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One of my favorite non-fiction book quotes is the last sentence of the book. Brilliant. I need to re-read this.
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Leadership Without Easy Answers
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The economy uncertain, education in decline, cities under siege, crime and poverty spiraling upward, international relations we look to leaders for solutions, and when they don’t deliver, we simply add their failure to our list of woes. In doing do, we do them and ourselves a grave disservice. We are indeed facing an unprecedented crisis of leadership, Ronald Heifetz avows, but it stems as much from our demands and expectations as from any leader’s inability to meet them. His book gets at both of these problems, offering a practical approach to leadership for those who lead as well as those who look to them for answers. Fitting the theory and practice of leadership to our extraordinary times, the book promotes a new social contract, a revitalization of our civic life just when we most need it.
Drawing on a dozen years of research among managers, officers, and politicians in the public realm and the private sector, among the nonprofits, and in teaching, Heifetz presents clear, concrete prescriptions for anyone who needs to take the lead in almost any situation, under almost any organizational conditions, no matter who is in charge, His strategy applies not only to people at the top but also to those who must lead without authority―activists as well as presidents, managers as well as workers on the front line.
Drawing on a dozen years of research among managers, officers, and politicians in the public realm and the private sector, among the nonprofits, and in teaching, Heifetz presents clear, concrete prescriptions for anyone who needs to take the lead in almost any situation, under almost any organizational conditions, no matter who is in charge, His strategy applies not only to people at the top but also to those who must lead without authority―activists as well as presidents, managers as well as workers on the front line.
348 pages, Hardcover
First published November 2,1994
This edition
- Format
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348 pages, Hardcover
- Published
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July 22, 1998 by Harvard University Press
- ISBN
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9780674518582
- ASIN
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0674518586
- Language
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English
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Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 66 votes)
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66 reviews All reviews
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The single most important book on leadership for formal or informal leaders to read and reread. The same is true for followers. Every time I dip back in, I find it ever more relevant both to my own role and responsibilities and to the political scene.
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This book explains the adaptive leadership theory using examples from the twentieth century. It also explains how one might lead in this style even if you do not have positional authority. Heifetz does a good job explaining what must happen if a leader wants to help her followers adapt to a new situation. He gives examples from history and he explains each step along the way. Even if one does not use all the parts of this leadership theory, there are good ideas for helping yourself and others adapt to situations that have no easy answers and/ or no known answers.
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Try inter-library loan (New College of Florida, Sarasota, has it). Paul Lundberg suggested this to VP while visiting during Thanksgiving 2011.
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I remember this book being powerful. :) I need to read it again. I remember observing leaders more closely...formally and informally.
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A great breakdown of adaptive vs. technical vs. complex problems, and the leadership skills and perspective necessary to address adaptive challenges. Incredibly helpful for community building.
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A definitive work on leadership, follower-ship, and the messages we send and expect to receive.
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Good read and plenty of good pointers to take out of this read.
This book is different to other leadership books in that it talks about how people without formal authority can lead, unlike other books which often focus on people with authority.
I have seen some of the concepts in this book in other situations; e.g. the idea of an 'adaptive' problem, where both the problem and solution is not clear; and how the worst 'leaders' with authority are those who are only effective when faced with a routine problem that requires an routine answer and often lack the skills to be effective when inevitably faced with non-routine problems.
This book is different to other leadership books in that it talks about how people without formal authority can lead, unlike other books which often focus on people with authority.
I have seen some of the concepts in this book in other situations; e.g. the idea of an 'adaptive' problem, where both the problem and solution is not clear; and how the worst 'leaders' with authority are those who are only effective when faced with a routine problem that requires an routine answer and often lack the skills to be effective when inevitably faced with non-routine problems.
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