The Search For Leadership

Why and how to apply Systems Thinking to the design, structure and day-to-day running of your organisation.

This book brings together a wide range of topics in leadership ethics and business ethics. It approaches these topics from the perspective of the humanities as well as the social sciences. About half of the book is on leadership and the other half on topics in business ethics. Besides these general areas of research, the book explores how to teach and study ethics in both business ethics and leadership studies. Specifically, it examines issues ranging from the nature of ethical leadership, to studies of authenticity, virtue, and the public and private morality of leaders. In business ethics, the subjects covered span from moral imagination, to casuistry, meaningful work, and workplace ethics. The book includes a section on the importance of liberal arts for studying and teaching ethics in business and professional schools. It concludes with a reflection on the ethical challenges of leaders and followers in a world where some leaders have inverted moral values.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead. Don’t miss the five-part HBO Max docuseries Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart! NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BLOOMBERG Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work. But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start. Four-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown has spent the past two decades studying the emotions and experiences that give meaning to our lives, and the past seven years working with transformative leaders and teams spanning the globe. She found that leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial startups and family-owned businesses to nonprofits, civic organizations, and Fortune 50 companies all ask the same question: How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture? In this new book, Brown uses research, stories, and examples to answer these questions in the no-BS style that millions of readers have come to expect and love. Brown writes, “One of the most important findings of my career is that daring leadership is a collection of four skill sets that are 100 percent teachable, observable, and measurable. It’s learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart. Easy? No. Because choosing courage over comfort is not always our default. Worth it? Always. We want to be brave with our lives and our work. It’s why we’re here.” Whether you’ve read Daring Greatly and Rising Strong or you’re new to Brené Brown’s work, this book is for anyone who wants to step up and into brave leadership.

This book represents a most robust look at the study of leadership while representing multiple disciplines in a quest to find agreement about leadership and theory. Russ Volckmann, International Leadership Review In this compelling book, top scholars from diverse fields describe the progress they have made in developing a general theory of leadership. Led by James MacGregor Burns, Pulitzer Prize winning author of the classic Leadership (1978), they tell the story of this intellectual venture and the conclusions and questions that arose from it. The early chapters describe how, in order to discuss an integrative theory, the group first wrestled with the nature of theory as well as basic aspects of the human condition that make leadership necessary and possible. They then tackle topics such as: the many faces of power woven into the leadership fabric; crucial elements of group dynamics and the leader follower relationship; ethical issues lying at the heart of leadership; constructivist perspectives on leadership, causality, and social change; and the historical and cultural contexts that influence and are influenced by leadership. The book concludes with a commentary by Joanne Ciulla and an Afterword by James MacGregor Burns. The contributors thorough coverage of leadership, as well as their approach to this unique undertaking, will be of great interest to leaders, students and scholars of leadership.

In The Science of Leadership, Julian Barling takes an evidenced-based approach, relying primarily on the knowledge generated from research on organizational leadership conducted around the world and personal reflections based on two decades of involvement in leadership research and leadership development with executives. While leadership has been studied within all the major social sciences, Barling mainly focuses on findings from psychological research. The first part of the book explains the nature of organizational leadership, responds to the question of whether leaders "matter," and explains how leadership works. A longstanding issue is whether leadership can be taught. Barling explores the debate over whether leadership is "born or made" as well as the effectiveness of leadership development interventions in organizations. He gives consideration to what can be learned from leadership in other contexts such as sports, the political arena, and schools, and devotes individual chapters to topics that include gender and leadership, destructive leadership, and followership.

In this stimulating collection of stories, ten academic leaders reflect from personal experience on leadership in place—an emergent mode of leadership that brings people together in order to effect organizational change. Originating from diverse sectors of the academy, each of the book's contributors brings a fresh and deeply human perspective on academic leadership theories and their effective applications. Leadership in Place calls for a shift in attitude about leaders and leadership. It departs from the hierarchical view that academic leadership flows from a leadership position, and instead embraces a more lateral view where leadership roles are available to everyone. It calls for a rethinking of how our colleges and universities are led and organized by discussing the following: Importance of strong academic communities in preserving the integrity of academic programs Empowerment of part-time faculty by combining adaptive and transformative learning models Opportunities for, benefits of, and challenges in collaborative leadership Problems that can emerge in times of leadership transitions and possible solutions Concept of leadership as an attribute of the many rather than the few Advocating for academics to reengage and recommit to their institutions, the book creates an agenda for what higher education must do to create conditions under which leadership in place is the norm rather than the exception.

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.

Two leadership consultants identify three keys to being a more effective leader: knowing your strengths and investing in others' strengths, getting people with the right strengths on your team, and understanding and meeting the four basic needs of those who look to you for leadership.