Leadership: A Practitioner's Perspective on the Literature.

Abstract

The common conception of leadership has typically focused on the actions of an heroic leader -- a single person who is the leader by virtue of his commanding position in a hierarchy. The purpose of this article is to look at some of the literature targeted to practitioners and suggest a new view of leadership as the exercise of influence in any interpersonal relationship. As such leadership is clearly being recognised as a widespread social function necessary for the achievement of collective objectives and not just a position in a hierarchy or a chain of command. Thus, many different and diverse expressions of leadership are needed in all organisations. It is suggested that this view may have particular utility for the emerging knowledge era organisation which demands that each person take the initiative for furthering the objectives of his organisations.

Introduction

Organisations are changing in dramatic and fundamental ways. The flood of new computer and telecommunications technologies, the continuous introduction of new work methods, and the enormous managerial efforts undertaken to make organisations (hence, individuals) responsive to fast changing market conditions, all belie a need to understand and apply the most effective leadership tools and techniques in today's organisations.

The need is clear. Organisations recognise they are less than efficient and often less than effective in achieving their objectives and it is due in large part to the lack of leadership or the misunderstanding of what leadership means.

John P Kotter (1996) reports a need for additional formal study of organisational issues by potential/future leaders: "Success in managerial jobs increasingly requires leadership, not just good management. Even at lower levels in firms, the inability to lead is hurting both corporate performance and individual careers. Organisations that stifle leadership from employees are no longer winning."

More recently, Noel Tichy and Eli Cohen, (1997), commenting on the popularity of the learning organisation said: "A learning organisation isn't enough. They need to become teaching organisations...Teaching organisations do share with learning organisations the goal that everyone continually acquire new knowledge and skills. But to that they add the more critical goal that everyone pass their learning on to others." And his major point identifies leaders as the teachers. In winning organisations, "...leaders exist at all levels and leaders actively develop the next generation of leaders. Once this 'engine' gets running, it is hard for competitors to stop."

There is also an educational need for leadership programmes. Specific curricular deficiencies in the area of leadership, systems thinking, and the organisation-stakeholder relationship, have been cited by critics of management education for some time. Corporate "universities" are increasingly focusing on leadership development -- especially as a tool for orderly succession and as a means to prepare for growth. Continuous, lifelong education and training are becoming both a necessity and an avocation among managers aspiring to significant leadership positions.

Because of the changing nature of work and the advent of the virtual organisation and self-management expectations, various professional associations recognise the utility of leadership training for current job enhancement as well as for job advancement. Professional associations such as the Organisation Development Network, the American Society for Training and Development, and the Human Resources Society (and their counterparts all over the world) advocate continued formal education in leadership.

The United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics also says there is a growing need for management and leadership training. For example: "Employment of general managers and top executives is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2005 as new companies start up and established companies seek managers who can help them maintain a competitive edge in domestic and world markets ... Experienced managers whose accomplishments reflect strong leadership qualities and the ability to improve the efficiency or competitive position of an organisation will have the best opportunities."

The same is true of health care, non-profits and other organisations. As complexity increases and the knowledge era fully evolves, the demand for leadership training will increase. But the concepts of leadership and leadership development have come to mean many things to many people.

The popular conception of leadership is frequently understood in the context of the functional role of a single person perched atop an organisational pyramid. Recent idolisation of people like Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric, Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney, and Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin, confirms this conceptualisation. While this glamorisation stimulates the popular imagination and sets inspirational examples of what is possible for every MBA student with dreams of corporate success, it does not necessarily reflect best practice and effectiveness so much as a cult of personality perpetrated by the press and massive public relations campaigns by large organisations. As we shall see in a moment, however, leadership is a concept in transition.

Defining Leadership

If you ask an accountant how to calculate the purchasing power of the dollar, she would tell you to divide the consumer price index for the base period of 1982-1984 by the consumer price index of a given year. Simple. In almost every technical field -- the so-called hard sciences of business such as finance and accounting, production, information systems and contract administration, for example -- concepts are well defined and universally understood. An asset is measured in the same way from one company to the next. There is an extensive regulatory environment to insure that generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) are applied across the board to all businesses.

This is not the case in developing useful principles to govern the social systems of organisations, however. Instead, there is a rather colloquial jargon that leaves an impression of the field being a rather soft science because so many competing conceptual definitions exist for the same phenomena. Leadership, for example, has literally hundreds of definitions in both academic and practitioner circles is a concept thought to be obvious and understood by anyone who comprehends English. Alas, it is not.

There are as many definitions of leadership as there are authors. That is an unfortunate consequence of the lack of agreement about whether leadership is a position, a person, a behavioural act, a style, or a relationship, as much as it is due to the lack of agreement about exactly who or what we are actually referring to. Obviously, if it can mean anything, it means nothing.

The American cultural mindset of leadership as a heroic act and a singular achievement is created in part by the news, entertainment, and advertising media that shapes our impression of the conventional organisational world. The business press is varied in its approach to leadership but in the vast majority of cases report on the men and women at the very top of organisations. Fortune magazine focuses on CEOs of the largest organisations while Forbes focuses on the entrepreneurs behind small and mid-size companies, for example. A new entrant in the business press, Fast Company, has rocketed in circulation and advertising pages due to its extreme emphasis on the heroic, larger than life accomplishments of a new generation of organisational cowboys and cowgirls seemingly single-handedly reshaping the contours of the business world. In a very exciting format and nouveau design style, Fast Company portrays achievements as nothing short of individual brilliance and panache.

The real world isn't quite so dependent on the exploits of lone-ranger type CEOs. But the truth is sometimes harder to accept because, while individuals do indeed make a big difference, their successes are intimately related to the cooperation and hard work of a small army of colleagues, peers, "bosses", "subordinates", mentors, and customers combined with good fortune. Though perhaps suitable as a symbol, the icons we so frequently read about are really only an easy shorthand for a description of the work of innumerable individuals who made success happen. There are after all 293,000 employees at GE, 117,000 at Walt Disney, and the Virgin Group has slightly more than 10,000.

Still the business press shares a similar perspective about leadership: that it is centered in a single person at the top who appears to have the responsibility for all decisions right or wrong. Clearly it is a heroic model. The individuals are seen as victors in the struggle for the corner office and, while ensconced there, some are tough task masters with a no-nonsense approach, others are more people-oriented. But it is the self-determination, the intelligence, foresight, the strategic brilliance of these individuals who virtually alone create organisational success for companies large and small. It is a traditional model with basically two features of leadership. First, it is the main function of the individual at the top to navigate the organisation through a highly competitive global marketplace, constantly adjusting the strategy and vision in order to succeed. In the inevitable personal profiles that accompany the accounts of success or failure in this external strategic battlefield leaders are portra yed as either good guys (only 3 per cent of the time, are they gals, in the Fortune 1000) or bad guys. Clearly they convey a model of leadership being centered in a CEO taking control of the organisation and using it as an instrument of his or her will.

Second, the positional leader lays out the internal structures and processes that, as if a well-oiled machine put in motion, accomplishes the work. Thus, it is important to establish a common frame of reference when we talk about leadership. Some organisations equate leadership with management. Others equate it with financial success. Still others equate it with getting employee compliance. Usually, leadership is simply thought to mean being in charge. For Peter Drucker (1998), considered the father of modern management thinking, a leader is: "the person who has responsibility and who has followers." As such it is a formal role played by someone given authority to provide "responsibility" in an organisation. This is very compatible with what we have seen, that focuses attention in much of the corporate world, on the leadership behaviour of those at the very top of organisations.

Unfortunately, few organisations have gone much further than a general advocacy of a certain executive "command presence" and few have truly institutionalised the practice. In other cases, individuals are left to themselves to figure out how to succeed as a leader given the prevalence of certain norms. Unlike the existence of GAAPs there is no convention regarding a single acceptable leadership standard. More importantly, there is no convention that asserts the appropriate behaviour of CEOs. They are allowed to impose personal beliefs, philosophies and behaviours freely so long as they are not illegal and they retain the confidence of their boards of directors. Thus, the test of institutionalisation of leadership best practices is quite important though illusive -- and will remain a future challenge for the profession.

Primary Archetypes of Heroic Leadership

Two recent books profiled the successes of two men who symbolise the contradictory archetypes as if extreme poles on a continuum of leadership approaches most frequently drawn upon by CEOs as models for their own behaviour. One was about Al Dunlap, the no nonsense turnaround specialist and the other was Herb Kelleher, founding CEO of Southwest Airlines, who demonstrates a people-oriented approach. A brief description of their approaches is merited to sketch the frequently cited polarities among observers of leadership.

