Osman Mah

Proposed Title

Integrated Leadership Emergence Model Inspired by the Sīrah of Prophet Muḥammad (pbuh)

Supervisors

Principal Supervisor: Dr Zuleyha Keskin
Co-Supervisor: Dr Suleyman Sertkaya

Summary

This research examines leadership emergence, the formative process by which individuals come to be recognised and trusted as leaders, with a particular focus on Muslim professionals navigating pluralistic societies where dominant leadership models often conflict with their values and lived experience.

Rather than studying leadership effectiveness after appointment, this research asks: how does leadership emerge in the first place? To answer this, it turns to an underutilised primary source, the life of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, drawing on classical and contemporary Islamic scholarship to uncover how trust, character, spiritual grounding and relational legitimacy preceded any formal authority.

The study proposes an original theoretical framework, Spiritually Grounded, Culturally Aligned, and Meaningfully Connected (SCM), which integrates the spiritual, cultural and relational dimensions of leadership emergence. This framework underpins an integrated conceptual model explaining emergence as a dynamic interaction between external opportunity, internal growth, and enabling capacities such as confidence, communication and connection.

The research contributes to Islamic leadership studies, leadership emergence theory, and practice-oriented development models for underrepresented leaders. At its core, it reframes leadership not as positional ascent, but as a way of showing up, grounded in identity, integrity and influence, so that those with potential can lead where they stand.

Why I chose Charles Sturt

My path to this PhD began with lived experience. As a practicing Muslim and migrant from Southeast Asia building a career in Australia, I navigated the tension between who I was and what conventional leadership models assumed I should be. That tension became the question I could not stop asking.

I had studied leadership and management through an MBA, but the frameworks I encountered, while useful, did not fully account for the spiritual, cultural and relational dimensions of how leaders like me actually emerge. Something was missing.

That gap led me to CSU, where I completed a Graduate Certificate in Islamic Psychologies, followed by a Master of Islamic Studies. These programs opened a new lens. I began to see that the resources I needed were not absent from the leadership conversation because they were irrelevant. They were absent because they had not yet been brought in.

My Masters research became the foundational stepping stone. It sharpened my academic skills, deepened my scholarly grounding in Islamic thought, and surfaced the specific question that now drives my PhD: how do Muslim professionals emerge as leaders without losing who they are?

The research is not separate from my story. It is, in many ways, an attempt to answer it. But it is also bigger than my story. My hope is that what I learn and build through this research will help others have a better experience than I did, so they can step into their full potential and contribute to a stronger, more just and inclusive society for all of us.

Engagement and memberships

External Advisory Committee Member for courses at Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation

Publications

ORCID