Most of us think of leaders as courageous risk takers,
orchestrators of major events-in a word, heroes. Yet while such
figures are inspiring and admirable, Harvard Business School
Professor Joseph Badaracco argues that their larger-than-life
accomplishments are simply not what makes the world work. What
does, he says, is the sum of millions of small yet consequential
decisions that men and women working far from the limelight make
every day: how a line worker for a pharmaceutical company responds
when he discovers a defect in a product''s safety seal; how a
manager deals with a valued employee suspected of stealing; how a
trader handles a transaction error that will cost a client
money.Badaracco calls them "quiet leaders"-people who choose
responsible, behind-the-scenes action over public heroism to
resolve tough leadership challenges. These individuals don''t fit
the stereotype of the bold and gutsy leader, and they don''t want
to. What they want is to do the "right thing" for their
organizations, their coworkers, and themselves-but inconspicuously
and without casualties. They do so by being baldly realistic about
the complexities of their own motives and those of the dilemmas
they face. In today''s fast and fluid business world, nothing is as
it seems. And they know it.Drawing from a four-year study of quiet
leadership, Badaracco presents eight practical and counterintuitive
guidelines for confronting situations in which right and wrong seem
like moving targets. Grounding each strategy in an engaging story,
he shows how these "non-heroes" succeed by managing their political
capital, buying themselves time, bending the rules, and more.From
leaders in the executive suite to aspiring leaders in the office
cubicle, Leading Quietly compellingly shows how patient, everyday
efforts can add up to a better company and even a better
world.Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. is a Professor at Harvard Business
School, the Chair of the M.B.A. Elective Curriculum, and the author
of Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and
Right ISBN 0875848036, HBS Press, 1997.
關於作者:
Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. is a Professor at Harvard Business
School, the Chair of the M.B.A. Elective Curriculum, and the author
of Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and
Right ISBN 0875848036, HBS Press, 1997.