In Mean Business: How I Save Bad Companies and Make Good Companies Great, (New York: Times, 1996) Al Dunlap gave an account of his turnaround of Scott Paper. In a mere 20 months, from his appointment as CEO to Scott's merger with Kimberly-Clark, Dunlap, in his own words, "cut back 70 per cent of upper management and eliminated more than 11,200 total jobs, 35 per cent of the Scott payroll." In addition, he sold off pieces of the company that included another 6,000 jobs. But, according to him, once "... the bloodletting had ended ... 20,000 people had secure jobs once again." In this way he earned in the USA the nickname given to him in Australia: Chainsaw Al.

But redemption came in the form of a massive stock appreciation without which the basis for his book would have been missing. Stockholder value increased by US$6.5 billion. "That's more than $10 million a day!" he proudly proclaimed. For his efforts Dunlap walked away with US$100 million in salary, exercised stock options, personal stock profits and a non-compete agreement alone worth US$20 million after the merger. All of this, he boasted, was well deserved -- less than 2 per cent of the wealth he created for the stockholders. Did he earn it? "Damn right I did. I'm a superstar in my field much like Michael Jordan in basketball and Bruce Springsteen in rock 'n' roll."

When the criteria of effectiveness is profit, stockholder value and survival, the mention that Al Dunlap was on the way once sent stock prices soaring. When it was announced that he would be the new CEO of Sunbeam Corporation, the stock shot up 50 per cent in one day! Of course, by the time he gets to an ailing company the patient is on its last leg and desperate acts seem the only way to meet the challenge. In the case of Sunbeam, however, he left the company in disarray. His "leadership" apparently didn't always work. But all that occurred well after the book was published.

For Al Dunlap, leadership isn't an interpersonal behaviour as it is typically understood, it isn't about relationships between the leader and follower, it isn't even about a personal style. It is about economic success or failure. If you are successful in either raising stock prices or dividends or profits you are deemed a leader. If you don't do these things you are simply a failure. Witness his acrimonious departure from Sunbeam.

However, if effectiveness is measured by profitability, satisfaction and the intact survival of the organisation over time, Al Dunlap's school of leadership is not very useful. The question is: "if not Al Dunlap, then who?"

Interestingly, the antipode to Mean Business, Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success (Freiberg, 1996) recounts the life and times of a rather remarkable team of entrepreneurs who, with seemingly inexhaustible energy, compassion and vision, created the most enduring success in contemporary American aviation. Theirs is a story of how an airline struggled for its place in the industry, fought the good (and wildly successful) fight and did so living up to the highest standards of integrity.

Its hallmarks were service to employee and customer alike while setting a shining example of how to operate according to a set of interpersonal standards and respectfulness still all too rare in the corporate world. While Herb Kelleher, the CEO and one of the original brains behind its vision and strategy exemplifies the spirit and philosophy of the organisation, today that vision has been institutionalised and is now carried on by 20,000 current Southwest employees.

While Mean Business was incredible because of the arrogance and self-centeredness of its author, Nuts! equally leaves the reader with a sceptical view of the cozy claims that "Love" isn't just the name of the airport in Dallas that serves as its corporate headquarters but the driving force and single most powerful explanation for the company's success. In the case of Herb Kelleher and his associates, one just can't imagine their being that good.

The time and effort to create a culture that puts employees first, that insists on each person contributing their best, that fosters an environment of caring and laughter amid the seriousness of providing the safest, most reliable and most customer satisfying airline in the United States, seems somewhat fictional. How can you possibly get 20,000 people to care about anything day in and day out without tough managers making it happen? It seems just too good to be true.

The company experienced steady profits year in and year out. Satisfied employees are willing to do whatever it takes to get planes safely skyward. It is an airline where captains and baggage handlers willingly work together and share the same mission. Creating and keeping this kind of culture is the hardest thing a leader can do.

Clearly this is a tale of ordinary people doing extraordinary things because they possess the will to do so and because the management of the organisation makes it a priority to enable, empower, encourage and, indeed, ennoble each employee. It takes a conception of leadership as an interpersonal responsibility for the whole that is in stark contrast to Dunlap's approach. It resulted in a level of performance and good will equally rare among a workforce more used to suffering downsizings, reorganisations, outsourcings, and disregard from the managerial elite than expressions of love and compassion -- almost a daily occurrence at Southwest. This is a very unusual tale of corporate life.

The story of Southwest is not the story of quick riches but of steady profits. "It is the only US airline to have made money every year since 1973." It has done this by offering the lowest airfares in the business while having the most productive workforce among all US airlines, having the best safety record, and a no-furlough policy that has withstood the ravages of an extraordinarily competitive environment. Southwest is ranked in the top 10 in Fortune magazine's (January 11, 1999) list of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. And stockholders have been pleased as well.

The contrast between Herb Kelleher and Al Dunlap dramatises the essential differences in popular leadership models of the tough task master with a no nonsense approach versus a compassionate people-oriented approach.

Our dualistic and frequently superficial impressions of what leadership is seems equally driven by events as they are by style. Success brings imitation believing that a particular style such as Dunlap's or Kelleher's was the sole responsible factor for success.

It is apparent that this conceptual exploration risks becoming fodder for an ideological battle: Tough versus soft, liberal versus conservative, one person's ideas versus the ideas of the many, science versus art, etc.

Representative Leadership Literature

With only a rare exception or two, the leadership literature, unfortunately, reinforces the idea of the heroic CEO, though there have been some significant departures. (See Appendix A for a list of selected leadership literature from the 1990s. It summarises each author's definition of the concept, the approach taken and its uses.)

James Collins and Jerry Porras, in their successful Built to Last (1994), typify the idea that leadership is based in position. For them, leadership is defined as "top executive(s) who displayed high levels of persistence, overcame significant obstacles, attracted dedicated people, influenced groups of people toward the achievement of goals, and played key roles in guiding their companies through crucial episodes in their history." For Collins and Porras leaders are heroes, just as they have always been.

For Warren Bennis, one of the most popular leadership gurus, leadership was not explicitly defined in his book Learning to Lead co-authored with Joan Goldsmith (Addison-Wesley, 1994). Bennis and Goldsmith simply described what leaders do as opposed to what managers do. For example, "leaders act with integrity and competence, interpret reality, explain the present and paint a picture of the future, innovate, build trust, are effective advocates for followers and care about them." As they say: "A good manager does things right. A leader does the right things."

However, in tracking the leadership literature over the last decade, it is clear there are signs that the concept is changing -- and dramatically so. In spite of a long history of seeing leadership as a function of top management and based solely in one's position in an organisation, today, many people are seeing leadership as a function to be exercised by virtually everyone in an organisation.

Peter Northouse, (1997) defined leadership as "... a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal."

Toward the end of the decade an interesting article by Peter Block (1997a), author of Stewardship (1993), simply stated that now "Leaders don't matter." Indeed, undue reliance on one or two individuals may be organisationally inefficient as well as dangerous to individuals by really encouraging them to be dependent on others. Explaining further (1997b), Block said: "The focus on the leader is a collective escape from responsibility. A culture of accountability will come from turning our attention away from leaders and committing ourselves to creating a deeper sense of community and citizenship."

Reflecting on the practice of several large organisations successful at creating conventional leaders, Noel Tichy and Eli Cohen (1997) report that leadership isn't about an all-knowing super person but a quality that can be developed in everyone -- a responsibility that can be spread throughout an organisation that results in perhaps the only real competitive advantage. Gill Hickman (1998) reports that "Leadership and followership in transformistic organisations are predicated less on positional authority and more on interdependent work relationships centered on common purposes. Participants are active, multi-faceted contributors." For Hickman, transformistic organisations "describes the capacity of an existing or new organization to facilitate multiple levels of transformation (individual, organizational or societal) by partially or completely changing its human capabilities, structure and or functions in alignment with its core values and unifying purpose..."

An organisation that attempts to structure itself to enable this form of behaviour to evolve is the Swiss-based ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) under former CEO Percy Barnevik. Barnevik (1997) reports: "There is a tremendous unused potential in our people. Our organisations ensure they only use 5 to 10 per cent of their abilities at work ... We have to learn how to recognise and employ that untapped ability that each individual brings to work every day." In this environment, leadership isn't so much a heroic act as a catalytic one -- stimulating others to utilise more of their potential more often.

ABB has created a "leadership engine." According to Barnevik: "The press may describe us as a US$30 billion diversified global company, but we see ourselves as a portfolio of 1,200 companies, each with an average of 200 employees. This is where the real work gets done, and these people need well-defined responsibilities, clear accountability, and maximum degrees of freedom to execute." As Sumantra Ghoshal and Christopher Bartlett, (1997), concluded: "The real requirement of success, then, was not just resources or strategic brilliance at the top of the company but a broad-based organisational capability embedded deep in the corporate ranks." With 5,000 profit centres and a corporate headquarters of only 200 people, leadership at ABB must be localised and widespread.

