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Leadership Without Easy Answers
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.34
EAN: 9780674518582
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0674518586
Label: Harvard University Press
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 348
Publication Date: July 22, 1998
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Studio: Harvard University Press
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Editorial Review:
The economy uncertain, education in decline, cities under siege, crime and poverty spiraling upward, international relations roiling: we look to leaders for solutions, and when they don't deliver, we simply add their failure to our list of woes. In doing do, we do them and ourselves a grave disservice. We are indeed facing an unprecedented crisis of leadership, Ronald Heifetz avows, but it stems as much from our demands and expectations as from any leader's inability to meet them. His book gets at both of these problems, offering a practical approach to leadership for those who lead as well as those who look to them for answers. Fitting the theory and practice of leadership to our extraordinary times, the book promotes a new social contract, a revitalization of our civic life just when we most need it. Drawing on a dozen years of research among managers, officers, and politicians in the public realm and the private sector, among the nonprofits, and in teaching, Heifetz presents clear, concrete prescriptions for anyone who needs to take the lead in almost any situation, under almost any organizational conditions, no matter who is in charge, His strategy applies not only to people at the top but also to those who must lead without authority--activists as well as presidents, managers as well as workers on the front line.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Classic leadership text
Heifetz' definition of leadership revolves around the concept of influence rather than subordination or coercion. Using contrast to sharpen his own definition of leadership, he wrote that there is an important difference between imagining that a leader influences a community to follow her vision and influencing a community to face its problems.
In the first instance, influence is the mark of leadership; a leader gets people to accept his vision, and communities address problems by ... Read More
Rating: - Thought provoking
I thought the book was good when I read it first. It took me a second read to realize how exceptional it is. The book's reviews on Amazon site range from 5 star to 1 star, from people who were amazed by its brilliance to those who could not despise it enough. I think this is the best accolade that a leadership book can ever get - it takes a stance, it provides direction, and it chooses to be for a great cause irrespective of whether it is loved or hated. This book cannot and must not be ignored. ... Read More
Rating: - Best Leadership book I have read
I have been studing leadership for over 15 years both by reading and experience. I consider this book to be the best book I have read because it describes leadership as a learned activity. It also says that leadership is in motivating people to do their own work in solving difficult problems. I found that as President of my congregation I was continually going back to the concepts in the book to lead it through a very difficult situation involving placement of the flags in the sanctuary. It was ... Read More
Rating:  - Disappointing Read
The most disappointing part of this book is its blatant political slant. The book is NOT about a theory of leadership, but about an ideological judgement of the performance of leaders. Heifetz starts by insisting that leadership is necessarily tied to values because if you disagree....then the rest of his book is meaningless. Heifetz believes that to be a good leader you have to adopt positions that he advocates and if you don't, then you aren't a good leader. So, in Heifetz's world, Reagan wasn't ... Read More
Rating: - Exceptional from start to finish
I read this book in 1994 when it was first published and then again recently. It is excellent and establishes a philosophical approach to leadership that is grounded in problem solving rather than visionary mission. The visionary hero is a threat to democracy as evidenced by such leaders as Adolph Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte. Ronald Heifetz draws a portrait of the leader that is far different from the heroic leader who tries to convince society of easy answers and moves people to action through prejudice ... Read More
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