Fact and Fantasy about Leadership
Fact and Fantasy about Leadership

Author: Micha Popper

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2012-01-01

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0857936158

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

ÔThe author provides a thoughtfully explored, wide-ranging description of the literature, and concludes that followership deserves more attention than it has in the past. In focusing on followers as the chief producers of the phenomenon, the book is one of the few attempys to deviate from the common model of explaining leadership with reference to the leaderÕs characteristics and action. This creative and challenging book will be important to social psychologists, sociologists, managers, and political scientists.Õ Ð D. Sydiaha, Choice ÔFirmly grounded in psychological knowledge, based on detailed historical case studies, highly readable, and offering a multitude of examples from many leadership spheres, PopperÕs book offers a fresh and important perspective from which to understand the phenomenon of leadership. It is one of the very few attempts to deviate from the extant paradigm of explaining leadership with reference to the leaderÕs characteristics and actions and focus instead on the followers as the chief producers of the phenomenon. This perspective challenges some of the basic assumptions on which current practices of leader selection and training are based.Õ Ð Boas Shamir, Hebrew University, Israel Why are we attracted to leaders? Does this attraction have universal origins or is it culture-bound? Why and how are certain concepts and myths regarding leaders generated? Analysing the psychology of followers, this unique book explores these important questions. Micha Popper expertly offers new and surprising insights regarding the leadership phenomenon whilst providing relevant examples. This inspiring book posits that followers are the key to understanding the leadership phenomenon. It analyses leaderÐfollower dynamics in social and organizational settings and in politics which will strongly appeal to students of social psychology, sociology, management and political sciences. The book provides examples and in-depth analyses of Ôthe psychology of followership in everyday lifeÕ and will therefore prove invaluable for managers. A special emphasis is given to leaderÐfollower dynamics at various levels of organizational life.

Thinking Differently about Leadership
Thinking Differently about Leadership

Author: Suze Wilson

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2016-05-27

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1784716790

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Thinking Differently about Leadership asks why and how we have come to understand leadership in the way we now do, and the consequences that arise from these understandings. Its critical interrogation of Classical Greek, Medieval and modern social-scientific ideas reveals troubling assumptions and problematic expectations for leaders and followers, which are key features of leadership theorizing both in the past and present day. By tracing developments in leadership thought over time, this book reveals the influence of ideas from history on current thinking, inviting reflection on what we now seek from leaders and followers. Its unique, multi-faceted analysis identifies non-scientific factors that have profoundly influenced the development of leadership science in the modern era. Arguing that conventional understandings of leadership today are deeply problematic, the book examines why we ought to think differently about leadership and offers an approach for doing so. The book offers a framework for leadership-building which readers can use to apply their own context, making it an ideal resource for critical management and leadership scholars as well as students and practitioners, who will value its novel focus and perspective."--Back cover.

Leadership BS
Leadership BS

Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2015-09-15

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 0062383140

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Finalist for the 2015 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Best business book of the week from Inc.com The author of Power, Stanford business school professor, and a leading management thinker offers a hard-hitting dissection of the leadership industry and ways to make workplaces and careers work better. The leadership enterprise is enormous, with billions of dollars, thousands of books, and hundreds of thousands of blogs and talks focused on improving leaders. But what we see worldwide is employee disengagement, high levels of leader turnover and career derailment, and failed leadership development efforts. In Leadership BS, Jeffrey Pfeffer shines a bright light on the leadership industry, showing why it’s failing and how it might be remade. He sets the record straight on the oft-made prescriptions for leaders to be honest, authentic, and modest, tell the truth, build trust, and take care of others. By calling BS on so many of the stories and myths of leadership, he gives people a more scientific look at the evidence and better information to guide their careers. Rooted in social science, and will practical examples and advice for improving management, Leadership BS encourages readers to accept the truth and then use facts to change themselves and the world for the better.

On Leadership
On Leadership

Author: James G. March

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2009-02-04

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 1405142618

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this series of lectures, previously unpublished in English, andhere translated from a French reconstruction and interpretation bynoted scholar Thierry Weil, leading organizational scholar JamesMarch uses great works of literature to explore the problems ofleadership. Uses great works of literature to explore the problems ofleadership, for example War and Peace, Othello, and DonQuixote. Presents moral dilemmas related to leadership, for example thebalance between private life and public duties, and between theexpression and the control of sexuality. Encourages readers to explore ideas that are sometimessubversive and unpalatable but may allow organizations to adapt ina rapidly changing world.

