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Managing Leadership: Toward A New And Usable Understanding Of What Leadership Really Is--and How To Manage It
Managing Leadership Toward A New And Usable Understanding Of What Leadership Really Isand How To Manage It Author:Jim Stroup Managing Leadership begins with a frank discussion of the history of the current leadership movement and its parallels with the ever-widening scandals enfolding the corporate and civil organizational environment, today. It provides a compelling case for the complicity of the untenable demands of the modern leadership movement in the occurrence o... more »f these scandals. It then surveys the literature, showcasing examples of more accurate and astute thinking that have, unfortunately, failed to receive adequate attention. The heart of Managing Leadership is a carefully developed argument for the concept of organizational leadership as a naturally occurring phenomenon inherent to all organizations. Using examples from military and business, the case for this view is carefully and vividly presented. Finally, the main part of the book culminates in a chapter discussing methods for executives to manage the leadership inherent in their organizations. In an especially interesting innovation, the concluding section of the book opens with a unique chapter which contains vigorously presented arguments against the thesis of the book. The author recognizes that the view of organizational leadership presented in this book will certainly attract criticism. His goal in this chapter is to present some of these criticisms, and then to answer them. The author even invites additional critiques from readers, for possible inclusion in future editions of the book. Managing Leadership proposes that the debate over what leadership in organizations really is needs to be reopened, and begins the debate with an important contribution of its own. The argument is that leadership is not properly viewed as an individual characteristic to be exhibited primarily by the senior executive, but one inherent to the organization, naturally expressed by all of its members, and managed by that senior executive. This view of leadership provides many benefits to the organization: 1) it unleashes the leadership seeking expression from within the organization in beneficial ways, 2) it frees senior executives from the extraordinary and untenable demands made of them by the modern leadership movement, and 3) it enables them to return to their principle duty of managing the organization - including the leadership inherent to it.« less