When Leadership Goes Wrong


Book Description

The leadership landscape has begun to shift. Researchers have started to realize that previous conceptualizations of leadership that focus only on the positive aspects of leadership are too narrow and may represent a romantic notion of leadership. A growing body of inquiry has emerged with a focus on the darker side of leadership. Allowing for the possibility that leaders can also do harm, either intentionally or unintentionally, broadens the scope of leadership studies and serves to increase the practical implications of leadership research. This book brings together contributions by scholars from several different countries addressing topics such as narcissistic and destructive leadership, ethical leadership and leader errors.




Bad Leadership


Book Description

How is Saddam Hussein like Tony Blair? Or Kenneth Lay like Lou Gerstner? Answer: They are, or were, leaders. Many would argue that tyrants, corrupt CEOs, and other abusers of power and authority are not leaders at all--at least not as the word is currently used. But, according to Barbara Kellerman, this assumption is dangerously naive. A provocative departure from conventional thinking, Bad Leadership compels us to see leadership in its entirety. Kellerman argues that the dark side of leadership--from rigidity and callousness to corruption and cruelty--is not an aberration. Rather, bad leadership is as ubiquitous as it is insidious--and so must be more carefully examined and better understood. Drawing on high-profile, contemporary examples--from Mary Meeker to David Koresh, Bill Clinton to Radovan Karadzic, Al Dunlap to Leona Helmsley--Kellerman explores seven primary types of bad leadership and dissects why and how leaders cross the line from good to bad. The book also illuminates the critical role of followers, revealing how they collaborate with, and sometimes even cause, bad leadership. Daring and counterintuitive, Bad Leadership makes clear that we need to face the dark side to become better leaders and followers ourselves. Barbara Kellerman is research director of the Center for Public Leadership and a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.




Bad Leadership


Book Description

A provocative departure from conventional thinking, Bad Leadership compels us to see leadership in its entirety Kellerman argues that the dark side of leadership-;from rigidity and callousness to corruption and cruelty-;is not an aberration. Rather bad leadership is as ubiquitous as it is insidious-;and so must be more carefully examined and better understood. Drawing on high-profile contemporary examples-;from Mary Meeker to David Koresh, Bill Clinton to Radovan Karadzic, Al Dunlap to Leona Helmsley-;Kellerman explores seven primary types of bad leadership and dissects why and how leaders cross the line from good to bad. The book also illuminates the critical role of followers, revealing how they collaborate in, and sometimes even cause, bad leadership. Daring and counterintuitive, Bad Leadership makes clear that we need to face the dark side in order to become better leaders and followers ourselves.




Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?


Book Description

Look around your office. Turn on the TV. Incompetent leadership is everywhere, and there's no denying that most of these leaders are men. In this timely and provocative book, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic asks two powerful questions: Why is it so easy for incompetent men to become leaders? And why is it so hard for competent people--especially competent women--to advance? Marshaling decades of rigorous research, Chamorro-Premuzic points out that although men make up a majority of leaders, they underperform when compared with female leaders. In fact, most organizations equate leadership potential with a handful of destructive personality traits, like overconfidence and narcissism. In other words, these traits may help someone get selected for a leadership role, but they backfire once the person has the job. When competent women--and men who don't fit the stereotype--are unfairly overlooked, we all suffer the consequences. The result is a deeply flawed system that rewards arrogance rather than humility, and loudness rather than wisdom. There is a better way. With clarity and verve, Chamorro-Premuzic shows us what it really takes to lead and how new systems and processes can help us put the right people in charge.




Leading from the Middle


Book Description

The definitive playbook for driving impact as a middle manager Leading from the Middle: A Playbook for Managers to Influence Up, Down, and Across the Organization delivers an insightful and practical guide for the backbone of an organization: those who have a boss and are a boss and must lead from the messy middle. Accomplished author and former P&G executive Scott Mautz walks readers through the unique challenges facing these managers, and the mindset and skillset necessary for managing up and down and influencing what happens across the organization. You’ll learn the winning mindset of the best middle managers, how to develop the most important skills necessary for managing from the middle, how to create your personal Middle Action Plan (MAP), and effectively influence: Up the chain of command, to your boss and those above them Down, to your direct reports and teams who report to you Laterally, to peers and teams you have no formal authority over Anyone in an organization who reports to someone and has someone reporting to them must lead from the middle. They are the most important group in an organization and have a unique opportunity to drive impact. Leading from the Middle explains how.




