Donna Marie Ladkin

Professor Donna Marie Ladkin is a leading scholar in leadership and ethics at the Department of Management, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. She holds the title of Professor of Inclusive Leadership and is internationally recognized for her critical, philosophically grounded contributions to leadership theory. Her academic journey includes prior roles at Cranfield University, Plymouth University, and Antioch University in the USA, where she contributed to doctoral programs in leadership and change.

• PhD in Organizational Psychology, Cranfield University (1992)
• MBA, Cranfield University (1988)
• MA in Environmental Ethics, Lancaster University (2004)
• BA in Music and Philosophy, Yale University (1981)

Donna Ladkin’s research critically examines leadership through the lenses of continental philosophy, embodiment, aesthetics, and ethics. Her work challenges dominant paradigms such as authentic and transformational leadership by highlighting their cultural, racial, and epistemological biases. She is a pioneer in exploring how embodied practices, aesthetic sensibility, and critical race theory can enrich leadership understanding. Her current interests include decolonizing management research, fostering ecologically sustainable organizations, and developing culturally responsive leadership in education.

Her recent publications reflect a strong trend toward critical, inclusive, and philosophically rigorous leadership scholarship. The 15 most recent works span topics such as whiteness in leadership theorizing, embodied sustainability practices, and the ethical implications of aesthetic leadership. These articles are published in premier journals like Leadership Quarterly, Business Ethics Quarterly, and Journal of Business Ethics, demonstrating consistent high-impact contributions.

Among her scientific honors are being named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and co-authoring one of the most influential articles of the 2010–2020 decade in The Leadership Quarterly. Her book Rethinking Leadership (2020) has received widespread acclaim for reimagining foundational leadership concepts.

She actively supervises doctoral candidates and has designed leadership development programs for both academic and public sector clients. Her consulting work includes engagements with BT, the UK National Audit Office, Sony, and housing associations. As a sought-after keynote speaker, she has presented at major international conferences, including those of the International Leadership Association and the International Studying Leadership Conference. She also contributes to public discourse through podcasts, such as her appearance on the ILA’s Phronesis series discussing race in leadership.

Donna Ladkin’s research is deeply collaborative and interdisciplinary, often involving scholars from philosophy, organizational behavior, and ethics. She has maintained long-standing affiliations with institutions like the University of Bath’s Centre for Action Research in Professional Practice, reflecting her commitment to applied, transformative scholarship.