Abstract
This paper explores the interaction between leadership purpose and collective action leading to meaningful system wide change. To do so, it draws on an empirical case of one organisational unit (the Anglo-Irish Division of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs) in the attempted resolution of a longstanding intractable problem – that of the Northern Ireland conflict. The paper analyses the role of the unit over its 30-year timespan, its organisational dynamics, individual and collective activity and the role of ‘purpose’ as an unlocking mechanism for the system wide change.