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Business schools are in danger of having outplayed their role as harbingers of increasing professionalization and democratization in society. As conduits to elite access for some, they are becoming a barrier to sustainable development for all; their cachet for elites limits democratic leadership. While elitism channels technological innovation it often serves to limit social innovation and entrepreneurship. However, there is no reason why business schools should not play a pivotal role in inculcating purpose, mindset, skills, capabilities, and orientations necessary to reform and rebuild business and other organizations. There is no necessity in being dedicated to one-dimensional values such as to profit without purpose, to production and distribution without sustainability, or to managing without regard for all human rights, identities, and opportunities. For business schools to stay relevant as the world around them changes they need to take the lead on leadership, reframe their existential foundations, and question the good that they serve through asking themselves: how, and for whom and for what, are we making a difference?

MAD statement This annual leading article is making a difference (MAD) through providing an overview of what is design and designerly thinking, and how these constructs may be of interest to organizational change management and leadership theory and practice. In doing so, we are setting out to support a transdisciplinary application of design thinking principles, methods and tools in the continuous development of organizational change and management capabilities, as well as leadership mindsets fit to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.

MAD statement The intention of this leading article is to help reframe our take on capitalism and leadership. Rather than presenting a linear, one-solution approach, it promotes an often messy, uncertain approach based on purpose, co-creation, creativity, courage and action delivering on a multitude of stakeholders’ needs and interests.

MAD statement This leading article aims at Making a Difference (MAD) by inspiring to engage in new conventions for leadership and organizational change at a time when there is an opening for new practices to emerge. The COVID-19 pandemic upended much of what we take for granted, making us more aware of the ambiguity and multiplicity of reality, of the need for collaboration, adaptation and resilience, and of the embodied and material dimension of work life.

MAD statement This leading article is setting out to Make a Difference (MAD) through catalysing the further exploration and development of leadership theory and practice by facilitating the reimagining and reframing of challenges and solutions ahead. It does so by integrating the academic concerns of the current literature with the issues raised by recent events marked by the cataclysmic end of the Trump presidency in the United States.

Addressing what is perhaps the biggest blind spot in leadership theory and practice, this article sets out to enshrine the pivotal role of purpose. First, it introduces the Telos Leadership Lens (TLL) consisting of the following principles: 1) Leadership is a responsibility of the many, not a privilege of the few 2) Leadership is the collective pursuit of delivering on purpose 3) Leadership purpose is to be guided by internal goods (exemplified by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals). Second, the article further develops leadership ontology, ‘the theory of entities that are thought to be most basic and essential to any statement about leadership’, by shifting the focus to purpose. Third, emerging from these developments it identifies a new leadership model. Separately or in combination, these contributions can assist organizations in addressing current and future challenges, some of which are existential in nature as evidenced by the climate crisis, and others such as the Covid-19 pandemic potentially changing the way we live our lives and conduct our business. Although challenges of this scope can only be solved in partnership, the very nature of current leadership convention may obstruct or even prevent such partnerships from taking place in any meaningful way.

MAD statement The intention of this annual editorial is to Make A Difference (MAD) through outlining suggestions to where we need to direct future organizational change and leadership discourse, research and practitioner efforts. Engaging in immensely important fields of study and practice, we have a responsibility to assist the sustainable development of organizations and the wider society. Much good work is undertaken in support of the further development of both theory and practice. However, I do observe in my role as editor-in-chief a sustained tendency amongst both scholars and practitioners of being stuck in a quagmire peddling a dominant orthodoxy that is somewhat lacking in progress, initiative and imagination (it still sells articles, books, courses and seminars though …). Becoming unstuck through reframing the challenges faced is required for our work to stay relevant, and it takes real and conscious effort to make this happen. Or blood, toil, tears and sweat as Churchill would put it.

MAD statement: This annual editorial is setting out to Make A Difference (MAD) through challenging how we deliver on our responsibilities as academics and practitioners. Furthermore, it highlights ...

(2018). Understanding Teams in Order to Understand Organizational Change: The OTIC Model of Organizational Change. Journal of Change Management: Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 1-9.