Executive Leadership: A Practical Guide to Managing Complexity

✍ Scribed by Stephen D. Clement, Elliott Jaques

• Publisher: Cason Hall & Co Pub
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 341
• Edition: Later Printing
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book dispels the myth of charismatic leadership to get to the heart of what managerial leadership is all about.Taking an entirely new approach, the authors define leadership not in terms of certain ideal personality qualities, but rather in terms of accountability for setting common directions for others to follow and for releasing the natural enthusiasm and initiative of others to work together as an effective team.

All supervisors, managers, and team leaders must exercise the necessary leadership to get their work accomplished.The way to achieve effective leadership is to establish a sound organization and sound working practices that can be taught, and for which managers can therefore be held accountable. This approach thus goes back to getting the organizational basics right as opposed to trying to change the personalities of individuals to fit dysfunctional organizations.

In this book, Elliott Jaques' remarkable microscope, through which we can examine the internal, personal world of human intent and the external, social world of work, is made readily accessible to the reader. Just as Galileo allowed us to look at the stars with a new understanding of our physical universe, Elliott Jaques allows us to look at both our individuality and our human interactions in the workplace with a new understanding. The totally new social order available through this remarkable lens shows us our world as it really is---not as we have imagined it to be.

The application of these ideas by Jaques and Clement has had a powerful impact on US Army leadership, training and doctrine. They have now written this very practical book telling you, the accountable manager, how to achieve an organization full of people going along together in the direction you have set.