Toward a Simplified Definition of Leadership

Leadership is clearly being recognised as a widespread social function necessary for the achievement of collective objectives and not just a position in a hierarchy or a chain of command. As such, many different and diverse expressions of leadership are needed in all organisations. Further, we contend that leadership is a specific social phenomenon between people for the purpose of achieving mutual objectives which are intended to result in collective effectiveness and personal enrichment over time. It is as much about how work gets done as it is about what gets done and who does it. Thus, here, we will define leadership as a form of influence and a type of role. We will also emphasise the importance of generalising the behaviours that constitute leadership so each person in an organisation can develop a more effective influence style and assume the role of "leader" as catalyst, coordinator or facilitator, when appropriate. Undoubtedly this will be a controversial departure from the conventional wisdom but e vidence suggests that organisational success in the future will be determined on precisely this new conceptualisation of leadership.

One of the first accounts of the appearance of this form of leadership was described by Joseph Rost (1993). "Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes." In the knowledge era, he recognised that, at least within formal organisations, the work between people will take the shape of collegial relationships rather than hierarchical ones. In becoming a more collegial enterprise, essentially composed of "volunteers," mutual consent and negotiated agreement will typify decision-making, goal setting, and performance appraisal. Clearly leadership in this environment will require the mutual exchange of influence based on perceived common interest, the expertise of the individuals involved and the conditions impacting the specific objective at hand.

Of course there are many forms of influence and we shouldn't confuse them. And, perhaps, in the near future we will develop a finely tuned lexicon of leadership more clearly defined according to the context, the type of organization and the degree of expertise of the individuals within them. For now, however, we'd like to make a sharp distinction between the conventional wisdom of leadership as "positionship" (regardless of the form of influence) and leadership as a process of mutual interaction, mutual consent, and mutual gain between leader and follower. If we see influence style as a product of the nature of the power and values disposition of the individual as a continuum of possibilities as in Chart 1, we can distinguish several forms of influence. These distinctions result in various behavioural styles used by the "position holder" of a group -- be it at the level of the organisation, division, department, parish, bureau, shop, etc. However, not all forms of influence should be defined as "leadership" as we discuss that behaviour here. Simply, in this new conceptualisation of leadership, leadership is a particular kind of influence. While we recognise this perspective is new, we believe it helps us more accurately frame the discussion by being more precise about what we mean. With this approach we clearly reject the Hitlers, Stalins, Pol Pots and Maos of the world as leaders though surely they were tyrants and dictators. Influential? Yes, but their influence was largely based on threat, coercion, intimidation and mass murder to force compliance and to maintain their position power. They are not considered to be leaders in the sense of that term as it is used here though, of course, they had followers -- a necessary but not sufficient requirement to be a leader.

The CEO represents a point of contact to the external world of investors, regulators, and the local community. His or her role is to facilitate the creation of a vision, a mission and a strategy to achieve them. It is also important for leadership to be dispersed throughout the organisation in order to craft the ability of a diverse workforce to live the vision and achieve the mission as articulated in the strategy.

In order to identify best leadership practices, it is therefore important to decide which intended outcomes will be sought in utilising the leadership form of influence. Remember that the use of leadership as a form of influence doesn't preclude the use of other influence styles such as boss, but the distinction certainly keeps our conversation more accurate when using these concepts. When we are being a boss or a manager or a dictator or a partner, we should own up to that style and not lump them all together as "leadership."

A "leadership" influence style focuses on the mobilisation of workpartners in a consensual, collective, effort to achieve the organisation's vision.

Clearly, as we move into the twenty-first century, the successful management of people creates the demand for leadership and the act of leadership requires people to become more open to their whole experience of interpersonal interaction -- to see more, hear more, understand more, in order to help the organisation see and meet the changing needs of customers and employees and to focus the collective productive intent of achieving effective results. The purpose of leadership is also about creating a seamless partnership between customer, employee, and organisational purpose in order to succeed in the market. It is about intelligence -- about pushing back personal limitations and being open to new possibilities for creating a better, more enjoyable, more successful organisation. Most of all, perhaps, the act of leadership is about building strong positive relationships.

The tools and techniques used to mobilise the creative talent and energy of workpartners makes contemporary business success possible. Through a positive contribution of personal energy and commitment to success, each employee makes the organisation viable. The innovation and creativity of the workforce, when unleashed, can do remarkable things. We see this every day in the products and services that fill the marketplace. It takes the power of collaborative, positive leadership to make this happen. It is everyone's responsibility.

Of course, leadership is an interpersonal skill used to influence others. It is a skill that is desperately left wanting in most organisations because technical expertise and political prowess have been confused with the ability, and the right, to manage. But leadership, if conceptualised as simply being the boss, the one in charge, having the right to tell others what to do because of one's position in the hierarchy, is simply not adequate to deal with the challenges facing organizations at the dawn of the twenty-first century. It is an inadequate model for operating a complex human system where patterns of influence and achievement are dependent on a multitude of factors beyond the control of any one person regardless of organisational position or personal talent. To see leadership as an act of a position is to rely on the heroic model of leadership and to risk organisational performance on the hope that, somehow, heroism will be forthcoming and successful when needed. It can't be counted on to happen that way.

But leadership is about much more than mobilising a workforce to achieve output objectives. It is also about creating joy, efficacy and a shared purpose -- in short, a positive workplace culture. Max DePree (1989), CEO emeritus of furniture maker Herman Miller, was one of the first to talk about building a covenantal relationship with employees and to use words such as "love" and 'joy" when describing the new leader's work. When joy and a shared purpose are outcomes of the leader's use of people-management tools and personal influence, organisational success is virtually guaranteed.

With personnel selected on the basis of education, social skills, creativity and the ability to work independently (but also as members of a team), large organizations will have the luxury of creating cultures that support and reinforce individuals who can succeed in creative, competitive, knowledge-based environments. Leaders, in the larger sense of the term, will play a very different role. Instead of concentrating on directing and controlling, they will coordinate, coach, support, teach, motivate, facilitate, defend, and, from time to time, rejuvenate their environments -- and not do so alone but as a function of their work with others -- exercising their leadership skills in service to the group and the organisation.

Changing Context of Organisational Leadership

Many readers might find the idea of "leadership as everyone" or as only one form of influence a bit far fetched. But there is massive evidence that a dramatic shift has been taking place in a sizable portion of the economy that indeed spells the death of the old way of being including the ego-centered, hierarchical, power-driven conception of leadership. Many organisations that have stumbled into the new era are finding themselves in what are described as knowledge-based organisations. These organisations depend on the acquisition, manipulation, packaging and selling of concepts, abstractions, insights and ideas. This requires a new way of being. As such, being effective requires the full participation and creative talents of each person to be noticeably present in the value chain. That requires both individual intelligence to be brought to bear on each person's work but also a catalytic form of influence that stimulates continuous creative contributions and each person reaching into new areas of their poten tial.

The main reason that many organisations today are in a state of chaos and breakdown is due to their inability to develop an appropriate "influence" ethos and style (leadership) for the knowledge era. Blaming today's incessant change for the chaos misses the point and reinforces the idea that all solutions are still expected from a heroic leader. People and organisations equipped to face change do not experience it as chaos while those who are ill equipped to deal with it, do feel the chaos, struggle and fail. It is not change that is the problem but our response to change. And it is those organisations that effectively utilize the collective effort through the "leadership" form of influence that succeed.

Today, as managers reach senior levels and are expected to practise more leadership than positionship, the old mindsets they bring with them increasingly disappoint them, increasingly fail, increasingly lead to conflict; but they are at a loss to understand why. In desperation they too often simply try harder rather than shift their thinking. Try to be more heroic than collaborative and continue to fail.

Unfortunately, not all people still thought to be "in charge" by virtue of their holding a particular position and having authority over others, behave heroically -- even occasionally like leaders -- and they are frequently not very good managers. It seems we tolerate this and simply call bad managers, managers and good managers leaders. We have thus come to expect mediocrity among people who are responsible and, if the popularity of the Dilbert cartoon series is an indication, expect managers to be clueless. In the case of really good management that also inspires, challenges and raises our sights to possibilities we haven't yet imagined, the hero's visionary touch seems present. It clearly stands out as an exception though, because good management has never been a prerequisite for being given authority and in the future being responsible in the sense of being a good manager/leader will be everyone's business.

