Real Leadership: Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest Challenges (UK PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS Management / Business) - Hardcover

Dean Williams

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1576753433 ISBN 13: 9781576753439

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2005

Synopsis

In ""Real Leadership, Dean Williams argues that any leadership that lets people sidestep the sometimes harsh truth of reality is irresponsible -- and ultimately ineffective. He then offers a new paradigm that redefines the proper function and purpose of leadership: responsible leadership. This approach, he says, gets people to face difficult realities, and mobilizes them to address their organization's most pressing challenge -- the primary threat or opportunity that must be confronted in order to progress. Responsible leaders help people shift their values, habits, practices, and priorities to accommodate changing conditions and new demands. Williams contends that leaders must have a passion for insight and an unrelenting commitment to discovery -- discovery about the context and specific features of the challenges people face, and discovery about how their power affects the group in their problem-solving ventures. Case studies and real-life examples, some drawn from the author's personal experiences, illustrate responsible leadership at work.

About this title

Product Description:

"Real Leadership" debunks the notion that leaders are supposed to get people to follow and instead offers entirely new approach that leaders should get people to face the reality of the situation. In "Responsible Leadership", Dean Williams argues that any leadership that lets people sidestep the sometimes-harsh truth of reality is irresponsible - and ultimately ineffective. Responsible leadership gets people to face difficult realities and mobilises them to address the organisation's most pressing challenge - the primary threat or opportunity that must be confronted in order to progress. Responsible leaders help people shift their values, habits, practices and priorities to accommodate changing conditions and new demands.

Review:

"Williams has thoroughly encapsulated the art and practice of real leadership. This is not just another leadership book--but a well-developed set of theories and best practices, reinforced through excellent historical examples and cases, that strengthens leaders at all levels."
--Marshall Carter, Chairman, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

"A wise and capacious book on the real challenges of leadership. Williams writes with a rare and unique global perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot."
--Warren Bennis, University Professor, University of Southern California, and author of On Becoming a Leader

"Individuals can make a difference, particularly if they are willing to exercise real leadership. I welcome the broad and refreshing approach Williams adopts, which should help to foster new leadership."
--Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

"In this fresh, provocative book, Dean Williams sets forth a sweeping and different view of 'real leadership' .... He brings to these pages a rich accumulation of insights. Whether or not you agree with him, this book deserves your close attention."
--David Gergen, Former adviser to five U.S. presidents, and Director, Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

About this edition

• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1576753433
• ISBN 13: 9781576753439
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 296