The call for leadership is strong: everyone seems to want more. A quick look at the front page of the daily newspaper confirms our collective yearning for leadership across sectors, institutions, and borders—more leaders, better leaders—to resolve the dilemmas and complexities of modern life. The assumption is that good leaders make a difference and that we are better off because of them. Test that yourself. Ask those around you: do we need more leadership around here? Absolutely is the likely reply.
Ask the same people What is leadership? and listen to their halting responses. I have asked this question of many would-be leaders. They are often surprised by their own inability to answer easily or confidently—and neither age, experience, nor career stage makes answering easier. Some are amused by the irony that they are investing their time, energy, and resources to learn how to do something that they cannot even define.
For some, leadership is synonymous with very good management. For others, it centers on persuasive abilities. Some see leadership as fostering a world of future possibilities, others as generating current business processes and decisions. Some understand leadership as a social phenomenon, whereas others are quick to equate it with a single heroic figure. Leadership is complex. All that we know confirms that. But if we do not understand at a basic level what leadership is (and is not), how can we prepare ourselves to lead well? And equally important, how will we know if we are leading effectively?
This volume explores the fundamentals of business leadership: what it is, how to do it, and what maximizes its success. Leadership is a social process, rooted in the values, behaviors, skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking of both leaders and followers. It is multidimensional in skill and orientation, and successful leaders need to understand people and organizations, tasks and processes, current context and past history, self and others. They need to attend to current realities while envisioning future possibilities. To do all this well, leaders need confidence and strategies for working competently across a wide range of diverse issues—from fostering the organizational clarity that comes from sound structures and policies to unleashing energy and creativity through bold visions, from creating learning organizations where workers mature and develop as everyday leaders to managing the conflict inevitable in a world of enduring differences. Leaders use mind, heart, and spirit in their work and require a helpful map to guide and direct their shuttling among multiple levels, processes, issues, and domains.
This volume was designed to help leaders develop and deepen their own map. It is intended to be a resource for both experienced business leaders and those aspiring to the role. Newcomers can read cover to cover and explore leadership’s scope, purpose, methods, and possibilities. They will find everything they need to get started and grow in their leadership. Organizations need leadership at every level, and these chapters offer support for those with or without formal leadership positions at work. Experienced leaders will appreciate chapters that capture the best thinking on a range of topics—the complex nature of the work, essential skills and ways to enhance them, models for understanding the organizational terrain, ways to anticipate challenges and avoid pitfalls, and strategies to sustain oneself as a leader.
This book is intentionally inclusive in content—exploring the linkages among individual, organizational, and situational factors that contribute to leadership success. It celebrates the expanded understanding of leadership and leadership development that has evolved in response to the changing nature of organizations today, the global business environment, and advances in management theory. Leadership is a central force in the creation of healthy and effective organizations in an increasingly competitive and complex world. Taken together the chapters in this volume remind readers that leadership is more than tools and techniques. It is a values-based process that engages people in useful and significant ways to search for lasting solutions to today’s—and tomorrow’s—challenges.
In deciding what to include in this volume, I have kept one question in mind: what are the tools and insights that will help business leaders succeed as they set out to improve their organization’s health and effectiveness? In everyday language, how can they make a real difference through their daily work? All the classic leadership ideas and strategies that help us answer that question are represented and updated in this volume. But readers will also find new contributions, created explicitly for this book, that expand our understandings in key areas and that stretch the ways we think about leadership and ourselves as leaders. There is little sense in producing a new book that tells the same old story.
This volume is divided into five parts. Each part is introduced by an Editor’s Interlude that frames the issues to be examined, describes the rationale for the material included, and introduces each of the chapters in the section. As a whole this book flows from theory to practice: it begins with a set of ideas on how to understand the leadership process and moves to practical suggestions for ways to lead effectively and to sustain the efforts.
