Henley Centre for Leadership Learning Event: Dark Leadership - Recognising, Understanding and Challenging Toxic Organisational Dynamics

This webinar will explore how leadership can become harmful in high-pressure environments shaped by continuous transformation, performance intensity and organisational uncertainty. Sinem and Malcolm will draw on their book The Dark Side of Leadership: Navigating Toxic Organisations and Transformational Change.

Sinem's area of focus is on understanding and identifying dark leadership. She will examine how dark leadership emerges not only from individual traits, but from the interaction between leaders, followers and organisational systems. Drawing on critical review, she will unpack leadership styles such as narcissistic, psychopathic, Machiavellian, toxic and exploitative leadership, highlighting how these behaviours are often normalised across both senior and middle management during periods of sustained pressure and change.

Malcolm's insights are on mitigation and action, focusing on how individuals, leaders and organisations can challenge, resist and reduce the impact of dark leadership. He will explore practical strategies for intervention, resilience and organisational change, addressing what can realistically be done when dark leadership is encountered - whether as a leader, follower, consultant or senior decision-maker.

This webinar will be held on 18 March 2026 at 2:00pm via Microsoft Teams and is open to all. To register for this event, please submit the booking request form here.

The event will be hosted by Dr Linghe Lei, Lecturer in Leadership at Henley Business School. You will have the chance to hear from our speakers as they illuminate the following learning outcomes:

• Understand what dark leadership is and how it differs from ineffective leadership

• Identify early warning signs of dark leadership behaviours

• Recognise how transformation agendas, performance cultures and structural pressures can enable or intensify dark leadership

• Assess the psychological and organisational consequences of dark leadership for individuals, teams and long-term organisational performance

• Apply practical strategies to challenge, mitigate and resist dark leadership, including personal, relational and organisational interventions

• Develop greater confidence and ethical judgement when responding to toxic leadership dynamics in complex environments

Professor Malcolm Higgs is a Professor of Leadership and Strategy at Birmingham City University Business School and an Emeritus Professor of Organisation Behaviour at Southampton University. He is also a Senior Research Professor at the Fortune Institute of International Business in Delhi, India.

Prior to joining Birmingham City University, Malcolm was Professor of Organisation Behaviour at Hull University Business School. Before that, he was the head of the Human Resources Management and Organisational Behaviour department in Southampton University Business School, having previously been the Head of the School. He also previously held posts at Henley Business School, including Academic Dean, Director of the Leadership Group and Research Director.

In his career prior to academia, Malcolm worked in consulting, with nine years as an international partner with Towers Perrin. He is a chartered occupational psychologist and has developed psychometric instruments for the assessment of emotional intelligence and emotionally intelligent leadership, as well as continuing with consulting activities.

His research interests relate to many aspects of leadership, emotional intelligence and change management, alongside broader organisation behaviour topics relating to both leaders, followers and organisational culture. Malcolm has published extensively in many leading academic journals, as well as writing a range of books.

Dr Sinem Bulkan is an Associate Professor in Leadership and Organisational Behaviour at Henley Business School. She is also the Programme Director for the Improvement Leader Apprenticeship, Deputy Director of Teaching and Learning for the department of Leadership, Organisations, Behaviour and Reputation and Deputy Head of Post Experience Postgraduate Programmes. Sinem is a member of Henley Centre for Leadership, where she has the role of Alumni Learning Event Organiser.

Sinem's PhD in Organisational Behaviour from Marmara University (Istanbul, Turkey), studied psychopathic manager behaviour's effect on employee deviance through mediating and moderating mechanisms. She has an MA in Finance and Accounting from Kingston University and over a decade of managerial experience in the automotive and education sectors. Her research covers dark leadership (e.g. psychopathic manager behaviour, toxic leadership, dark triad) and its impact on employees (perceptions, behaviours) and organisations. Sinem is a co-editor for a special issue of the British Journal of Management on dark leadership.

She supervises PhD and DBA candidates on topics such as leadership, leadership development, knowledge-sharing, organisational culture and business transformation. She is an examiner for doctoral assessments and an external examiner for the University of Bedfordshire's undergraduate and apprenticeship programmes. Skilled in programme development and innovative teaching practices, she builds novel learning principles into postgraduate and executive education. She has presented her research at premier conferences, such as the British Academy of Management and the European Academy of Management, and received the 2019 Best Paper Award of Leadership track at the Irish Academy of Management.