In the knowledge era, the emphasis on which portion of our jobs will require leadership and which portion will require management is likely to shift toward leadership. This is because of several reasons. First, the knowledge-based organisation requires more interpersonal negotiations, collaboration between peers, and consultative relationships with others in the organisation who are neither bound to fulfill our needs nor to be expected to cooperate as a matter of course (and vice versa). The networks we increasingly work in will require a proficiency in influencing and inspiring others that few of us inherently possess and few of us learn through formal education and training. Yet we will need those skills in great abundance to make the network work well and to make sure leadership is part of our everyday work life responsibilities.

If people are promoted because of their technical ability alone or the success of their political skills with their boss without regard to the leadership skills that are important, leadership remains elusive. Ultimately, leadership skills will enhance the effectiveness of every manager. Indeed it is those skills that make the good manager even more effective. There are two broad sets of skills primarily interpersonal and conceptual in nature that enable an individual to be effective as both a manager and a leader.

Because leadership is not likely to be a permanent role one plays but a fluid give and take where one will lead one minute and follow the next, leadership practice and development must be a part of everyone's capability.

Furthermore, personal leadership effectiveness will become part of the routine development of all personnel and the traditional training function will evolve into a continuous career-long learning process that prepares participants for a variety of contingencies including handling the unknown. Corporate "universities" are now replacing training departments to reflect the new emphasis on learning, creative problem solving, intellectual adaptability and resourcefulness in exercising one's new role in the knowledge era.

So, there is an exciting future ahead for organisations developing a leadership culture as they move from focusing on a hero to focusing on the process of leading. It is in the realm of building leadership capacity and helping each individual develop his or her full potential that corporate educators can make the most significant personal contributions to the success of their organisations for years to come.

John Nirenberg, Ph D, is former Dean of Doctoral Studies at the University of Phoenix and Global Practice Leader for Strategic Leadership at the American Management Association. He is the author of Power Tools: A Leader's Guide to the Latest Management Thinking. He can be reached at [e-mail]

References

Barnevik, Percy, quoted in Ghoshal Sumantra and Bartlett, Christopher, Individualized Corporation: A Fundamentally New Approach to Management (New York: Harper, 1997).

Bennis, Warren and Goldsmith, Joan, Learning to Lead (Addison-Wesley, 1994).

Block, Peter Stewardship (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1993).

a,___, "Leaders don't matter.", At Work (Nov/Dec 1997).

b_____, "The End of Leadership" Leader to Leader, (Winter, 1997).

Collins, James and Porras, Jerry, Built to Last (New York: Harper, 1994).

DePree, Max, The Art of Leadership, (New York: Doubleday, 1989).

Drucker, Peter, The Leader of the Future (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1998).

Dunlap Al, Mean Business: How I Save Bad Companies and Make Good Companies Great, (New York: Times Business, 1996).

Freiberg, Kevin and Jackie, Nuts! Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success (Austin, TX: Bard Press, 1996).

Ghoshal Sumantra and Bartlett, Christopher, Individualized Corporation: A Fundamentally New Approach to Management (New York: Harper, 1997).

Hickman Gill (Ed), Leading Organizations: Perspectives for a New Era, (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998).

Kotter, John The New Rules: How to Succeed in Today's Post-Corporate World (New York: Free Press, 1996).

Levering, Robert, "100 Best Companies to Work for in America, "Fortune", (January 11, 1999).

Northouse, Peter, Leadership: Theory and Practice, (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1997).

Rost Joseph, Leadership for the Twenty-first Century. (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993).

Tichy Noel and Cohen, Eli The Leadership Engine: How Winning Companies Build Leaders at Every Level, (New York: Harper, 1997).

