Changing on the Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World [Hardcover]

Jennifer Garvey Berger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2011

Listen to people in every field and you'll hear a call for more sophisticated leadership—for leaders who can solve more complex problems than the human race has ever faced. But these leaders won't simply come to the fore; we have to develop them, and we must cultivate them as quickly as is humanly possible. Changing on the Job is a means to this end.

As opposed to showing readers how to play the role of a leader in a "paint by numbers" fashion, Changing on the Job builds on theories of adult growth and development to help readers become more thoughtful individuals, capable of leading in any scenario. Moving from the theoretical to the practical, and employing real-world examples, author Jennifer Garvey Berger offers a set of building blocks to help cultivate an agile workforce while improving performance.

Coaches, HR professionals, thoughtful leaders, and anyone who wants to flourish on the job will find this book a vital resource for developing their own capacities and those of the talent that they support.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A significant contribution towards re-imagining how we go about developing leaders. Jennifer invites leaders and those of us engaged in developing leaders to be more precise in our support and to think anew about the role that organizational context plays. This book calls on us to become more capable, agile, and better aligned with the increasing complexity of a global economy, while showing us how to stitch together an approach to our work that is fit for this task."—Sally DeWitt Miller, Director, Leadership Development Group, Microsoft Corporation

"People have been asking for years, 'Where can I go for a rich, practical, and incisive guide to the relationship between adult-developmental theory and coaching?' Now there is an answer. You are holding it, and when you start reading it, it will hold you."—Robert Kegan, Meehan Professor of Adult Learning and Professional Development, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, author of In Over Our Heads, and co-author of Immunity to Change

"What are the three hardest things in the world to do? How about: 1) transform the culture you're part of; 2) transform a meeting or conversation you're in; and 3) transform your own mind? Want to learn how? A great way to begin is to read Jennifer Garvey Berger's Changing on the Job and begin looking at your own work/life through the lenses she provides."—Bill Torbert, Boston College Leadership Professor Emeritus and Director of Research, Harthill Consulting Ltd.

"In increasingly complex times, it really matters that more people are able to think in complex ways. Jennifer Garvey Berger shows how we can change and grow, as adults and leaders, to better handle complexity in all aspects of our lives and work. The ideas in this book are critically important and Jennifer presents them as a compelling story."—Robyn Baker, CEO, New Zealand Council for Educational Research

"Destined to become a classic in the field, this is quite simply the best book on leadership and adult development out there. In addition to offering the clearest explication of adult development theory, this book breaks much needed ground in applying the deep insights of theory to practice, and in offering numerous suggestions for working with leaders to expand and transform their ability to cope with complexity. Managers, HR professionals, coaches and others involved in helping leaders grow to meet the demands of our day will greatly benefit from reading this book. So will their clients!"—William H. Hodgetts, Ed.D., Vice President of Enterprise Talent, Fidelity Investments

About the Author

Jennifer Garvey Berger uses her expertise in complexity of mind to support leaders around the world through coaching and leadership development programs. She is a Partner in Cultivating Leadership, a leadership development consultancy. For more information, please visit www.garveyberger.com.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Stanford Business Books (November 30, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080477823X
• ISBN-13: 978-0804778237
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #612,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

As a teacher, writer, researcher, and coach, Jennifer Garvey Berger helps individuals and teams to transform themselves and their organizations, to see bigger perspectives, to think in more creative ways, and to collaborate to come up with collective ideas. With her partners at Cultivating Leadership, Jennifer runs transformational leadership programs and supports organizations to use their leaders (and leadership development) to encourage and support whole-of-organization change. Jennifer has worked with executives in a wildly diverse set of organizations like Microsoft, Fidelity Investments, the New Zealand Department of Conservation, and Lion, helping leaders increase their own capacity to think well about problems and people.

Jennifer blogs about leadership development for the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and at becomealeader.org. She has published articles and books on leadership, coaching, adult development, and individual and organisational change. She also teaches coaches and consultants about these ideas at universities all over the world. Jennifer has a masters and a doctorate from Harvard University.

Formerly an associate professor at George Mason University in Virginia, Jennifer learned about deep change in 2006 when she turned down the tenure offer and moved to New Zealand with her husband, two kids, and the family dog. Now she lives on the beach, raises hens in the back yard, and often looks forward to the writing she can do in a fourteen-hour plane ride. Eschewing work/life balance for a life that feels like fun across the board, Jennifer loves that her life is a blend of watching the sun set over the Tasman sea and supporting leaders in the public and private sector around the world.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'must read' for developmental and developing executive coaches January 27, 2012

By Nial O. Reilly

Format:Hardcover

Changing on the Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World

This is an excellent book, pragmatic, clear and finely honed. It furthers understanding on adult development theory giving the coach an excellent reference manual to compliment coaching work and giving coachees who are willing to engage with it a clear sight of their potential/optional developmental pathway. Knowing that it was developed from the direct experience of someone who 'gets her hands dirty' in this space gives it added credibility. I got a lot of value and will continue to do so for years to come. Nial O'Reilly, Executive Coach

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Transformational Leadership January 7, 2012

By mnomalley

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I don't know where to start. I got so much out of this thoughtful, beautifully written book. Importantly, it provides a comprehensive definition of what it means to be a transformational leader (referred to as self-transforming in the book): in the way they think, take action, and interact with others. Additionally, I appreciated the balanced treatment in that Garvey-Berger doesn't assume that a high level of thought necessarily translates into better leadership since, like everyone, even transformational leaders have their blindspots and have to deal with people who are dissimilar -- and not all goes smoothly. Above all else, the author provides leaders and coaches with guidance on how to develop and function more fully and expansively on the job, in meetings, and in any other endeavor where people are called upon to work harmoniously and productively together. This is a one-of-a-kind book that is a prototype for what business writing should be. Michael O'Malley, author of Leading with Kindness; The Wisdom of Bees; and Every Leader is an Artist (forthcoming).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Changing complexity and leadership on the job: So what? October 3, 2012

By Steven Michael Carpenter

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Jennifer Garvey Berger has a clear and distinct voice. The larger discourse that this book tackles -- complexity, constructive developmentalism (CD), and their application to leadership -- speaks to a wide range of debate amongst a wider range of readers. The author leverages her experience in the constructive development world in a way that those who are not experts will be educated. She uses the context of CD theory to lay the groundwork for applying the concepts of complexity, coaching, and change in today's work environment.

The book is well organized into three parts; Growing complexity, where she sets the context and backstory; Helping others grow, where she addresses how individuals grow differently and how to work within that individualism; and Changing on the job, where she applies the developmental theories to leadership within the workplace and within the structure of organizations.

Jennifer's style is straight-forward and easy to comprehend. If you are a novice to CD theory, she will intrigue your interest. If you are graduate student or CD practitioner, you will find new insight about applications and developments in change and leadership theory. The most compelling aspect of her book for me has been her ability to make sense of complex theory in a practical, pragmatic application. Most specifically, Jennifer asks the most important question that should be asked of any theory, and applies that to her work, "So what?" Jennifer is critical of CD theory, of her own application of the theory to the workplace, and it is this critical view that makes here work more valuable in that it is practical and applicable.