a triarchy press publication
‘The Search for Leadership: An Organisational Perspective’ by
William Tate
Publication Date: 21 May 2009
No. of Pages: 324
Read reviews of this book
Book type: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-9557681-7-0
List Price: £28.00
Offer Price: £25.00
Book type: Hardback
ISBN: 978-0-9557681-8-7
List Price: £40.00
Offer Price: £35.00
Book type: e-book
List Price: £10.00 [Read only]
Book type: e-book
List Price: £40.00 [Download with ability to search/copy/print]
Most organisations – public, private and third sector – know they need to offer better leadership. But, in trying to do so, they too often look in the wrong place. Experience tells us that even heroic leaders are no better than the systems they work in. Flawed systems strangle leadership. The answer?
Stop polishing the fish and tackle the water they swim in!
The Search for Leadership shows why it is naive to expect much leadership from individual managers acting alone. Only when we start to see leadership as a property of the organisation can we begin to improve it.
William Tate pulls no punches in his examination of leadership in business, politics and institutions like the police and the Health Service. Using forensic analysis, cogent argument and damning case studies, he shows why conventional leadership models and programmes miss the point and waste our money. In their place he presents a proven and practical ‘Systems Thinking’ approach that will transform the way leadership is developed, applied and held accountable for delivering results.
The Search for Leadership is a comprehensive study of the way leadership operates in organisations. The book is split into two parts – the Thinking Challenge addresses the theory of systemic leadership while the Intervention Challenge tackles the practicalities of implementing a systemic approach to leadership and leadership development in any organisation.
The book tackles both aspects on a theme-by-theme basis and chapters examine issues like:
- the difference between managing and leading
- what is working and what’s not
- why the process of leadership needs to be managed and how to do it
- ways of improving leadership, besides development
- how to balance supply of leadership talent with the organisation’s demand
- gaps down which leadership escapes
- how to stop wasting leadership
- the importance of the context in development, but why this is not enough
- differences between management and organisation development in building leadership
- the contribution of leadership competencies
- how to develop a leadership culture
- how to arrest the natural processes of decline and decay
- how the learning of leadership is affected
- how to talk the language of systems and how to think systemically
- what is below the surface in the organisation’s parallel shadow leadership system
- a range of processes by which leadership can be properly held to account
- how to diagnose organisations to discover where the potential lies for releasing leadership and how to achieve that.
See the full Contents Page here
This eye-opening account of the challenges organisations face is written for managers as well as developers, teachers, researchers and coaches. Its systemic focus sets it apart from other leadership books. It will change the way you think about leadership and help improve the way any organisation is run.
Read more about the book and the ideas behind it and discover the Systemic Leadership Toolkit at the dedicated website www.thesearchforleadership.com
About the author
William Tate is a consultant, writer, researcher, teacher and speaker in:
- leadership
- organisation development
- the shadow side
- change and learning innovation
- corporate social responsibility (CSR)
He runs the independent consulting practice Prometheus Consulting and is a director of Conduct Becoming, a CSR consultancy.
William is former head of HR Strategy and of Management Training at British Airways and the author of seven books and many magazine and journal articles. He has written papers for The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership, and the Centre for Tomorrow's Company. He has taught Strategic HRM and Corporate Social Responsibility on Cass Business School's Executive MBA Programme.
Reviews
From People Management Journal, Aug 2009
"Tate has produced a well-researched,
comprehensive product that will be useful to OD and MD specialists, while
providing a thought-provoking read for those in senior HR roles."
Read the whole review
From Managing Leadership, July 2009
"Tate asks with disciplined
focus what, precisely, leadership in organizations is intended to serve...
In the course of this, he comes to conclusions regarding the modern leadership
movement... He is concerned that it has produced ... fundamental errors
in perspective and practice that can no longer be tolerated."
Read the whole review
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