LEADERSHIP

These six leaders stepped into their top jobs at a time of enormous challenge. Here’s what each of them has to say about their approach to passing today’s tough test and setting the agenda for the future.

To paraphrase Bill Shore, a compass — more than brains or money — is a leader’s most valuable tool. Next time you are asked to lead, pick up a compass. Take a moment to get your bearings. Become a leader, support those who choose to lead and thank those who have risked leadership.

If you are a leader, you don’t just go in there with a blank slate. You go in as a leader with a teachable point of view. But you have to remain open to learning from the people you are teaching. If you can do that to scale, you will generate knowledge every day.

The program highlights the importance of
community leadership in improving people’s lives by recognizing and
supporting U.S. leaders and leadership groups not broadly known beyond
their immediate community or field.

Management Information Exchange Management Information Exchange (MiX), a website dedicated to energizing and growing the management expertise of leaders in community development, offers community-based organizations and their staffs a free source of management information. The…

Merely expanding the number of women in leadership roles does not automatically induce organizational change. Harvard professor Robin Ely and Debra Meyerson call for fundamental changes to transform organizations.

“You cannot lead others until you have lead yourself through a struggle of opposing values.”
-James Kouzes, The Leadership Challenge

Leadership doesn’t just start at the top. Leaders can also be found at the bottom of an organization and at just about every place in between. And how, exactly, does someone with little or no managerial or supervisory experience go about taking that first step toward being a leader? “It simply involves an act of will,” says Useem. “You must simply decide, ‘I’m going to step forward to make a difference. I’m going to offer fresh insights and get people excited about where this company or organization ought to go.’ Leadership is a matter of personal commitment and drive.”

"This is not a revolutionary style," Meyerson says of the tempered radical’s approach. "But it is the stuff of change. It is the true content of leadership."

If you don’t Stretch You don’t know Where the edge Is