Leadership is fundamentally different from management, but traditional leadership skills were based on an ill-fitting, management-oriented model. When leadership is recognized as a discrete professional specialty, new techniques and methods are needed to operationalize the new values-based theories. In addition to distinguishing leadership from management, this book distinguishes inner leadership, practiced by those in the middle ranks, from leadership as practiced by the CEO. Inner leadership is an applied complex of specialized knowledge, theory, skills, attitudes, and attributes used to make things happen in the lives and behavior of other community members.
The leader's goal is to cause followers to accept the leader's values—e.g., his or her standards of what are acceptable goals, behavior, and overall conduct—as their own. It is an intimate, personal, life-transforming task that resolves itself into a set of discrete techniques—sets of attitudes, actions, and intentions—that distinguish leaders from managers or other corporate workers. The special focus of the 21 leadership techniques presented here is on those unique methods of group interaction that characterize leadership activities in the middle of the corporation. These techniques represent a substantial body of inner leadership practice that differentiates leadership from all other group roles and functions.
?Is this book a must-read for today's senior members of the defense community?probably not. Does it have a message or two that senior leaders need to listen to? Definitely. Fairholm's laundry list it neither unique nor profound. Neverthelessm while the book emphasis on leadership techniques is aimed at mid-level leaders, the author makes the point that senior leaders need to create and enviornment that will allow the inner-leadership potential of people throughout the organization to flourish....As the author points out, management and leadership have been so interwoven through the years that most individuals are unable to seperate the two concepts. His point is that each has its own domain in organizational studies, and each is needed in today's organizational enviornment. Knowing the difference and properly employing the appropriate concepts is a must for successful organization, especially those in the defense community.?-Parameters
Book Description
This book describes 21 leadership techniques that are uniquely suited to leaders in the middle regions of corporations.
DPA: Doctor of Public Administration in Urban Development, Graduate School of Public Affairs, State University of New York. MGA: Master of Governmental Administration, Wharton School of Business and Governmental Administration, University of Pennsylvania. BS: Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Economics, Brigham Young University. Ranked in the top five percent in each program; emphasis in leadership, management, metropolitan government, intergovernmental relationships and community power structure.
Occupational History Emeritus Professor of Public Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University, Adjunct Professor of Management Systems, Robins School of Business, University of Richmond, and have served as Visiting Professor of Political Science, Hampden-Sydney College and Averett University and was a Senior Fellow of the Center for Excellence in Municipal Management, GWU. Extensive background as a government executive serving as Administrator of State and Local Finance, Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Deputy Administrative Director, New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, Deputy Director, New York State Office for Community Affairs, Principle Management Analyst, New York State Division of the Budget, Director of Management Improvement, New York State Department of Transportation and City Manager in Layton City, Utah.
Extensive consultation in government, university and business environments. Headed a university-based consultation service giving advice and policy guidance to top-level African local government officials; developed the first urban government structure in Northern Nigeria; and analyzed operations, decision systems, policy implementation, and personnel and financial relationships. Significant experience consulting with Virginia state and local governments. Developed policy proposals respecting community relations in urban renewal agencies in Philadelphia; prepared program budgeting system for all Puerto Rican cities. Much of this work has been developmental in nature, e.g. creating 3 local consulting programs at a new university; serving as first city manager in a new Council-Manager city; creating of a system of urban government forms for Northern Nigeria where none existed before; consolidating transportation-related functions in New York into a new department, defining its goals and describing its proposed structure and procedures and coordinating new program and systems developments.
Authored over 150 articles, reports and analyses. My 13 books are a direct result of my practical work, but reflect a theory-building, even a philosophical bent. They represent a culmination of my experience and personal growth in the field of leadership. I have also published chapters in two other books. 1. Values Leadership: Toward a New Philosophy of Leadership, New York: Praeger, 1991. 2. Organizational Power Politics: Tactics of Leadership Power, New York: Praeger. 1993. 3. Leadership and the Culture of Trust. New York: Praeger, 1994. 4. Contributor to The New Bottom Line: Bringing Heart and soul to Business, New Leaders Press: San Francisco. 1996. 5. Capturing the Heart of Leadership: Spirituality and Community in the New American Workplace. New York: Praeger March, 1997. 6. Perspectives on Leadership: From the Science of Management to its Spiritual Heart. Westport, CT, Quorum Books, 1998. 7. So You Have Been Called To Be A Leader, Richmond, Virginia, 3Q Press, 1999. 8. Capturing the Heart of Leadership: Spirituality and Community in the New American Workplace. (Paperback) New York: Praeger August, 2000 9. Perspectives on Leadership: From the Science of Management to its Spiritual Heart. (Paperback) Westport, CT, Praeger, 2000. 10. Mastering Inner Leadership. Westport, CT, Quorum Books, 2001. 11. Techniques of Inner Leadership: Making Inner Leadership Work, Westport, CT. Praeger 2003. 12. Understanding Perspectives Leadership Theoretical and Practical Approaches, Springer, co-authored by Matthew R. Fairholm, 2009 13. Organizational Power Politics: Tactics of Leadership Power, 2nd Ed. New York: Praeger. 2009. 14. Forethcoming: Real Leadership
This review is from: The Techniques of Inner Leadership: Making Inner Leadership Work (Hardcover)
STERN'S MANAGEMENT REVIEW FINDS this a book that places leadership in a new light. According to the author, inner leadership consists of leading from the middle of the organization, generating the vital energy that drives organizational dynamics, in contrast to top leadership. The book explores the characteristics of inner leadership, which relies on the relationship with followers and on inspiration, not motivation.
Some key factors in the psycho-dynamics of inner leadership include: mutual interactive trust; internalized feelings of caring, respect, and enjoyment in working with others; willingness to serve the needs of followers; a quest for problem-finding in contrast to problem solving; and in general, a building of deep connections with others. These qualities stand in contrast to reliance on the formal power of authority-a hallmark of top leadership. The book goes into 21 techniques of inner leadership, devoting a chapter to each.
This book is rich with insights and ideas. As consultants in organization and compensation (founding partners of Stern & Associates, as well as editors of Stern's Management Review Online), we find Fairholm's book raises some key questions: Do organizations recognize the role and value of the vital leadership in the middle? Do they know how to select and develop inner leaders? Can they measure their performance and motivate and reward them? Intentionally or not, book provides a framework for addressing these questions.
Chapters end with discussion issues and questions, and developmental activities. Fairholm treats his subject matter with attention to details and nuances. 308 pp.
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