AustLit

'In a sea of endless stories of corporate ethical scandals, many of which are attributed to ‘failed leadership', this article examines how creative writing research is being used as a way of inspiring – or suggesting – new forms of leadership behaviour. In the processual nature of being in our lives, if experience is valued as primary to consciousness as a way of active belonging, then it will be argued that creative writing – here, scriptwriting specifically – is a powerful medium to examine organisational experiences. This research practice occurs through the lens of affect in embodied responses to such experience, as distinct from the singular, scientific mode of cognitive analysis that can cause us to habitually jump too quickly to conclusions about our experiences. By employing the affective methodology of creative practice research, which in this case forms the basis for a PhD currently in candidature, this article speculates how creative writing might disrupt habitual thinking through the elevation of emergent data from our physical senses. Creative writing can, we argue, provide a balance for science to work with art and craft, and in doing so encourage new thinking in the fields of organisational behaviour, relational leadership and creative practice research.' (Publication abstract)