More specifically, Part One, “Framing the Issues: What Is Leadership?” explores the fundamental nature and elements of leadership. The chapters in this section offer opportunities to think systematically about leadership basics, applications, and competencies for success. The chapter authors distinguish leadership from other forms of influence, like authority, power, and dominance; identify necessary skills; and correct common myths about leading. The ability to lead well is clearly linked to one’s capacity to decompose and demystify the process.
Part Two, “Becoming a Leader, Preparing for the Opportunities,” examines the ongoing nature of leadership development and provides strategies and insights to prepare leaders for the opportunities ahead. Learning to lead well involves persistence, humility, and personal clarity. The authors in this section offer fundamental ways to accelerate the learning process.
The chapters in Part Three, “Understanding the Territory, Anticipating the Challenges,” address essential ways to understand organizations and the larger context for leadership. Leadership is always contextual, and organizations in today’s fast-paced, global world require leaders at all levels who understand the organizational lay of the land and how best to match their efforts and talents to the unique demands of each situation.
Part Four, “Making It Happen,” contains the largest set of chapters in this volume. It begins with the basics of establishing credible footing as a leader and tackling the fundamentals of mission, vision, and strategy. It then provides sound advice for staying on track and identifying predictable forces that can derail leaders and their initiatives. Effective leadership can never be reduced to a simple checklist, but we can identify the basic tasks and issues that all leaders need to address and resolve.
Part Five, “Sustaining the Leader,” explores ways for leaders to support themselves in order to sustain their leadership efforts. Strength of character and resolve matter. But so do strategies for surviving the inevitable attacks of angry opponents; for nourishing the soul; for building personal resilience; and for staying healthy, grounded, and hopeful.
There are multiple people to thank, and it is hard to know where to begin. Many have contributed in different ways to this project. Let me start by thanking all the authors whose work is represented in this volume. They are the best thinkers on leadership today, and we all benefit from their wisdom and contributions. I trace the beginnings of my own interests in leadership to the seminal ideas of Warren Bennis, James MacGregor Burns, Edgar Schein, Lee Bolman, and Terrence Deal, and I feel honored to share their work with the readers of this volume.
Strong thanks goes next to Ronald Heifetz. His Foreword to this volume is a rich and provocative perspective on leadership and its role in facilitating adaptive change: a special gift from someone whose work reminds us that there are no easy answers to the question of how to lead well. Ron and I go back to my graduate school days, and I am pleased by this opportunity for us to work together again.
Special appreciation to Karen Ayas, Andre Delbecq, Loizos Heracleous, Claus Jacobs, Phil Mirvis, and Michael Sales who found time in their busy lives to write original chapters for this volume—some with short turnaround times—when I realized that their particular perspectives needed to be represented here.
The size of this volume should be some indication of all that it took to get this work to press. Kathe Sweeney, senior editor in the Business & Management and Public Administration Divisions at Jossey-Bass, launched this project with her vision—the same creative sense of contribution that she brought to establishing the Jossey-Bass Reader series five years ago. She sustained it with her usual support, trust, and good cheer. Kathe is my writing muse and best supporter—and I appreciate that more than she knows. Jessie Mandle, my Jossey-Bass touchpoint, managed preproduction details with professionalism and warmth. And the Jossey-Bass production team was great. I particularly thank production editor Susan Geraghty who handled details with professionalism and class. And I again enjoyed working with Sheri Gilbert, who secured permissions and worked with impressive speed, accuracy, and grace.
Leadership is a lot easier to study than to provide, and I have special people to thank for that important lesson. University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) chancellor emerita Eleanor Brantley Schwartz and former vice chancellor for academic affairs Marvin Querry enabled my return to university administration after a long hiatus; and former interim chancellor and president of the University of Missouri system Gordon Lamb and former provost Marjorie Smelstor provided other opportunities to serve, including appointments as special assistant to Gordon at UMKC and then as dean of the School of Education. Although filling many of these positions seemed akin to drinking water from a fire hose, the learning was invaluable—and I am a better person and professional because of it. I also appreciated the trust, support, and leadership lessons from these consummate professionals, whom I am honored today to call good friends.