Figure 1: Forms of Influence
            0            1            2            3
Forms of    Dictator     Owner/       Supervisor   Manager
Influence                Boss         Adminis-     (transac-
                                      trator       tional)
Example     Al Dunlap    Henry        Robert       Michael
(Business)               Ford         Stempel      Eisner
Example     Stalin       Richard      Herbert      L B
(Public                  Daley        Hoover       Johnson
Figure)
Power       Coercive     Coercive     Coercive     Reward
Usage                    Legitimate   Reward       Coercive
Outcomes    Obedience    Obedience    Reluctant    Willing
                                      compli-      compliance
                                      ance
Effective-  Possibly in  Possibly in  Possible/    Likely in
ness        short term   stable       Likely only  stable
                         environ-     in stable    environ-
                         ment         environ-     ment
                                      ment
Enrich-     Dictator     Owner/       Company      Company,
ment        and          boss                      Manager,
            Cronies                                some
                                                   Followers
            4            5
Forms of    Leader       Partner
Influence   (transfor-
            mational)
Example     Herb         Jack Stack
(Business)  Kelleher
Example     F D          Nelson
(Public     Roosevelt    Mandela
Figure)
Power       Identifica-  Expertise/
Usage       tion/        Vision
            Expertise
Outcomes    Consent of   Shared
            followers    ownership
                         of process
                         and results
Effective-  Likely       Highly
ness                     likely
Enrich-     Company      Everyone
ment        Leader and
            Followers
Selected Leadership Literature in the 1990s
Author(s)/Work               Leadership Defined
Bennis, W and Goldsmith,     Not explicitly defined.
J (1994). Learning to Lead:  Described as what leaders
A Workbook on Becoming       do as opposed to managers.
a Leader. Reading, MA:       For example, leaders act
Addison-Wesley.              with integrity and compet-
                             ence, interpret reality,
                             explain the present and
                             paint a picture of the
                             future, innovate, build
                             trust; are effective advocates
                             for followers and care about
                             them.
Bass, B (1998).              "Leadership is charismatic
Transformational             such that the followers
Leadership: Industrial,      seek to identify with the
Military and Educational     leaders and emulate them.
Impact, Mahwah, NJ:          The leadership inspires the
Lawrence Erlbaum             follower with challenge and
Associates.                  persuasion providing mean-
                             ing and understanding. The
                             leadership is intellectually
                             stimulating, expanding the
                             followers use of their
                             abilities. Finally, the leader-
Author(s)/Work               Message
Bennis, W and Goldsmith,     Leadership can be learned
J (1994). Learning to Lead:  -- especially through self-
A Workbook on Becoming       analysis and introspection.
a Leader. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley.
Bass, B (1998).              Clearly, the message of
Transformational             this book is to demonstrate
Leadership: Industrial,      through empirical studies
Military and Educational     the superiority of the Bass
Impact, Mahwah, NJ:          transformation model of
Lawrence Erlbaum             leadership.
Associates.
Author(s)/Work               Approach
Bennis, W and Goldsmith,     This is a workbook that
J (1994). Learning to Lead:  can be used in a class-
A Workbook on Becoming       room or by one's self.
a Leader. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley.
Bass, B (1998).              Studies from industry,
Transformational             the military and educa-
Leadership: Industrial,      tion are highlighted.
Military and Educational
Impact, Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Author(s)/Work               Uses
Bennis, W and Goldsmith,     The focus on individual
J (1994). Learning to Lead:  behaviour directly
A Workbook on Becoming       addresses the needs of
a Leader. Reading, MA:       individuals for feedback
Addison-Wesley.              and is a good self-develop-
                             ment tool. This method
                             raises the "leadership as
                             relationship" conscious-
                             ness of each person who
                             engages in the process.
Bass, B (1998).              Makes an excellent case
Transformational             for use of the MLQ
Leadership: Industrial,      (multifactor leadership
Military and Educational     questionnaire) developed
Impact, Mahwah, NJ:          by Bass and Avolio.
Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
                           ship is individually considerate,
                           providing the
                           follower with support,
                           mentoring and coaching." (p 5)
Block, P (1997). "Why      "Leaders don't matter." (p 7)
Leaders Don't Matter", At
Work, Nov/Dec, 1997.
Block, P (1997). "Why      "The idea that we should
Leaders Don't Matter", At  keep looking for better and
Work, Nov/Dec, 1997.       better leaders is to me a
                           statement of the problem ...
                           strong leadership absolves
                           people of their responsibility."
                           (p 7)
Block, P (1997). "Why      "We should be confroned
Leaders Don't Matter", At  with the fact of how
Work, Nov/Dec, 1997.       we're treating each
                           other, not with the fact
                           that standards weren't
                           clear and codes of
                           conduct weren't enforced
                           ... My vision is of a
                           world where we have
                           escaped the shackles
                           of our institutions,
                           where organisations
                           distribute power rather
                           than consume it, where
                           democracy is a real
                           phenomenon." (p 7)
Block, P (1997). "Why      This reminds us that each
Leaders Don't Matter", At  one of us is responsible
Work, Nov/Dec, 1997.       for and to the whole and
                           that we can't abdicate that
                           responsibility merely
                           because of the assignment
                           of a leader.
Block, P (1993).             "Stewardship is the willing-
Stewardship: Choosing        ness to be accountable for
Service Over Self-Interest.  the well being of the larger
San Francisco: Berrett-      organisation by operating in
Koehler.                     service rather than in control,
                             of those around us. Stated
                             simply, it is accountability
                             without control or compl-
                             iance." (p xx)
Collins, J C and Porras      "Leadership is defined as
(1994). Built to Last:       top executive(s) who
Successful Habits of         displayed high levels of
Visionary Companies,         persistence, overcame
New York: Harper             significant obstacles, attracted
Business                     dedicated people, influenced
                             groups of people toward the
                             achievement of goals, and
                             played key roles in guiding
                             their companies through
                             crucial episodes in their
                             history." (p 262)
Block, P (1993).             It is necessary to rethink
Stewardship: Choosing        conventional ways of
Service Over Self-Interest.  organising, leading and
San Francisco: Berrett-      managing in order to build
Koehler.                     a better organisation and
                             world.
Collins, J C and Porras      Corporate culture based on
(1994). Built to Last:       commitment to values is
Successful Habits of         the strongest influence on
Visionary Companies,         longevity and market
New York: Harper             success.
Business
Block, P (1993).             Block questions under-
Stewardship: Choosing        lying assumptions of the
Service Over Self-Interest.  conventional wisdom to
San Francisco: Berrett-      expose their inadequacies
Koehler.                     as a basis for democratic
                             governance.
Collins, J C and Porras      Study comparing paired
(1994). Built to Last:       companies from the
Successful Habits of         point of view of their
Visionary Companies,         cultures.
New York: Harper
Business
Block, P (1993).             Shifts the thinking about
Stewardship: Choosing        one's leadership respon-
Service Over Self-Interest.  sibilities and shows how
San Francisco: Berrett-      assumptions and choices
Koehler.                     we make influence the
                             entire act of organising
                             as well as the way one
                             manages. This clearly
                             provides a valuable frame
                             break.
Collins, J C and Porras      Demonstrates the useful-
(1994). Built to Last:       ness of establishing a clear
Successful Habits of         vision and strong suppor-
Visionary Companies,         tive values (an organisa-
New York: Harper             tional culture) as a way of
Business                     shaping behaviour and
                             commitment among all
                             members.
Covey, S R (1991).          Principle-centered leadership
Principle-Centered Leader-  is cultivating security, guid-
ship. New York: Summit      ance, wisdom and power.
Books
Gardner, J W (1990). On     "Leadership is the process
Leadership. New York:       of persuasion or example by
Free Press.                 which an individual (or
                            leadership team) induces a
                            group to pursue objectives
                            held by the leader or shared
                            by the leader and his or her
                            followers." (p 1)
Covey, S R (1991).          Leaders can expect to trails-
Principle-Centered Leader-  form their organisations and
ship. New York: Summit      their people by communica-
Books                       ting vision, clarifying
                            purposes, making behaviour
                            congruent with belief, and
                            aligning procedures with
                            principles, roles and goals.
Gardner, J W (1990). On     From one of America's
Leadership. New York:       preeminent public servants,
Free Press.                 this message speaks to
                            vision, values, serving
                            constituents and mindful-
                            ness of the public purpose
                            of leadership.
Covey, S R (1991).          A new compass, a new
Principle-Centered Leader-  rationale for leadership
ship. New York: Summit      based in principles not
Books                       position.
Gardner, J W (1990). On     This essay clearly puts
Leadership. New York:       leadership, especially
Free Press.                 national and community
                            leadership in a historical/
                            political context.
                            The focus of this book is
                            community and
                            institution building.
                            Role models, inspiration-
                            al examples from the past
                            and the continuity of
                            hope through the use of
                            cultural storytelling,
                            strengthen one's resolve
                            to live up to our highest
                            capabilities.
Covey, S R (1991).          Internal principles,
Principle-Centered Leader-  values and agreements
ship. New York: Summit      are powerful surrogates
Books                       for external controls.
Gardner, J W (1990). On     By placing the present  in
Leadership. New York:       historical perspective on
Free Press.                 one may clearly see the
                            effectiveness of successful
                            strategies for mobilising
                            large numbers of people.
Greenleaf, R K (1970,         "The servant-leader is a
1991). The Servant as         servant first ... It begins with
Leader. Indianapolis, IN:     the natural feeling that one
The Robert K Greenleaf        wants to serve, to serve first.
Center for Servant Leader-    Then conscious choice brings
ship.                         one to aspire to lead ... The
                              best test, and the most diffi-
                              cult to administer, is: Do those
                              served grow as persons? Do
                              they, while being served,
                              become healthier, wiser, freer,
