A view from within: exploring the psychology of responsible leadership

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the links between ethics, leadership and psychology, and to introduce the papers for the special issue of the Journal of Management Development . Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a conceptual review of issues attached to research in the field of responsible leadership psychology. Findings – Individual organisational members affect and are affected by the organisation's collective psyche, and all are potential leaders; therefore, all should care about their “inner life” and reflect on the interrelationships between their ethical responsibility, their psychological world, and their interaction with others. Originality/value – The paper shows that self‐enquiry and understanding the unconscious influences on ego‐consciousness are essential for nurturing ethical awareness and responsible action as leaders, followers and more generally as organisational agents.