T his issue marks the beginning of the twenty-fifth year for Leadership in Action. During this time, in the course of well over a hundred issues containing nearly five hundred features and columns, the aim of this publication has remained constant: to contribute to the improvement of individuals and their organizations by providing good leadership advice.
By good, we mean advice that is clear, actionable, and conducive to continuous learning. It must also be based on real experience and have been repeatedly evaluated for its utility. We have been able to achieve this by drawing significantly on the educational and research work of CCL.
The specific subjects covered in providing the advice have, of course, varied over time. In the first issue, in February 1981, Wilfred H. Drath, the founding editor and now a senior fellow at CCL, said, "Here you will see the highly visible issues-performance appraisal, equal opportunity, innovation, decision making-and the less visible issues-networks, outside memberships, the changing workforce." If we were to list salient issues today, we might include globalization, ethics, sustainability, and talent management.
Such shifting subjects, which are indicative of the constant change that organizations have faced in recent years, have prompted LiA to regularly offer a certain kind of article-one that presents a practical framework to help people understand and respond to complex leadership and organizational challenges. We have published many of these in twenty-five years, and in this issue we are revisiting some classic framing pieces.
The current editor, Martin Wilcox, has reviewed our archives and chosen three feature articles that cover topics particularly relevant to dealing with a changing environment.
Cynthia D. McCauley, formerly a CCL vice president and currently a faculty member and senior fellow, explains the factors that affect how people feel stress at work and offers suggestions for how individual reactions can be moderated.
Stanley S. Gryskiewicz, a CCL vice president and senior fellow, describes the conditions necessary for organizations to renew themselves and gives advice for creating these conditions.