                              more autonomous, more likely
                              themselves to become
                              servants? And, what is the
                              effect on the least privileged
                              in society; will they benefit
                              or, at least, not be further
                              deprived?" (p 7)
Grint, K (1997). Leadership:  Leadership is concerned with
Classical, Contemporary,      the mobilisation of all resources.
and Critical Approaches.      However, various definitions are
Oxford England: Oxford        considered throughout the book.
University Press.
Greenleaf, R K (1970,         The leader as person
1991). The Servant as         committed to service -- to
Leader. Indianapolis, IN:     leaving the Earth a better
The Robert K Greenleaf        place by virtue of his or her
Center for Servant Leader-    presence here.
ship.
Grint, K (1997). Leadership:  Surveys the field from
Classical, Contemporary,      many perspectives.
and Critical Approaches.
Oxford England: Oxford
University Press.
Greenleaf, R K (1970,         Philosophical argument
1991). The Servant as         to do the right thing for
Leader. Indianapolis, IN:     the betterment of all.
The Robert K Greenleaf
Center for Servant Leader-
ship.
Grint, K (1997). Leadership:  Based on a wide selection
Classical, Contemporary,      of readings; very eclectic.
and Critical Approaches.      One of the best overall
Oxford England: Oxford        summaries of leadership
University Press.             theories.
Greenleaf, R K (1970,         Being of service is a
1991). The Servant as         powerful relationship-
Leader. Indianapolis, IN:     building methodology.
The Robert K Greenleaf        People are inclined to
Center for Servant Leader-    respond favourably and
ship.                         more readily volunteer in
                              such an environment.
                              Sets the groundwork for
                              cooperation, teamwork
                              and commitment to
                              follow.
Grint, K (1997). Leadership:  Contrasting and synthesi-
Classical, Contemporary,      sing leadership theories
and Critical Approaches.      leads to a better under-
Oxford England: Oxford        standing of the possibili-
University Press.             ties organisations and
                              individual leaders face.
Jaques, E and Clement, S D   "Leadership is that process in
(1994). Executive Leader-    which one person sets the pur-
ship: A Practical Guide to   pose or direction for one or more
Managing Complexity.         other persons, and gets them to
Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.    move along together with him or
                             her and with each other in that
                             direction with competence and
                             full commitment." (p 4)
Hickman, G (Ed) (1998)       Distinguishes between leader,
Leading Organisations:       the formal position of authority,
Perspectives for a New Era.  and leadership the process of
Thousand Oaks, CA.           engaging "participants in the
                             adaptive work of identifying,
                             developing and employing
                             (organisational) values and
                             ethics." (p xiii)
Jaques, E and Clement, S D   It is part of the role of
(1994). Executive Leader-    managing and is process.
ship: A Practical Guide to   Valuing the role, being
Managing Complexity.         competent and acting
Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.    within a properly struct-
                             ured environment will
                             enable anyone to lead.
Hickman, G (Ed) (1998)       The leader senses and
Leading Organisations:       analyses changes emerg-
Perspectives for a New Era.  ing in the external envir-
Thousand Oaks, CA.           onment and establishes a
                             framework for adapting
                             the organisation to meet
                             the new contingencies.
                             Participants (employees
                             and/or other integral
                             stakeholders) " ... are
                             highly motivated critical
                             thinkers and actors who
                             perform equal but differ-
                             ent roles than leaders to
                             meet their mutual goals."
                             (p xiii)
Jaques, E and Clement, S D   De-emphasises personality,
(1994). Executive Leader-    style and charisma. Sees
ship: A Practical Guide to   competence and acceptance
Managing Complexity.         of responsibility as the
Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.    driving forces for effective-
                             ness/success.
Hickman, G (Ed) (1998)       An anthology of many of
Leading Organisations:       the leading lights in organ-
Perspectives for a New Era.  isational and leadership
Thousand Oaks, CA.           behaviour.
Jaques, E and Clement, S D   Depends heavily on the
(1994). Executive Leader-    rationalistic mindset. By
ship: A Practical Guide to   suggesting a meritocratic/
Managing Complexity.         technocratic environment,
Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.    it may be in danger of
                             overlooking the emotional
                             and irrational side of
                             human nature.
Hickman, G (Ed) (1998)       An excellent foundation
Leading Organisations:       for reconceptualising
Perspectives for a New Era.  organisations to meet the
Thousand Oaks, CA.           challenges of the emerg-
                             ing era. Provocative,
                             thought provoking but could
                             use more specific organis-
                             ational cases and examples
                             to see the concepts at work
                             in real organisations.
Kouzes, J M and Posner,      "Leadership is a reciprocal
B Z (1993). Credibility:     relationship between those who
How Leaders Gain and Lose    choose to lead and those who
It, Why People Demand It,    decide to follow." (p 1)
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Northouse, P (1997).         "Leadership is a process whereby
Leadership: Theory and       an individual influences a group
Practice. Thousand Oaks,     of individuals to achieve a
CA: Sage                     common goal." (p 3)
Kouzes, J M and Posner,      "A constituent confers
B Z (1993). Credibility:     authority on the leader,
How Leaders Gain and Lose    not the other way around."
It, Why People Demand It,    (p xix)
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  Suggests six disciplines to
                             achieve credibilty:
                             * discovering your self
                             * appreciating constituents
                             * affirming shared values
                             * developing capacity
                             * serving a purpose
                             * sustaining hope.
Northouse, P (1997).         Leadership is complex and
Leadership: Theory and       the many theories about it
Practice. Thousand Oaks,     can be utilised to help
CA: Sage                     practitioners deal with
                             various situations.
Kouzes, J M and Posner,      Uses the idea of develop-
B Z (1993). Credibility:     mental disciplines to
How Leaders Gain and Lose    achieve credibility and
It, Why People Demand It,    therefore the consent of
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  constituents.
Northouse, P (1997).         Surveys major theoret-
Leadership: Theory and       ical approaches to
Practice. Thousand Oaks,     leadership and highlights
CA: Sage                     strengths and weaknesses.
Kouzes, J M and Posner,      One needs to become much
B Z (1993). Credibility:     more conscious of the role
How Leaders Gain and Lose    of followers and the nature
It, Why People Demand It,    of the leader/follower dyad
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  to be truly effective.
Northouse, P (1997).         The design of the book
Leadership: Theory and       invites the reader to take
Practice. Thousand Oaks,     a more critical view of
CA: Sage                     theory as a way of assess-
                             ing its personal usefulness.
Oakley, E and Krug, D       An enlightened leader is one who
(1991). Enlightened         has the vision and the ability to
Leadership: Getting to the  get the members of the organis-
Heart of Change.            ation to accept ownership for the
New York: Fireside          vision as their own, thus develop-
                            ing the commitment to carry it
                            through to completion. (p 19)
O'Toole, J (1996). Leading  "Moral and effective leaders
Change: The Argument for    listen to their followers because
Values-Based Leadership.    they respect them and because
New York: Ballentine        they honestly believe that the
                            welfare of followers is the end of
                            leadership (and not that follow-
                            ers are the means to the leader's
                            goals)". (p 9) "In the end, the
                            leader's vision becomes their
                            vision because it is built on the
                            foundation of their needs and
                            aspirations". (p 10)
Oakley, E and Krug, D       More than anything one
(1991). Enlightened         does it is a state of being.
Leadership: Getting to the  The challenge is to focus
Heart of Change.            on the goal and what is
New York: Fireside          possible, not what is going
                            wrong and obstacles.
O'Toole, J (1996). Leading  "In complex democratic
Change: The Argument for    settings, effective leader-
Values-Based Leadership.    shipwill entail the factors
New York: Ballentine        and dimensions of vision,
                            trust, listening, authenti-
                            city integrity, hope, and,
                            especially, addressing the
                            true needs of followers".
                            (p 11)
Oakley, E and Krug, D       This approach uses a form
(1991). Enlightened         of behaviour modification
Leadership: Getting to the  and shifts attention away
Heart of Change.            from what we don't want
New York: Fireside          to what we do want.
O'Toole, J (1996). Leading  Becoming a leader of
Change: The Argument for    leaders and centering
Values-Based Leadership.    one's behaviour on
New York: Ballentine        inclusion and partici-
                            pation will be the most
                            effective means to change;
                            and that is what leader-
                            ship is for.
Oakley, E and Krug, D       Encourages a positive
(1991). Enlightened         approach to problem
Leadership: Getting to the  solving and stresses
Heart of Change.            the power of focusing
New York: Fireside          on the desired outcome
                            at all times. It is a
                            healthier way to garner
                            support and imaginative
                            thinking than the usual
                            management by exception
                            or command and control.
O'Toole, J (1996). Leading  Confronts the stereo-
Change: The Argument for    type regarding so-called
Values-Based Leadership.    "value-free behaviour"
New York: Ballentine        and requires a closer
                            look at one's own
                            motives and methods
                            behind one's style of
                            leading.
Rosen, R H (1996).          The leader's job is to
Leading People: The Eight   maximise the organisation's
Proven Principles for       most valuable asset, people.
Success in Business. New    (Apparently the leader is the
York: Penguin.              one in charge.)
Rost, J C (1993).           "Leadership is an influence
Leadership for the Twenty-  relationship among leaders
First Century. Westport,    and followers who intend real
CT: Praeger.                changes that reflect their mutual
                            purposes". (p 102)
Rosen, R H (1996).          Leaders:
Leading People: The Eight   * create a vision
Proven Principles for       * build trust
Success in Business. New    * require participation
York: Penguin.              * foster a learning
                              environment
                            * honor diversity
                            * stimulate creativity
                            * require integrity
                            * build community.
Rost, J C (1993).           It is non-coercive, multi-
Leadership for the Twenty-  directional, persuasive,
First Century. Westport,    determined by the consent
CT: Praeger.                of the parties.
Rosen, R H (1996).          It is about an effective
Leading People: The Eight   people strategy
Proven Principles for       encompassing the eight
Success in Business. New    principles.
York: Penguin.
Rost, J C (1993).           Perhaps the most thorough
Leadership for the Twenty-  overview of the leadership
First Century. Westport,    literature (of) this century.
