In a world of accelerating change, we are so often consumed by our own busyness that we fail to stop and think, to step back from the hectic day-to-day round and focus on what really matters. Effective leaders realize that while action is important, thought is even more so. At Leader to Leader, our goal has always been to present articles that encourage our readers to step off the merry-go-round once a quarter and think beyond the day-to-day. This issue, we hope, will provide ample food for thought.
Have you ever stopped to consider the source of charisma? That's something that is usually misunderstood, say Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, and Mark Thompson. Charisma lies not in the personality of the leader but in the leader's service to a cause. "Whether you're shy and humble or outgoing and assertive is not really the issue," they write. "Your personality is not what determines enduring success." Charismatic Leaders "rise above the personality baggage that would otherwise hold them down. Whatever they are doing has so much meaning to them that the cause itself provides charisma and they plug into it as if it was an electrical current."
William C. Taylor, founding editor of the award-winning magazine Fast Company, explains how open-source creativity is reshaping the logic of innovation in fields from software and the Internet to pharmaceuticals and the arts--and posing new challenges to leaders. Taylor describes the power of this new source of innovation and offers three lessons on how open-minded leaders can tap into it.
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Step off the merry-go-round. |
With life expectancies increasing, Bob Buford says, you are probably going to live a whole adult lifetime that wasn't available to your parents and grandparents. This extra lifetime, which Buford calls Life II, takes most people by surprise. Deciding to finish one career, they discover they aren't interested in retiring. He presents five stories of people who have found new meaning in work in their second lives--and offers 10 principles from Peter Drucker on living Life II well.
Ronald N. Ashkenas and Robert H. Schaffer remind us that lofty goals, expensive systems, and visionary strategies mean very little unless everyone involved has the day-to-day ability to make creative adjustments in the way they work, both on their own and with others. They explain that successful leaders foster this change capacity at the grassroots level of their organizations. From their experience with dozens of organizations, they detail four specific actions that help build the capacity to succeed at major change--not once, but over and over.
The most critical periods in any leader's career come with transitions to new roles, especially the move into the CEO position. The stakes for both the new CEO and the organization are enormous. Marjan Bolmeijer provides straightforward guidance on creating and implementing the crucial "First 100 Days Plan" for a high-level transition--and describes how to use the plan over four distinct transition phases.
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While action is important,
thought is even more so. |
Also in this issue, Robert M. Price, the former CEO of Control Data Corporation, explains how leaders can get beyond the empty rhetoric that surrounds innovation to sow the seeds of creativity. Bob Kaplan and Rob Kaiser describe how leaders often overuse their strengths; they offer practical lessons on becoming more versatile by adjusting your leadership volume. And Clint Sidle draws on ancient leadership wisdom to explain five unique ways of knowing and relating to the world.
We hope this issue brings you plenty to think about as well as some new perspectives on things you may want to do differently. We always welcome your feedback and inquiries. Please e-mail us at editor@leadertoleader.org or write to us at--
Managing Editor
Leader to Leader
320 Park Avenue, Third Floor
New York, NY 10022
This journal is the fruit of an extraordinary partnership between the Leader to Leader Institute and Jossey-Bass, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, which has reached a remarkable milestone. 2007 marks Wiley's 200th anniversary, a record of achievement matched by very few American companies. We congratulate our publishing partners and send our sincere gratitude to all the professionals at Jossey-Bass and Wiley who make producing this journal such a fulfilling venture.
