8 Posts found for Author: Ronald A. Heifetz

Imagine the differences in behavior between leaders who operate with the idea that “leadership means influencing the organization to follow the leader’s vision” and those who operate with the idea that “leadership means influencing the organization to face its problems and to live into its opportunities.” That second idea—mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges—is what defines the new job of the leader.

Content: Quotation | Author: Ronald A. Heifetz | Source: Fast Company | Subject: Leadership

Not everything is subject to change. If the role of the leader is first to help people face reality and then to mobilize them to make change, then one of the questions that defines both of those tasks is this: What’s precious, and what’s expendable? Which values and operations are so central to our core that if we lose them, we lose ourselves? And which … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Ronald A. Heifetz | Source: Fast Company | Subjects: Change Management, Leadership, Management

Why do so many people dislike their bosses? One reason is that people in positions of authority are frequently asked not to exercise their leadership. Instead of mobilizing their constituents to face tough, frustrating challenges, they are asked to protect those constituents from having to make adjustments. That’s why leadership is dangerous. Sure, you have to protect people from change. But you also have to … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Ronald A. Heifetz | Source: Fast Company | Subjects: Change Management, Leadership, Organizational Behavior

Today’s leader can succeed only be creating and promoting an environment in which he or she learns to respond in new ways, in effect unlearning traditional responses, especially the one that sees the CEO say, “No, problem. I’ll fix it.”

Content: Article | Authors: Donald L. Laurie, Ronald A. Heifetz | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Leadership

Readers seeking an atypical business book may like Leadership Can Be Taught. Its author, Sharon Daloz Parks, has a conventional enough background: She’s taught at various Harvard graduate schools, including its Divinity School, the Business School, and the School of Government–the book itself comes from Harvard Business School Press–and she now heads a leadership institute in Washington state, just outside Seattle. Parks’ approach to leadership … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Ronald A. Heifetz, Sharon Daloz Parks | Subject: Leadership

Climbing Mount Everest: dangerous. Hitchhiking in Colombia: very dangerous. Leading through change: perilous. Perilous but possible, say Heifetz and Linsky in their encouragingly practical guide to putting yourself on the line and negotiating the hazards of leadership. As the authors acknowledge, many leadership books are “all about inspiration, but downplay the perspiration.” This one doesn’t. Leadership is always a risky business, but those risks can … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Martin Linsky, Ronald A. Heifetz | Subject: Leadership

Heifetz (Harvard U.) offers a practical approach to leadership for those who lead as well as those who look to them for answers, drawing on research among managers, offices, and politicians in the public and private sectors. He discusses leading with and without authority, values in leadership, the roots of authority, and leaders such as Lyndon Johnson, Martin Luther King, and Mahatma Gandhi. [Annotation copyright … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Ronald A. Heifetz | Subject: Leadership

This article, by the authors of a new book on leadership, discusses adaptive change and leadership.

Editor’s Note: I thought the article was very average, but you might find the latter part more interesting, particularly the sidebar, Five Challenges in Leading Adaptive Change.

Content: Article | Authors: Marty Linsky, Ronald A. Heifetz | Source: Leader to Leader | Subject: Leadership