CT: Praeger.                It is highly critical of the
                            conventional wisdom
                            while proffering an holistic
                            reassessment of the
                            concept.
Rosen, R H (1996).          By focusing on these
Leading People: The Eight   principles. It provides
Proven Principles for       each person in an
Success in Business. New    organisation -- especially
York: Penguin.              the leader -- an opport-
                            unity to look at the
                            organization and
                            responsibilities in an
                            holistic fashion.
Rost, J C (1993).           A great place to begin a
Leadership for the Twenty-  conversation about the
First Century. Westport,    nature of leadership, the
CT: Praeger.                leader-follower relation-
                            ship and the reasons for
                            being in relationship.
Sims, Henry P and Lorenzi,   The role of influencing
P (1992) The New Leadership  subordinates.
Paradigm: Social
Learning and Cognition in
Organisations, Newbury
Park, CA: Sage
Tichy, N and Cohen, E        "Leadership is the capacity to
(1997) The Leadership        get things done through others
Engine: How Winning          by changing people's mindsets
Companies Build Leaders      and energising them to action.
at Every Level, New York:    Successful leadership must
Harper Business.             accomplish this through ideas
                             and values, not through coercion
                             or Machiavellian manipulation."
                             (p 44)
Sims, Henry P and Lorenzi,   Combining social learning
P (1992) The New Leadership  theory and reinforcement
Paradigm: Social             theory, the authors suggest
Learning and Cognition in    that effective leadership is
Organisations, Newbury       modeling appropriate
Park, CA: Sage               behaviour, helping individuals
                             establish their own
                             goals and reinforcing good
                             behaviour.
Tichy, N and Cohen, E        In order for organisations
(1997) The Leadership        to cultivate leadership
Engine: How Winning          throughout all levels in the
Companies Build Leaders      hierarchy, "... teaching
at Every Level, New York:    and learning are inextricably
Harper Business.             interwoven..."
                             responsibilities of leaders.
                             (p 44)
Sims, Henry P and Lorenzi,   It's about self-control, self-
P (1992) The New Leadership  management and self-
Paradigm: Social             leadership. The book
Learning and Cognition in    delves into social-psychological
Organisations, Newbury       theory to show how
Park, CA: Sage               this can done.
Tichy, N and Cohen, E        A leader must create
(1997) The Leadership        teachable moments,
Engine: How Winning          teachable ideas and values
Companies Build Leaders      in order to create the
at Every Level, New York:    sense of leadership that
Harper Business.             is owned by everyone
                             throughout the organisation.
Sims, Henry P and Lorenzi,   Is a good basis to begin
P (1992) The New Leadership  a change process by
Paradigm: Social             determining the
Learning and Cognition in    responsibilities of each
Organisations, Newbury       of those involved in
Park, CA: Sage               the leader-follower
                             relationship and how
                             establishing the
                             responsibilities will
                             be accomplished.
Tichy, N and Cohen, E        Introducing the idea
(1997) The Leadership        of teaching and continuous
Engine: How Winning          learning as
Companies Build Leaders      integral to the husbanding
at Every Level, New York:    of leadership
Harper Business.             broadens the conceptualisation
                             of leadership
                             to include
                             succession and
                             continuity and thus
                             takes the concept
                             way beyond merely
                             getting things done
                             by one person in
                             one period of time.
CEO Self-Reports
Author(s)/Work               Leadership Defined
Autry, J A (1991). Love and  Presumed in CEO role.
Profit. New York: Avon and
Life and Work (1994). New
York: Avon.
Carlzon, J (1987).           "...the new leader is a listener,
Moments of Truth: New        a communicator, and educator --
Strategies for Today's       an emotionally expressive and
Customer-Driven Economy.     expressive and inspiring person
New York: Harper and Row.    who can create the right atmos-
                             phere rather than make all the
                             decisions himself ... He must be
                             able to present his vision
                             convincingly so that the goals
                             and strategies feel right to
                             everyone in the company."
                             (p 36)
Author(s)/Work               Message
Autry, J A (1991). Love and  Leadership as responsi-
Profit. New York: Avon and   bility, duty and good will,
Life and Work (1994). New
York: Avon.
Carlzon, J (1987).           "Everyone needs to know
Moments of Truth: New        and feel that he is needed.
Strategies for Today's       Everyone wants to be
Customer-Driven Economy.     treated as an individual.
New York: Harper and Row.    Giving someone the
                             freedom to take respon-
                             sibility releases resources
                             that would otherwise
                             remain concealed. An
                             individual without inform-
                             ation cannot take respons-
                             ibility; an individual who
                             is given information
                             cannot help but take res-
                             ponsibility." (p xv)
Author(s)/Work               Approach
Autry, J A (1991). Love and  Poetry and essays
Profit. New York: Avon and
Life and Work (1994). New
York: Avon.
Carlzon, J (1987).           "We have to place res-
Moments of Truth: New        ponsibilities for ideas,
Strategies for Today's       decisions and actions
Customer-Driven Economy.     with the people who
New York: Harper and Row.    are SAS ..." (p 3) "The
                             great triumph of SAS is
                             that we have unleashed
                             our employees' creativity
                             through decentralisation.
                             Good ideas flow freely
                             from every division of
                             the company and are all
                             channeled toward the
                             same company-wide
                             vision." (p 39)
Author(s)/Work               Uses
Autry, J A (1991). Love and  Shows that wisdom
Profit. New York: Avon and   and humanity can be
Life and Work (1994). New    an everyday part of
York: Avon.                  a leader's responsibility.
                             Of course, there is an
                             element of noblesse
                             oblige here.
Carlzon, J (1987).           When it was published
Moments of Truth: New        the book was described
Strategies for Today's       by futurist John Naisbit
Customer-Driven Economy.     as "the best book on
New York: Harper and Row.    leadership by a CEO".
                             The most remarkable
                             aspect of the book was
                             not so much the lessons
                             and wisdom (which
                             were notable) but the
                             candor which Carlzon
                             speaks of his mistakes.
                             He still serves as a role
                             model for aspiring
                             leaders.
Chappell, T (1993). The      Presumed in owner role.
Soul of a Business: Manag-
ing for Profit and the
Common Good. New York:
Batam.
DePree, M (1987).            "The first responsiblity of a
Leadership is an Art.        leadership is to define reality.
Lansing, MI: Michigan State  The last is to say thank you. In
University Press.            between the two, the leader must
                             become a servant and a debtor.
                             That sums up the progress of an
                             artful leader." (p 9)
Dunlap, A J (1996). Mean     Being in charge.
Business: How I Save Bad
Companies and Make Good
Companies Great. New York:
Times Business.
Chappell, T (1993). The      Morality, spirit, doing good
Soul of a Business: Manag-   work, taking responsibility
ing for Profit and the       for the relationships needed
Common Good. New York:       to live as well as work.
Batam.
DePree, M (1987).            He promotes a "convental"
Leadership is an Art.        relation which rests on
Lansing, MI: Michigan State  a shared commitment to
University Press.            ideas, to issues to values,
                             to goals, and to manage-
                             ment processes ... It is an
                             expression of the sacred
                             nature of relationships.
                             (p 51)
Dunlap, A J (1996). Mean     Follow only four rules:
Business: How I Save Bad     * Get the right manage-
Companies and Make Good       ment team
Companies Great. New York:   * Pinch pennies
Times Business.              * Know what business
                              you're in
                             * Get a real strategy
Chappell, T (1993). The      History of the company
Soul of a Business: Manag-   and its struggles in a
ing for Profit and the       moral context.
Common Good. New York:
Batam.
DePree, M (1987).            Reflections on his life at
Leadership is an Art.        Herman Miller.
Lansing, MI: Michigan State
University Press.
Dunlap, A J (1996). Mean     A macho tale told with
Business: How I Save Bad     great bravado. His
Companies and Make Good      reward for two years of
Companies Great. New York:   work in the Scott Paper
Times Business.              turn-around: "My $100
                             million was less than 2
                             per cent of the wealth
                             I created for all Scott
                             shareholders. Did I earn
                             that? Damn right I did.
Chappell, T (1993). The      Describes the process of
Soul of a Business: Manag-   becoming a spiritual
ing for Profit and the       person and using that
Common Good. New York:       new understanding of
Batam.                       himself in the manage-
                             ment of his company.
                             Again, a bit of noblesse
                             oblige.
DePree, M (1987).            Focuses attention on the
Leadership is an Art.        meaning and respons-
Lansing, MI: Michigan State  ibilities of a covenantal
University Press.            relationship.
Dunlap, A J (1996). Mean     A stimulating antipode
Business: How I Save Bad     to the humanist literature,
Companies and Make Good      Dunlap's account forces
Companies Great. New York:   readers to confront the
Times Business.              wisdom of his four rules
                             for success and style
                             sees human beings as
                             mere instruments for
                             "making money for
                             stockholders."
Herb Kelleher in Freiberg,    The Freibergs use Rost's defin-
K and Freiberg, J (1996);     ition: "a dynamic relationship
Nuts: Southwest Airlines'     based on mutual influence and
Crazy Recipe for Business     common purpose between
and Personal Success.         leaders and collaborators in
Austin, TX: Bard Press        which both are moved to higher
                              levels of motivation and moral
                              development as they affect real,
                              intended change." (p 298)
Maucher, H (1994). Leader-    "In German, management is
ship in Action: Tough-Minded  Fuehrungskunst ('the art of
Strategies from the Global    leadership') ... "(p vii)
Giant (Nestle), New York:
McGraw-Hill
Herb Kelleher in Freiberg,    Leadership is a way of
K and Freiberg, J (1996);     being not a role or a posi-
Nuts: Southwest Airlines'     tion. It is an act of integrity
Crazy Recipe for Business     in service to the mission.
and Personal Success.
Austin, TX: Bard Press
Maucher, H (1994). Leader-    "Leadership, ... has become
ship in Action: Tough-Minded  more difficult today, first
Strategies from the Global    because authority is (thank
Giant (Nestle), New York:     God) no longer automat-
McGraw-Hill                   ically acknowledged, and
                              second because there is
                              less true consensus in
                              society these days ...
                              Therefore the challenge
                              before us is to find new
                              I'm a superstar in my
                              field, much like Michael
                              Jordan in basketball
                              and Bruce Springsteen
