Leadership Without Easy Answers

The title of this blog is the title of an amazing book on leadership by Ronald Heifetz. Heifetz's writing is very accessible to the common layperson, even though he emanates from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

The Library Journal says this of Heifetz's work:

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 [American] local, national, and international events. An innovative and thoroughgoing work; highly recommended.

Although Heifetz develops his theory of leadership from the perspective of American history, I found his book to be tremendously insightful and helpful. I reference Heifetz a number of times in Evoking Change.

One of my favorite images in Leadership Without Easy Answers is that of the "dance" and the "balcony". Heifetz says that leaders spend too much time caught up in the dance. What we need to do instead, is go up on the balcony and watch the dance. I often call it "taking a step back" to see what is going on. In Evoking Change I entitle one of the final chapters "Curious Change" and talk about leaders doing "detective work" - trying to figure out what's happening with the emotional PROCESS in the system rather than involving themselves in the CONTENT of issues.

Once you've purchased and read Evoking Change, if you're looking for some more meat-and-potatoes on leadership, pick up a copy of Leadership Without Easy Answers.