LEADING THROUGH TURBULENCE: RETHINKING ORGANISATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT FOR A VOLATILE, UNCERTAIN WORLD

Abstract

Organisational leadership and change management have emerged as the most consequential competencies of the contemporary managerial era. In an environment defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), traditional command-and-control leadership paradigms are yielding diminishing returns, while the pace and scale of organisational change have rendered conventional change management methodologies inadequate. This opinion paper argues that organisations must fundamentally reconceptualise both leadership and change management—not as discrete, episodic functions but as continuous, interconnected organisational capabilities. Drawing on evidence from leadership theory, organisational psychology, and practitioner research, the paper advances three arguments: that adaptive, emotionally intelligent leadership is a prerequisite for sustainable change; that resistance to change is better understood as a rational human response than an obstacle to overcome; and that effective change management requires systemic, culturally anchored approaches that transcend methodological checklists. The paper concludes with a call for practitioner-oriented leadership development that privileges reflexivity, sense-making, and relational capacity alongside technical change management competencies.