Research on responsible leadership (RL) conceived it as a normative, deliberative and consensus-based approach without offering insights into how responsible leaders deal with the challenges occurring in natural settings that preclude an orderly effort or require immediate responses. With the aim of filling this gap, this study positions RL as the competency to deal with complex, uncertain and paradoxical challenges in business and stakeholder relationships. In this vein, we adopted a narrative reasoning method; integrated the literature on expertise, mindfulness, organizational climate and trust; and built a conceptual model. This study offers insights into how the expertise of leaders becomes indispensable in sensemaking and framing the ill-defined paradoxical challenges involving various stakes, and how the presence of a holistic values climate facilitates a conducive ground to execute competing stakeholders’ goals. This study also explicates the critical role of mindfulness in offsetting the limitations associated with these factors, which consequently assist responsible leaders in catering to the salient needs of stakeholders to gain their acceptance and trust.
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