Higher Ambition


Book Description

Meeting the new standard for leadership. Higher Ambition is required reading for every leader who refuses to compromise between people and performance. Choosing one or the other may have worked in the past, but it won’t work now. As global competition stiffens and businesses face increased public scrutiny and renewed government regulation, leaders must win on all fronts—with their people, their customers, their communities, and their shareholders. In short, they must deliver superior economic and social value. Brimming with powerful stories and thoughtful advice from CEOs themselves, Higher Ambition equips leaders with the practical insights they need to meet this new and higher standard. The authors, an international team of experts from leading business schools and consultancies, offer a unique view into the minds of some of the most successful and insightful leaders of our time: CEOs from vanguard companies around the world that have demonstrated the distinctive ability to do good while also doing well. These organizations are as diverse as Standard Chartered Bank, Infosys, Volvo, Cummins, IKEA, the Tata Group, and Campbell’s Soup. Readers will learn the principles and practices these pioneering leaders are using to: • Build enduring enterprises that simultaneously solve for people and profits • Forge winning strategies that leverage their companies’ unique cultural and human capabilities • Dramatically raise the aspirations and ambitions of their people • Energize and align their diverse global firms • Relentlessly upgrade leadership capabilities throughout their organizations Drawing on the author team’s extensive research and in-depth interviews with successful leaders from around the globe, this provocative new book is poised to become a management classic in the tradition of In Search of Excellence and Built to Last.




What’s Wrong With Leadership?


Book Description

Leadership practitioners and those who seek to develop leadership are concerned with whether they are using evidence-based best practices to develop leadership capacity in themselves and others. Are we indeed using best practices in the study, practice, and development of leadership? This book seeks to draw attention to the limitations of extant work on leadership, and to provide suggestions for a way forward. Presenting chapters on topics ranging from research methodology, gender and cross-cultural issues in leadership studies, and the role of the humanities in our understanding of leadership, the book represents a rigorous multidisciplinary collaboration. This is a must-read for graduate students studying leadership, leadership consultants and trainers, leadership scholars, and anyone who practices, teaches, or seeks to develop leadership. It will help expand the horizons of how we think about and practice leadership.




Lessons in Leadership


Book Description

In this practical guide, Emmy Award-winning public broadcasting anchor Steve Adubato teaches readers to be self-aware, empathetic, and more effective leaders at work and at home. His powerful case studies spotlighting dozens of leaders—from Pope Francis to New Jersey governor Chris Christie—are complemented by concrete tips and tools based in real-life scenarios. With Lessons in Leadership, readers can learn to steer others through difficult economic times, to mentor rising leaders, to provide straight talk to underperforming employees, and even how to lead a company through a significant change.




The Art of Leadership


Book Description

Many people think leadership is a higher calling that resides exclusively with a select few who practice and preach big, complex leadership philosophies. But as this practical book reveals, what’s most important for leadership is principled consistency. Time and again, small things done well build trust and respect within a team. Using stories from his time at Netscape, Apple, and Slack, Michael Lopp presents a series of small but compelling practices to help you build leadership skills. You’ll learn how to create teams that are highly productive, highly respected, and highly trusted. Lopp has been speaking and writing about this topic for over a decade and now maintains a Slack leadership channel with over 13,000 members. The essays in this book examine the practical skills Lopp learned from exceptional leaders—as a manager at Netscape, a senior manager and director at Apple, and an executive at Slack. You’ll learn how to apply these lessons to your own experience.




Stifled


Book Description

Stifled is for future-minded leaders who want to keep up with an unprecedented pace of change in the workplace and deal with the issues that result from these changes. Great leaders and managers are not about control. They inspire, enable, and get the hell out of the way. A leader recognizes a person’s potential—a great leader helps develop that potential to its fullest. Stifled explores the techniques of successful leaders and managers in detail, offering ideas and solutions to all the challenges facing today’s organizations. In the wake of a global pandemic, a blossoming worldwide social consciousness, and a titanic shift in how business is done, the major issues of leadership and management have morphed, intensified, and multiplied. From the management of millennials and zoomers, to diversity and inclusion, to the need for transparency, the new global workplace, and managing the quantum speed of business evolution, Stifled tackles them all. Stifled is a must-read for anyone operating in today’s exploding global economy.