Why are Australian leaders so reluctant to acknowledge the power they have and unsure what to do with it? Australian Leadership Paradox claims Australians have a serious problem with leadership. It explains the cultural roots of this problem, and ways we can become more purposeful leaders.
The research-driven guide to the leadership behaviours whichcreate more engaged workplaces and higher performance,Extraordinary Leadership in Australia and New Zealand is aguidebook for what it takes, at any level of an organisation, tobring out the best in people. And full of insights not just frompeople who are making a difference, but also evidence from theirdirect reports, colleagues and managers about the impact that TheFive Practices of Exemplary Leadership® has on them and theirperformance. Drawing upon empirical data from more than 75,000 people in theAustralian and New Zealand workforce, the authors document how TheFive Practices are being applied here, and also compares thisregion with data from 28 other countries. Interviews with more than100 leaders and their teams provide real examples and practicalapplications within the grasp of every reader who aspires to make adifference. Case studies are balanced across gender, function, and industryproviding a broad perspective, identifying why leadership matters,and offering keen insights into how you lead others togreatness. Study examples of extraordinary leadership in Australia and NewZealand Discover the behaviours that make great leaders, and whythey're so important Examine the research that shows how leadership affectsengagement and organisational performance Learn why people need great leadership, and why it motivatesthem to perform at their best Leadership must be nurtured. While all leaders are born, greatleaders are made! With expectations higher than ever, and resourcesunprecedentedly scarce, today's leaders face some of the mostdifficult, complex organisational challenges yet. ExtraordinaryLeadership in Australia and New Zealand presents a data-drivenframework for being an effective leader, with expert guidancetoward the actions that you can take to improve the performance ofyour team and organisation.
Leadership Paradoxes was shortlisted for the 2017 Management Book of the Year, an industry book award organised by the Chartered Management Institute and the British Library. ******************************************** Leadership remains one of the most sought-after qualities in contemporary society, yet after centuries of research, education and debate it remains just as elusive as ever. Leadership Paradoxes: Rethinking Leadership for an Uncertain World argues that the key to understanding and enhancing leadership education, theory and practice lies in the recognition of its paradoxical tendencies. Drawing on the expertise of an international team of leadership scholars and practitioners, this book examines common leadership paradoxes and challenges faced by leaders — and shows how they can be reconceived as opportunities to be embraced, rather than problems to be solved. Readers will benefit from reflective questions at the end of each chapter, plus a companion website at www.leadershipparadoxes.com offering further material and a forum for discussion. Leadership Paradoxes will be valuable supplementary reading for students of leadership at advanced undergraduate, postgraduate, and post-experience level, as well as professionals seeking to improve their practice.
This book presents compelling evidence of the 'wealth paradox', where economic prosperity can also fuel prejudice, social unrest, and intergroup hostility.
Innovation in Environmental Leadership offers innovative approaches to leadership from a post-industrial and ecological vantage point. Chapters in this collection are written by leading scholars and practitioners of environmental leadership from around the globe, and are informed by a variety of critical perspectives, including post-heroic approaches, systems thinking, and the emerging insights of Critical Leadership Studies (CLS). By taking the natural environment seriously as a foundational context for leadership, Innovation in Environmental Leadership offers fresh insights and compelling visions of leadership pertinent to 21st century environmental and social challenges. Concepts and understandings of leadership emerged as part of an extractive industrial system; this work asks its readers to re-think what leadership looks like in an ecologically sustainable biological system. This book provides fresh insights and critical perspectives on the vibrant and growing field of environmental leadership. It shows the latest state of knowledge on the topic and will be of interest both to students at an advanced level, academics and reflective practitioners. It addresses the topics with regard to leadership theory and environmental leadership and will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of sustainability, environmental ethics, natural resource management, environmental studies, business management, public policy, and environmental management.
Humility, or holding power loosely for the sake of others, is sorely lacking in today’s world. Without it, many people fail to develop their true leadership potential and miss out on genuine fulfillment in their lives and their relationships. Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership shows how the virtue of humility can turn your strengths into true greatness in all areas of life. Through the lessons of history, business, and the social sciences, author John Dickson shows that humility is not low self-esteem, groveling, or losing our distinct gifts. Instead, humility both recognizes our inherent worth and seeks to use whatever power we have at our disposal on behalf of others. Some of the world’s most inspiring and influential players have been people of immense humility. The more we learn about humility, the more we understand how essential it is to a satisfying career and personal life. By embracing this virtue, we will transform for good the unique contributions we each make to the world.
