* Foreword by Richard L. Neustadt * Introduction Part I. Setting the Frame * Values in Leadership * To Lead or Mislead? * The Roots of Authority Part II. Leading with Authority * Mobilizing Adaptive Work S Applying Power * On a Razor's Edge * Failing Off the Edge Part III. Leading Without Authority * Creative Deviance on the Frontline * Modulating the Provocation Part IV. Staying Alive * Assassination * The Personal Challenge * Notes * Acknowledgments * Index
A superb book for any age, but particularly for our current one, where society is so desperately in need of its wisdom and expertise. Leadership without Easy Answers should be required reading for top managers in all sectors--private, public, and nonprofit. I hope it will also be widely read by the citizenry that is so much in need of an attitude shift on the nature of authority. This book is also very much about citizenship. -- M. Scott Peck, Author of The Road Less Traveled Alive with insights, concepts, new ideas, just teeming with the kind of creative approach to the study of leadership that I and of course many others esteem. In a field in which there has been a great deal of repetitious work, Heifetz strikes out in ground-breaking directions. -- James MacGregor Burns, Author of Leadership Remarkably thoughtful, provocative, and useful. This book will be seen as a major contribution that provides a rare interdisciplinary view of leadership in context. Leaders as well as serious students of the process of leadership and the development of leaders need to have this book on their shelves. -- General Walter Ulmer, U. S. Army (Ret.), President and CEO, Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, North Carolina Heifetz turns out to be one of the most thoughtful scholars on leadership. His direct and relevant concepts are pathbreaking. -- James David Barber, Author of Presidential Character Original and penetrating in its analysis of leadership. This is an excellent book. Important and valuable. -- John Gardner, former Secretary HEW, Founder of Common Cause Leadership without Easy Answers should go a long way toward clearing up many confusions about leadership. Long a master teacher of leaders, Heifetz's courses and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government have been standing-room only for years. Read this book and see why. -- Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline
Ronald A. Heifetz is King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership and Founder of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Leadership Without Easy Answers is a masterwork of great subtlety,
and of punch and practicality. Leadership is not value-free, Mr.
Heifetz writes… [The author puts] soul and values squarely back
into a vital topic, leadership.
*New York Times Book Review*
Ronald Heifetz brings knowledge of an astonishingly wide range of
disciplines to this study of leadership… As a musician, a cellist,
he understands that the quality of a performance depends on the
audience as well as on the instrumentalist… As a psychiatrist,
Heifetz understands that communities cannot be pushed beyond their
capacity to adapt… These insights give to Heifetz’s book an
originality and vivacity one rarely associates with studies on
leadership. He illustrates his theses with an extraordinary range
of cases and examples… Leadership Without Easy Answers reminds us
of democracy’s rich potential. It is a bold book and an encouraging
one. I hope some of our leaders are out there learning.
*Times Higher Education Supplement*
Ronald Heifetz has written an interesting and timely book, in which
he moves away from the idea of leaders as visionaries and saviors
to stressing leadership as an activity as opposed to a position of
authority or a set of personal characteristics.
*Journal of Leadership Studies*
This pioneering study constitutes one of the most insightful and
innovative approaches to leadership studies in over a decade…
Heifetz masterfully presents his new leadership model by
intertwining general theory and prescriptive practical guidance
through fertile historical and workplace case studies. Heifetz’s
goal is nothing less than a summoning for a new social contract
that seeks to revitalize America’s civic ethos by adopting
leadership strategies to empower the citizenry rather than to
merely enhance the authority of the leader… The upshot of this
study should place it in the front line in leadership
historiography for years to come.
*Choice*
Heifetz presents a new theory of leadership for both public and
private leaders in tackling complex contemporary problems. Central
to his theory is the distinction between routine technical
problems, which can be solved through expertise, and adaptive
problems, such as crime, poverty, and educational reform, which
require innovative approaches, including consideration of values.
Four major strategies of leadership are identified: to approach
problems as adaptive challenges by diagnosing the situation in
light of the values involved and avoiding authoritative solutions,
to regulate the level of stress caused by confronting issues, and
to shift responsibility for problems from the leader to all the
primary stakeholders. The theory is applied to an analysis of
historical accounts of local, national, and international events.
An innovative and thoroughgoing work; highly recommended.
*Library Journal*
A superb book for any age, but particularly for our current one,
where society is so desperately in need of its wisdom and
expertise. Leadership Without Easy Answers should be required
reading for top managers in all sectors—private, public, and
nonprofit. I hope it will also be widely read by the citizenry that
is so much in need of an attitude shift on the nature of authority.
This book is also very much about citizenship.
*M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled*
Alive with insights, concepts, new ideas, just teeming with the
kind of creative approach to the study of leadership that I and of
course many others esteem. In a field in which there has been a
great deal of repetitious work, Heifetz strikes out in
ground-breaking directions.
*James MacGregor Burns, author of Leadership*
Remarkably thoughtful, provocative, and useful. This book will be
seen as a major contribution that provides a rare interdisciplinary
view of leadership in context. Leaders as well as serious students
of the process of leadership and the development of leaders need to
have this book on their shelves.
*General Walter Ulmer, U.S. Army (Ret.), President and CEO, Center
for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, North Carolina*
Heifetz turns out to be one of the most thoughtful scholars on
leadership. His direct and relevant concepts are pathbreaking.
*James David Barber, author of Presidential Character*
Original and penetrating in its analysis of leadership. This is an
excellent book. Important and valuable.
*John Gardner, former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
and founder of Common Cause*
Leadership Without Easy Answers should go a long way toward
clearing up many confusions about leadership. Long a master teacher
of leaders, Heifetz’s courses and Harvard’s Kennedy School of
Government have been standing-room only for years. Read this book
and see why.
*Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline: The Art and
Practice of the Learning Organization*
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