                              in rock 'n' roll." (p 21)
Herb Kelleher in Freiberg,    Reverential account of a
K and Freiberg, J (1996);     heroic company founder.
Nuts: Southwest Airlines'
Crazy Recipe for Business
and Personal Success.
Austin, TX: Bard Press
Maucher, H (1994). Leader-    "Only the best is good
ship in Action: Tough-Minded  enough." (p 23)
Strategies from the Global    "... certain provocative
Giant (Nestle), New York:     statements often provoke
McGraw-Hill                   reactions and thoughts
                              more rapidly and get
                              processes moving
                              quickly. To introduce
                              change, top executives
                              also need strength of
Herb Kelleher in Freiberg,    In contrast to Dunlap,
K and Freiberg, J (1996);     this sets in sharp
Nuts: Southwest Airlines'     opposition an attitude
Crazy Recipe for Business     that people are "ends
and Personal Success.         themselves." It raises
Austin, TX: Bard Press        the issue: To what
                              degree should a com-
                              pany care for its
                              employees?
Maucher, H (1994). Leader-    Preserves flexibility
ship in Action: Tough-Minded  and enthusiasm
Strategies from the Global    within the big company
Giant (Nestle), New York:     by keeping the structure
McGraw-Hill                   as simple as possible
                              with the few levels of
                              management with
                              broad sectors of
                              responsibility. (p 75)
Roddick, A (1991). Body and  "You have to look at leadership
Soul. New York: Crown.       through the eyes of the followers
                             and you have to live the message.
                             What I have learned is that
                             people become motivated when
                             you guide them to the source of
                             their own power and when you
                             make heroes out of employees
                             who personify what you want to
                             see in the organisation." (p 214)
                             forms of leadership that
                             will be readily accepted
                             rather than forced through.
                             (p 105)
Roddick, A (1991). Body and  Organisations must con-
Soul. New York: Crown.       tribute to the greater good
                             and have a social respon-
                             sibility to be stewards of
                             the Earth.
                             character, authority and
                             credibility: What we say
                             and do must be consis-
                             tent." (p 80)
Roddick, A (1991). Body and  Outspoken and flambo-
Soul. New York: Crown.       yant in method and extra-
                             ordinarily ego-centric. Yet
                             extremely colorful and
                             energetic in self-express-
                             ion.
Roddick, A (1991). Body and  Forces an examination
Soul. New York: Crown.       of the role of business
                             in the community and
                             how private values are
                             expressed in business.
                             Challenges the idea
                             that business or business
                             research, can or should
                             even attempt to be,
                             "value free".
Semler, R (1993). Maverick:   "I want everyone at Semco to be
The Success Story behind      self-sufficient ... My role is that
the World's Most Unusual      of a catalyst. I try to create an
Workplace. New York:          environment in which others
Warner.                       make decisions." (p 3)
Schultz, H (1997). Pour Your  "We have to lead with our hearts.
Heart into it: How Starbucks  In business, as in life, we each
Built a Company One Cup at    should have an internal compass
a Time. New York: Hyperion.   that guides our decisions, an
                              instinctive understanding of what
                              matters most in the world. For
                              me it's not profits, or sales, or the
                              numbers of stores, but the
                              passion commitment, and
                              enthusiasm of a dedicated group
                              of people. It's not about money,
Semler, R (1993). Maverick:   True to the title of the
The Success Story behind      book, Semler committed
the World's Most Unusual      himself to a radical application
Workplace. New York:          of democratic
Warner.                       principles in the company.
                              Workers decide their pay,
                              vote on all major company
                              decisions effecting them
                              and choose their leaders.
Schultz, H (1997). Pour Your  A history of the company
Heart into it: How Starbucks  with a focus on how values
Built a Company One Cup at    drive decisions and vision
a Time. New York: Hyperion.   drives the business plan.
Semler, R (1993). Maverick:   An iconoclastic
The Success Story behind      commentary on the myths
the World's Most Unusual      of conventional organisations.
Workplace. New York:          Proves organisations
Warner.                       can actually thrive
                              with democratic principles
                              and tells how Semco was
                              transformed.
Schultz, H (1997). Pour Your  A believable self-promotion.
Heart into it: How Starbucks
Built a Company One Cup at
a Time. New York: Hyperion.
Semler, R (1993). Maverick:   Because it is a successful
The Success Story behind      example of a radical
the World's Most Unusual      experiment in participation
Workplace. New York:          and democratic
Warner.                       values, it provides a very
                              stimulating challenge to
                              the values of the main-
                              stream business
                              community and posits
                              that one obligation of
                              organisations is to
                              become more inclusive.
Schultz, H (1997). Pour Your  Squarely places a set of
Heart into it: How Starbucks  values and beliefs at the
Built a Company One Cup at    centre of his (its) business
a Time. New York: Hyperion.   plan. Raises the question
                              of whether or not full and
                              part time employees can
                              rightfully be treated
                              differently. This book
                              also challenges readers
                              to assess the role of
                              personal principles in
                              pursuing a dream others think
                              you can't achieve and finding
                              a way to give something back,
                              to the employees, the custom-
                              ers and the community."
                              (p 332)
Salmon, R (1996). The Future  "A true leader is concerned first
of Management: All Roads      and foremost with inspiring
Lead to Man, Oxford, UK:      creativity." (p 214)
Blackwell (Translated from:
Tous Les Chemins Menent a     The leader's contribution "is
L'Homme (1994 Intereditions,  to bring about the convergence
Paris)                        of promising ideas and
                              activities." (p 212)
Salmon, R (1996). The Future  "A corporation cannot be
of Management: All Roads      reduced to a handful of
Lead to Man, Oxford, UK:      thinkers on the one hand
Blackwell (Translated from:   and a mass of order takers
Tous Les Chemins Menent a     on the other." (p 217)
L'Homme (1994 Intereditions,
Paris)
Salmon, R (1996). The Future  "The qualities that give
of Management: All Roads      rise to a dynamic attitude
Lead to Man, Oxford, UK:      able to apprehend the
Blackwell (Translated from:   future have nothing in
Tous Les Chemins Menent a     common with a capacity
L'Homme (1994 Intereditions,  for logical analysis; they
Paris)                        require intuition and
                              imagination, and even
                              vision of the kind evinced
                              by geniuses." (p 172)...
                              an economic environ-
                              ment. Dismissing
                              investment bankers for
                              disagreeing with his
                              values (rather than
                              conform to theirs as is
                              so often the case) and
                              seeking out an invest-
                              ment firm more in line
                              with his values to launch
                              the IPO is a clear depart-
                              ure from the convent-
                              ional wisdom.
Salmon, R (1996). The Future  This book could profitably
of Management: All Roads      be used as a text for the
Lead to Man, Oxford, UK:      new business era. It is both
Blackwell (Translated from:   a philosophy for the new
Tous Les Chemins Menent a     era and a blueprint for
L'Homme (1994 Intereditions,  revitalising and preparing
Paris)                        organisations for the 21st
                              century.
Author(s)/Work  Leadership Defined  Message
Author(s)/Work  Approach                        Uses
                the future belongs to those
                who are able to shift from
                analysis to a synthetic vision
                from conceptual reasoning
                to polysemous intelligence,
                and who master the skills
                of systemic thinking."
                (p 174)
Dilbert
Author(s)/Work                Leadership Defined
Adams, S (1996). The Dilbert  "Leadership is an intangible
Principle. New York: Harper   quality with no clear definition."
Business.                     It goes promptly down hill from
                              here: "That's probably a good
                              thing, because if people knew
                              the definition, they would hunt
                              down their leaders and kill
                              them." (p 287)
Author(s)/Work                Message
Adams, S (1996). The Dilbert  The stupidity of manage-
Principle. New York: Harper   ment, the futility of all
Business.                     management tools and the
                              institutionalisation of anti-
                              common sense.
Author(s)/Work                Approach
Adams, S (1996). The Dilbert  Cartoon strip that assaults
Principle. New York: Harper   every buzzword and
Business.                     technique in the manage-
                              ment lexicon.
Author(s)/Work                Uses
Adams, S (1996). The Dilbert  While the cartoon
Principle. New York: Harper   strip may be the epi-
Business.                     tome of cynicism for
                              some, for others it is
                              the only truthful manage-
                              ment book -- telling
                              it exactly how it is. In
                              that sense it is sure to
                              be a provocative door-
                              way into a discussion of
                              fundamental workplace
                              issues.
Author(s)/Work                  Leadership Defined
Adams, S (1997). The Dilbert
Future: Thriving on Stupidity
in the 21st Century, New York:
Harper Business.
Adams, S (1996). Dogbert's      "When you 'manage,' by
Top Secret Management Hand-     definition, you're trying to dis-
book. New York: Harper          tribute resources where they
Business.                       will do the company the most
                                good. When you 'lead', by
                                definition, you're trying to get
                                those resources distributed to
                                yourself. Obviously leadership
                                is a better way to go. It's
                                easier too." (p 1.14)
Author(s)/Work                  Message  Approach
Adams, S (1997). The Dilbert
Future: Thriving on Stupidity
in the 21st Century, New York:
Harper Business.
Adams, S (1996). Dogbert's
Top Secret Management Hand-
book. New York: Harper
Business.
Author(s)/Work                  Uses
Adams, S (1997). The Dilbert    Dilbert speaks to the
Future: Thriving on Stupidity   unfortunate state of
in the 21st Century, New York:  having to work for
Harper Business.                a living where the
                                systems in which we
                                work can at best be
                                neutral experiences
                                but frequently enough
                                are contexts filled with
                                absurdity, abuse, and
                                dehumanising behaviour.
Adams, S (1996). Dogbert's
Top Secret Management Hand-
book. New York: Harper
Business.