As the climate crisis threatens more extreme bushfire seasons, droughts and floods, many Australians are demanding their leaders answer the question: 'Why didn't you do something?' The Carbon Club reveals the truth behind Australia's two decades of climate inaction. It's the story of how a loose confederation of influential climate-science sceptics, politicians and business leaders sought to control Australia's response to the climate crisis. They shared a fear that dealing with climate change would undermine the nation's wealth, jobs and competitive advantage - and the power of the carbon club. Central to their strategy was an international campaign to undermine climate science and the urgency of the climate crisis. The more the climate science was questioned, the more politicians lost the imperative to act. The sustained success of the carbon club over two decades explains why Australian governments failed to deal with the challenge of climate change. But at what cost to us and the next generation? One of Australia's most respected investigative journalists, Marian Wilkinson has tracked the rise and rise of Australia's carbon club in brilliant detail, with extraordinary access to key players on all sides. The result is a book that is both essential and disturbing reading.
A revolutionary and timely reconsideration of everything we know about power. Celebrated UC Berkeley psychologist Dr. Dacher Keltner argues that compassion and selflessness enable us to have the most influence over others and the result is power as a force for good in the world. Power is ubiquitous—but totally misunderstood. Turning conventional wisdom on its head, Dr. Dacher Keltner presents the very idea of power in a whole new light, demonstrating not just how it is a force for good in the world, but how—via compassion and selflessness—it is attainable for each and every one of us. It is taken for granted that power corrupts. This is reinforced culturally by everything from Machiavelli to contemporary politics. But how do we get power? And how does it change our behavior? So often, in spite of our best intentions, we lose our hard-won power. Enduring power comes from empathy and giving. Above all, power is given to us by other people. This is what we all too often forget, and it is the crux of the power paradox: by misunderstanding the behaviors that helped us to gain power in the first place we set ourselves up to fall from power. We abuse and lose our power, at work, in our family life, with our friends, because we've never understood it correctly—until now. Power isn't the capacity to act in cruel and uncaring ways; it is the ability to do good for others, expressed in daily life, and in and of itself a good thing. Dr. Keltner lays out exactly—in twenty original "Power Principles"—how to retain power; why power can be a demonstrably good thing; when we are likely to abuse power; and the terrible consequences of letting those around us languish in powerlessness.
In a tough or toxic work environment, are you brave enough to challenge your own thinking and shift your own perspective to make relationships work? Bad Boss is for anyone who is in — or who is keen to avoid — a negative workplace environment characterised by ineffective leadership. Believe it or not, bad bosses are not bad people, and there are concrete steps you can take to improve your situation. Inside, author Michelle Gibbings shares wisdom drawn from decades in corporate leadership. It takes teamwork at every level to create an environment where everyone can flourish. If you dare to examine your own role in your current situation and take action today, you stand to gain better relationships and greater career satisfaction. Challenge the standard leadership practices and transform a tough situation to the benefit of all. Learn how to: determine where the problem really lies identify your role in the bad boss situation strategise your best option forward take action using concrete tools reflect and monitor progress for long-term gain. Bad Boss will take the edge off your stressful work environment and provide you with key actionable steps to turn things around.
Paradox — the simultaneous existence of two inconsistent states — has become orthodox. The orthodox is now the paradox. The orthodox world of ordering, controlling and organizing is increasingly opposed to a normalizing world of disordering, disrupting and disorganizing. And organization studies cannot avoid changing its conceptions of reality as that reality changes. In the future, organization studies will be the study of paradox, how to understand it, how to use it. In this book of original contributions addressed to management and organization paradoxes the authors address the new state of the field in terms of representations — representing paradoxes — and materialisations — materialising paradoxes. The themes — although varied, ranging from dialectics to internal tensions; from collaborations to ethics and value conflicts; from resistant labourers and wharfies to cartoon characters such as The Simpsons; from the irrationalities of finance to the psychoanalytic rationalities of auditing, and from issues of governance in Asian and international business to the composition of the new knowledge work force in the business professions — cohere around core aspects of paradoxicality. Overall, the contributions to Management and Organization Paradoxes are diverse and challenging. Each contribution takes a different angle on the central theme. All of the chapters illuminate diverse aspects of contemporary paradoxes in management and organization theory. The book provides, in each of its chapters, a challenge to the still overwhelmingly rationalist views of theory and practice that dominate the field and provides new directions for understanding organizations and management.The contributors are drawn from leading European, Australian and Latin American contributors.