Symposium Panel 2026 | Holding the turbulent world at work
Systemic Turbulence
Dr Simon Western and Otti Vogt in conversation with Professor Susan Long
Conversation
What becomes visible—and what disappears—when war, ecological breakdown, technological acceleration and political fragmentation are framed as turbulence?
In this opening dialogue, Simon Western and Otti Vogt begin with the familiar image of an aircraft encountering rough air. The metaphor presents turbulence as an external and morally neutral force: leaders are asked to navigate, organisations to become resilient, and individuals to adapt. Yet the discourse of turbulence has important limitations: organisations and political systems frequently co-create the very turbulence they claim merely to suffer from, while its benefits, risks and harms are distributed profoundly unequally.
Drawing on systems psychodynamics, Lacanian discourse theory, Eco-Leadership, critical realism and moral philosophy, Simon and Otti explore how turbulence unsettles authority, role and identity; how it can mobilise fantasies of control, perpetual acceleration, or authoritarian rescue; and how some actors may unconsciously enjoy, manufacture or profit from the disorder. They also examine how purpose, agility, psychological safety and systemic coaching may create conditions for greater insights while simultaneously perpetuating systems whose underlying governance systems, ownership models, and power structures remain morally defective.
The conversation proposes moving beyond the containment of anxiety towards responsibility and practical wisdom: seeing the deeper mechanisms shaping a situation, imagining alternatives, judging what the common good requires and acting across personal, organisational and political levels. It leaves participants with several unsettling questions: Whose turbulence—and whose normality? Who is making the weather? What if the aircraft is functioning perfectly but flying towards the wrong destination? What should be held—and what must be allowed to break? And how can generative holding lead to responsible action?
Dr Simon Western
Simon Western is Founder and CEO of the Eco-Leadership Institute, an organisational consultant, host of the Edgy Ideas podcast, author and former nurse and psychotherapist. Previously he led Masters at the Tavistock Clinic, was Director of Coaching at Lancaster University and Past-President of ISPSO. His work pioneers a Eco-Leadership in major organisations across the globe. Simon brings critical theory, psychoanalysis, ecology and soul-work together to focus on the re-enchantment of organisational life.
Otti Vogt
Otti Vogt is a business philosopher and former global banking executive working at the intersection of organisational transformation, moral philosophy and political economy. As COO and Chief Transformation Officer at ING, he led digital transformation and service operations for more than 28 million customers worldwide. He now co-leads the Good Organisations Lab at the University of St Gallen with Professor Antoinette Weibel, developing a Moral Management Theory and creating practical approaches that help leaders and institutions become not only more effective, but genuinely good. He is also a co-founder of the Global Society for Good Leadership and United Leaders Europe.
Professor Susan Long
Professor Susan Long is PhD Course Co-Lead and PhD Supervisor at NIODA. She was formerly Professor of Creative and Sustainable Organisation at RMIT University in Melbourne. Currently, she supervises research students and conducts organisational research. Susan also teaches and supervises doctoral candidates at different universities including a Professional Doctorate conducted at the Melbourne Institute of Creative Arts Therapy and supported through the National Institute of Organisation Dynamics Australia (NIODA), teaches in the INSEAD Master of Coaching and Consulting program in Singapore and also works as part of the MSc Leading at the Edge program conducted by the Grubb Institute in Australia.
As an organisational consultant in private practice Susan works with organisational change, executive coaching, board development, role analysis, team development and management training. She originally trained as a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist. She is a member of Comcare’s advisory board for the Center of Excellence for Research into Mental Health at Work and a former member of the Board of the Judicial College of Victoria. She was the founding President of Group Relations Australia and a past president of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations. Her participative research has attracted grants through the Australian research Council and industry. She has published ten books and many journal articles.
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