Leadership · Discourse · Organisational ethics
I research the discourses that shape leadership, including its darker side, and teach leadership and management at the University of Exeter Business School. Before academia, I built and sold two businesses.
The book · Out now
Understand leadership at work
Leadership isn't reserved for people with senior titles. This practical guide for people early in their careers treats leadership as a collective process that everyone contributes to, and shows how to build influence, communicate with purpose and read the power structures around you, so you can lead with confidence from wherever you sit.
Inside: what leadership is, building a leadership identity, the language of leadership, power and influence, how to avoid being misled, and organisational culture, with case studies of Theranos and Purdue Pharma.
A mandatory read for students and practitioners of leadership alike.
A truly compelling leadership handbook.
A breath of fresh air.
Published in Organization Studies, the British Journal of Management and the Journal of Business Ethics. My work examines how leadership is constructed through discourse, and what happens when it goes wrong.
Programme Director for the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship at Exeter, supporting around 200 learners across five cohorts. Winner of the University's Inspirational Teaching Award (2025) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Eighteen years in business before academia: regional sales leadership in the automotive sector, then two companies founded, grown and sold — an online training platform and a lettings firm of 15 staff across three offices.
Three threads run through my work: why leadership goes wrong, how discourse does its work in organisations, and how to study it.
Moving beyond the individual 'bad leader' to the wider system that lets harmful leadership emerge and grow, from the Dark Pyramid framework to the collapse of Theranos.
The Dark Pyramid (BJM, 2026)Listen: Peter on Theranos, AM 1150How unspoken discourses shape what leaders can say and do. Forthcoming as a chapter in Ghost Leadership (Emerald, 2027).
Recent talk: ILA Prague, 2025An integrated method for analysing the varieties of discourse at work in organisations, developed with Richard Bolden.
Organization Studies, 2026Stephenson & Bolden · Organization Studies
Stephenson, Bolden & Witzel · British Journal of Management
Stephenson & Bolden · Journal of Business Ethics
Keynotes, guest lectures and executive sessions on leadership failure, organisational ethics and the hidden work of discourse, including talks and workshops built around Lead From Where You Are.
Enquire about speakingRadio interview
The Early Edition, AM 1150 (Canada) · October 2026 · on unethical leadership at Theranos
International Leadership Association Conference, Prague · 2025
Bristol Leadership and Change Centre · 2025
International Studying Leadership Conference, Birmingham · 2024