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. Continue
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).
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不知讀者心目中傑出的企管領袖懂得做些什麼﹖會把小公司變成企業巨人，還是扭轉公司虧損業績，不用「篤數」也賺得盤滿砵滿﹖《沉默地領導》一書則指出，能夠低調處理問題亦會是傑出的領袖。
本書作者是一名大學教授，他花了四年時間研究這些不愛出風頭，低調處理問題的沉默領導者，並在書中以多個案例，點出這些領導者的個人操節和處事手法特別的地方。
如果讀者崇尚英雄式企管領導，相信會對沉默領導者感到失望。沉默領導者並沒有「燃燒自己，照亮他人」的情操，他們並不覺得自己能改變世界，所以在處理問題時，會考慮到自身和現實，不會只談理想和原則。
即使他們明知有不對的地方，亦會克制自己(re ... (continue)
不知讀者心目中傑出的企管領袖懂得做些什麼﹖會把小公司變成企業巨人，還是扭轉公司虧損業績，不用「篤數」也賺得盤滿砵滿﹖《沉默地領導》一書則指出，能夠低調處理問題亦會是傑出的領袖。
本書作者是一名大學教授，他花了四年時間研究這些不愛出風頭，低調處理問題的沉默領導者，並在書中以多個案例，點出這些領導者的個人操節和處事手法特別的地方。
如果讀者崇尚英雄式企管領導，相信會對沉默領導者感到失望。沉默領導者並沒有「燃燒自己，照亮他人」的情操，他們並不覺得自己能改變世界，所以在處理問題時，會考慮到自身和現實，不會只談理想和原則。
即使他們明知有不對的地方，亦會克制自己(restraint)，不會貿然下決定。即使客觀條件是多麼困難，他們也會堅持(tenacity)把事情做好，想盡辦法尋求妥協。
處事手法方面，沉默領導者善用「拖」字訣，他們亦會深入了解問題，並在緊守基本原則下尋求妥協方案。筆者覺得書中羅列的數個例子中，以Frank Taylor的個案會比較多人遇上。
Taylor是一名電腦伺服器銷售商的營業代表。快到年底的時候，他如果能跟一名客戶簽成合約，便可達到公司定下的銷售配售目標，得到花紅。當快要簽約的時候，客戶卻臨時想改購最新型號的伺服器，並要把它們連接到舊有網絡上。問題是，Taylor的公司只容許大客戶把新型號伺服器那樣連接，但這個客戶並不屬於此類別。
雖然不滿公司「大細超」的安排，Taylor亦沒立即拒絕客戶要求。他先向上司請示，不過上司的答案卻模稜兩可。上司一方面希望Taylor接得生意，以分得銷售分紅，但卻不願冒上違反公司銷售規定的指引。
有位只想嘗甜頭但不願負責的上司，Taylor自然不願冒險。不過他亦沒放棄，在仔細反覆研究問題後，終於找出「漏洞」，低調地以「測試新伺服器」為由，讓客戶將伺服器連接到舊有網絡，結果令客戶、公司和自己都皆大歡喜。
作者指出，這些沉默領導者多屬中層管理人員，他們雖不被奉為企管神話，但正因有他們的存在，才能解決公司不少問題，令「高調」領導者放手策劃企業藍圖。《沉》書中不少個案來自中層管理人員或會面對的問題，例如辦公室性騷擾、上司濫權、公司下達涉違規的銷售指示，相信這些沉默領導者所作出的示範，會對讀者在工作上有幫助。
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