On the local front I also have many people to thank. UMKC chancellor Guy Bailey does a strong job, keeping the ship afloat and sailing toward safe harbors. His ready support and encouragement of faculty are appreciated—and he even reads our books! Homer Erekson, dean of the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at UMKC, is a good colleague and a supportive dean; and I am pleased to include associate deans Lanny Solomon and Karyl Leggio on my list of valued colleagues and friends. Faculty members in the Bloch School’s Department of Public Affairs—Robyne Turner, David Renz, Bob Herman, Arif Ahmed, and Nick Peroff—are impressive in their leadership to promote public service leadership and community development. I am in awe of their contributions and proud to be their colleague. They also graciously tolerated the ways in which this project consumed my time and focus. Special thanks to Samantha Silveira, administrative assistant in the Department of Public Affairs, for accepting the endless task of keeping me organized, informed, and almost on time.
Faculty members in the old Bloch Women Who Lunch Club add fun to a busy life. A tip of the hat to Doranne Hudson, Karyl Leggio, Marilyn Taylor, Nancy Day, Sidne Ward, Nancy Weatherholt, Robyne Turner, and Rita Cain for their collegiality. No one likes meetings, but I actually look forward to the Bloch School Marketing Steering Committee. I have learned about commitment and contribution from great professionals like Danny Baker, Christina Cutcliffe, Doranne Hudson, Maria Meyers, Victoria Prater, and Beverly Stewart. Every day leadership abounds at the Bloch School.
A bevy of talented Bloch School graduate students assisted me over the course of this project, and each deserves thanks. Erin Nelson, Ben Nemenoff, Jennifer Storz, and Abby Symonds got their share of opportunities to research databases and authors, carry library books, reformat files, and log time in front of the copying machine. Rebecca Williams tackled the complex task of tracking down authors, checking biographical facts, and confirming current addresses. We are in good hands if these students are examples of the public sector leaders of tomorrow.
Friends and close colleagues are wonderful, and I am blessed to have some of the greatest. Bob Marx and Joan Weiner were wonderful supports during this project, and our conversations always enrich me personally and professionally. Terry Deal deserves special mention for his inimitable magic and charm. TD is a character and a joy to talk with, whether we are bemoaning some ache or pain or chatting about a great new book. Three girl pals deserve special note. Sandy Renz, Beth Smith, and Amy Sales are there at a moment’s notice for support and good cheer. Sandy’s early morning delivery of fresh muffins and good humor as this project was winding to a close under trying circumstances was a real treat—and another example of her ongoing thoughtfulness. Beth is a model of activism, learning, love, and commitment. How I wish I could get her to write a book on her amazing life of contribution so as to glean her formula for leadership success! Amy welcomes me with open arms whenever I land on her doorstep, and our annual foray to the Berkshires each summer heals body and soul. And special thanks to Alan K. Duncan of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine who reminded me of the power in compassionate leadership and who contributed in special ways to the spirit of this volume.
My family is the greatest, and the three boys on the home front deserve thanks beyond what can be written here. My sons, Brad and Chris Bolman, are talented young men who enrich my life. In addition, Brad lent his technology and file-organizing skills to the project, and his music, juggling stand-up comedy routines, and all around cheerfulness sustained the editor. Chris Bolman, hard-working young leader in the New York investment banking world and all-around chilled-out entertainer, contributed with comments on potential chapters as well as with his perspectives on what today’s young business leaders need and use in their work. And Lee Bolman, my husband and closest colleague, has earned all the credit and appreciation offered here. He is cheerfully available 24/7 to his high-maintenance spouse. During this project he read drafts; repaired and replaced computers (again); cooked fabulous meals; and house-trained our new gorgeous yet impish young cockapoo, Douglas McGregor. Thank you, dear. As the years go by, I appreciate and love you more.
November 2007
Kansas City, Missouri