Leadership at the organizational level is an infinitely intriguing dimension of innovation. It’s about the people who make change happen through decisions, actions, and role-modelling behaviour; they set the tone of the invisible layers of culture. Based on my recent PhD research about innovation in Australian landscape architecture practice (2022),1 leadership is one of the key factors in innovation at the organizational level. Leadership encompasses a range of roles – champion. changemaker, opinion-shaper, gatekeeper – and can be assumed by one or several individuals.
To explore the topic further, I spoke with four women in leading positions in organizations undergoing transformation. Together, they represent a cross-section of the profession from organizations of different sizes and types. Agnes Orvos-Nagy is a senior designer at Arup, leading the studio’s landscape digital team in London. She brings an international perspective through her work at a large multidisciplinary organization. Janis Fischer is a director at Tract, one of Australia’s largest landscape architecture, urban design and planning practices. Jenny
