Leadership for a Fractured World
February 23, 2015
Leadership for a Fractured World teaches us to move away from "big man leadership" and embrace "change agent leadership."
Interdependent problems cannot be resolved by one group acting alone or in isolation, and therefore a new notion of leadership and change is needed. Today, we need global change agents.
In Leadership for a Fractured World: How to Cross Boundaries, Build Bridges, and Lead Change (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, February 2015), Dean Williams shares how to move away from "big man leadership" and embrace "change agent leadership."
Williams' chairs the Global Change Agents program and leads the World Leaders Interview Project at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. He has also conducted first-hand research and leadership development initiatives in India, Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East, and the United States.
By presenting an array of cases of men and women succeeding or failing in a variety of contexts, Leadership for a Fractured World will help you draw connections to your own particular leadership challenges and assist you in becoming a global agent of change. You will:
- Begin to think about what the boundaries are that confine or limit you, your group, or organization.
- Understand the boundaries that need to be crossed, busted, or transcended.
- Determine the kind of leadership you need to provide to make the world, or your organization, a better place
- Move away from "big man leadership" and move toward "change agent leadership."
A global change agent – does not necessarily mean someone crisscrossing the globe solving world problems -- but rather is anyone, at the local or international level, who has a broad mindset and is committed to making changes for better. The global change agent:
Global change agents are needed at all levels of society and business, and in all domains of human activity. Leadership for a Fractured World is for leaders in business, politics, NGOs, international organizations, education, and government. It is for anyone who must work across silos, divisions, and borders to exercise leadership. It is for those who have considerable power who seek to lead from positions of authority and for those with little power who seek to lead from the margins or at the grassroots.
"When it comes to leadership and change, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly," says Williams. "I hope this book captures my insights and inspires you to action."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
DEAN WILLIAMS is on the faculty of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, where he chairs the Global Change Agents program and leads the World Leaders Interview Project at the Center for Public Leadership. He served as the chief advisor to the president of Madagascar and has also conducted research and leadership development initiatives in India, Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East, and the United States. He is the author of Real Leadership.