Reality-Based Leadership
Reality-Based Leadership

Author: Cy Wakeman

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2010-09-21

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 0470613505

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Leadership strategies grounded in reality and focused on results Recent polls show that 71% of workers think about quitting their jobs every day. That number would be shocking-if people actually were quitting. Worse, they go to work, punching time clocks and collecting pay checks, while completely checked out emotionally. In Reality-Based Leadership, expert Fast Company blogger Cy Wakeman reveals how to be the kind of leader who changes the way people think about and perceive their circumstances-one who deals with the facts, clarifies roles, gives clear and direct feedback, and insists that everyone do the same-without drama or defensiveness. Filled with dynamic examples, innovative tools, and diagnostic tests, this book shows you how to become a Reality-Based Leader, revealing how to: Uncover destructive thought patterns with yourself and others Diffuse drama and lead the person in front of you Stop managing and start leading, empowering others to focus on facts and think for themselves Equipped with a facts-based, confident approach, you will free yourself from the frustrations you face at work and transform yourself into a Reality-Based Leader, with the ability to liberate and inspire others.

Leadership and Self-deception
Leadership and Self-deception

Author: The Arbinger Institute

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1576755029

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Explains why self-deception is at the heart of many leadership problems, identifying destructive patterns that undermine the successes of potentially excellent professionals while revealing how to improve teamwork, communication, and motivation. Reprint.

Storytelling in Organizations : Facts, Fictions, and Fantasies
Storytelling in Organizations : Facts, Fictions, and Fantasies

Author: Yiannis Gabriel

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2000-03-23

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 0191588237

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Myths, stories, and folklore are part of the fabric and life of all organizations, enabling us to understand, identify, and communicate the character of the organization - its ambitions, conflicts, and peculiarities. Drawing on extensive fieldwork of storytelling in five organizations, this book argues that stories open valuable windows into the emotional and symbolic lives of organizations. By collecting stoires in different organizations, by listening and comparing different accounts, by investigating how narratives are constructed around specific events, by examining which events in an organization's history generate stories and which ones fail to do so, researchers can gain access to deeper organizational realities, closely linked to their members' experiences. In this way, stories enable researchers to study organizational politics, culture, and change in uniquely illuminating ways, revealing how wider organizational issues are viewed, commented upon, and worked upon by their members. The book's first part develops the theory of storytelling by building on various approaches, including narrative, folkloric, ethnographic, symbolic, social constructionist, and psychoanalytic, while the second offers a set of four studies which make use of stories in exploring particular aspects of organizational life.

Who Do We Choose To Be?
Who Do We Choose To Be?

Author: Margaret J. Wheatley

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Published: 2017-06-19

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1523083646

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of her classic Leadership and the New Science, bestselling author Margaret Wheatley once again turns to the new science of living systems to help leaders persevere in a time of great turmoil. I know it is possible for leaders to use their power and influence, their insight and compassion, to lead people back to an understanding of who we are as human beings, to create the conditions for our basic human qualities of generosity, contribution, community and love to be evoked no matter what. I know it is possible to experience grace and joy in the midst of tragedy and loss. I know it is possible to create islands of sanity in the midst of wildly disruptive seas. I know it is possible because I have worked with leaders over many years in places that knew chaos and breakdown long before this moment. And I have studied enough history to know that such leaders always arise when they are most needed. Now it's our turn.

Denial
Denial

Author: Richard S. Tedlow

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2010-03-04

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1101196262

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An astute diagnosis of one of the biggest problems in business Denial is the unconscious determination that a certain reality is too terrible to contemplate, so therefore it cannot be true. We see it everywhere, from the alcoholic who swears he's just a social drinker to the president who declares "mission accomplished" when it isn't. In the business world, countless companies get stuck in denial while their challenges escalate into crises. Harvard Business School professor Richard S. Tedlow tackles two essential questions: Why do sane, smart leaders often refuse to accept the facts that threaten their companies and careers? And how do we find the courage to resist denial when facing new trends, changing markets, and tough new competitors? Tedlow looks at numerous examples of organiza­tions crippled by denial, including Ford in the era of the Model T and Coca-Cola with its abortive attempt to change its formula. He also explores other companies, such as Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and DuPont, that avoided catastrophe by dealing with harsh realities head-on. Tedlow identifies the leadership skills that are essential to spotting the early signs of denial and taking the actions required to overcome it.