staff, NHS, corporate organisations, SMEs etc. He is the founder of the NGO; The Leadership Mould Initiative International and the author of the bestselling book entitled ‘Leadership Theory and Research: A Critical Approach to New and Existing Paradigms’ published by Palgrave MacMillan. In addition, Christian has also authored several video publications on leadership. These videos cover established leadership theories providing a nuanced conceptualisation of the field.