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The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World Hardcover – May 18, 2009

by Ronald A. Heifetz (Author), Marty Linsky (Author), Alexander Grashow (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 971 ratings
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The guide to approaching leadership in a rapidly changing world.

When change requires you to challenge people's familiar reality, it can be difficult, dangerous work. Whatever the context--whether in the private or the public sector--many will feel threatened as you push though major changes. But as a leader, you need to find a way to make it work.

Ron Heifetz first defined this problem with his distinctive theory of adaptive leadership in Leadership Without Easy Answers. In a second book, Leadership on the Line, Heifetz and coauthor Marty Linsky highlighted the individual and organizational dangers of leading through deep change in business, politics, and community life. Now, Heifetz, Linsky, and coauthor Alexander Grashow are taking the next step: The Practice of Adaptive Leadership is a hands-on, practical guide containing stories, tools, diagrams, cases, and worksheets to help you develop your skills as an adaptive leader, able to take people outside their comfort zones and assess and address the toughest challenges.

The authors have decades of experience helping people and organizations create cultures of adaptive leadership. In today's rapidly changing world, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership can be your handbook to meeting the demands of leadership in the midst of complexity.

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  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harvard Business Press
  4. Publication date
    May 18, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    7.5 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1422105768
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1422105764
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ronald Heifetz is a cofounder of the international leadership and consulting practice Cambridge Leadership Associates (CLA) and the founding director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is renowned worldwide for his innovative work on the practice and teaching of leadership. Marty Linsky is a cofounder of CLA and has taught at the Kennedy School for more than twenty-five years.

You can find the authors at:
Ronald Heifetz:

  • hks.harvard.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/ronald-heifetz
  • facebook.com/pages/Ronald-Heifetz/112388868773261?fref=ts
  • mobile.twitter.com/RonHeifetz
    Marty Linsky:
    • hks.harvard.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/marty-linsky
    • cambridge-leadership.com/team-member/marty-linsky/
    • facebook.com/marty.linsky
    • linkedin.com/in/marty-linsky; mobile.twitter.com/martylinsky

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard Business Press; 1st edition (May 18, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1422105768
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1422105764
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.53 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 971 ratings

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  1. Marty Linsky

    Marty Linsky

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  2. Ronald A. Heifetz

    Ronald A. Heifetz

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    Ron Heifetz is a cofounder and Principal of Cambridge Leadership Associates and the author of numerous books on adaptive leadership, with over fifty years of teaching and leadership consulting experience between them.

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
971 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Alicia Crumpton
5.0 out of 5 stars Purpose, Possibility, Leadership
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2014
Verified Purchase
I was drawn in by the opening lines, "If you want to help your organization, your community, and your society thrive in a changing world. . . . If you want to mobilize greater progress. . . If you want to strengthen your practice of leadership. . . if you want to help others strengthen their capacity. . . . this book is about possibility" (p. 1). Talk about a book opener that draws you in head shaking a resounding YES! (grin). The authors continued to say, "Adaptive leadership is an approach to making progress on the most important challenges you face. . . " (p. 3).

I loved this book. Practical, clear layout and presentation of materials, challenging, and hopeful. The thing is - this is not about abstraction, this is about personal responsibility, commitment, courage, and action. If you see something that needs to be done, what are you doing about it?!

The book is organized into 5 parts:
1. Introduction: purpose and possibility - you are provided with instructions on how to use the book along with the theoretical underpinnings and background
2. Diagnosis: The system, the adaptive challenge, and the political landscape. Characteristics of an adaptive organization are identified
3. System Mobilization - Interpretation and Analysis, Interventions, political capital and actions, conflict, and building an adaptive culture
4. Seeing yourself - knowing yourself, clarify who you are, what you stand for, and your purposes
5. Deploy yourself - this is the personal responsibility part, connect to your purposes, engage courageously, inspire others, take risks, and thrive.

It's a wonderful book for self reflection and personal growth; it's a wonderful book for leaders wanting to examine leadership and see their organization anew.
2 people found this helpful
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Mark
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2023
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Wonderful insights. Recommend for all in leadership.
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Fred
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2014
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I found this book this year as I was part of a steering committee put together to develop emergency first responders. Cops responding to crisis to be specific. I have taught and even written on adaptability myself but this book had a great way of explaining what adaptability was and how to implement it in an organization. it took into account things I had experienced first hand such as the resistance to the idea of developing adaptable cultures capable of dealing with both technical problems and adaptive challenges. The whole book is packed full of great information but Chapter 3 hit me straight across the brow "Before You Begin: DON'T DO IT ALONE! A mistake I made first hand in my own organization as I went it alone. And meant nothing but a lot of resistance from above, who felt the ideas we a waist of time. If you are trying to develop an organizational culture that thrives and continually learns and improves this book will give you the ideas and tools to do just that. I am glad I found this book, wish I found it early as perhaps I would have less bumps and bruises and few more hairs. I highly recommend it.
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William Carrol
4.0 out of 5 stars Use Very Carefully Or Just Give It To Someone You Want To Get Rid Of
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2016
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There's a lot of good advice in here while almost completely ignoring the risks involved, although Heifitz does just barely mention blowback in the form sabotage, smear campaigns, and getting fired. As a psychiatrist, he uses some psychoanalysis terms ("interpretation" etc) which shows that he is well aware of what he's advising, but he does not mention the extreme hazards of this approach. This is a good book for a consultant who can outrun the lynch mob or a Machiavellian boss that assigns an employee to make changes and later cuts the employee off at the knees. This also highlighted by his choice of role models, which include Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, and Martin Luther King. But he somehow overlooks that Madela spet decades in prison and Ghandi and MLK were assassinated. So enjoy the book, but watch out for snipers!
3 people found this helpful
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John Gagne
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Handbook for Leadership Studies
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2022
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If you are enrolled in the Harvard leadership certification program or any comprehensive leadership academic study program or are in a leadership position either in a Public or Private Enterprise this volume is a masterpiece for refining your capacity to work through the challenges that one encounters in such a position everyday. I only wish I had this resource prior to my retirement. I am certain it would have elevated and accelerated by skills ten fold and given me a much needed and valuable boast to my abilities and success as a leader. More than just a fine read it is literally a handbook for one's everyday leadership work.
2 people found this helpful
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SirReadsAlot
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely essential
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2019
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This book is filled with the deeper insights of leadership, thriving through change, tools and strategies as well as basic humanity and compassion. Deep, well-organized and accessible although dense and rich, Adaptive Leadership is the deep nutrition that will move both you and your organization forward. This is not “pop leadership” like Brendon Burchard, Richard Sheridan or even John Maxwell - it’s a book that will require time, dedication and reflection to digest. So, if you are looking for the cheap seats and pre-fab BS then stay far away. If you are ready to embrace experimentation, ambiguity, deep values and personal and organizational resistance and challenges, then get on board. Easily one of the greatest leadership books ever written. A true ethos and a way of being and maps to get there are what you’ll find here.
11 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Farzad Rahnama
5.0 out of 5 stars Super libro para lo quienes que se gestionando negocios
Reviewed in Spain on January 30, 2021
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Una libro muy bien, muy recomendable!!
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cesar carneiro penna
5.0 out of 5 stars O melhor livro de gestão de mudanças que já tive a sorte de ler
Reviewed in Brazil on November 30, 2017
Verified Purchase
Esta obra não trata apenas de gestão de mudanças, na verdade ela é especificamente focada na Liderança para gestão de mudanças. O que aparenta ser um detalhe, mas faz toda diferença.

Os autores constroem um modelo que primeiro delineia o tipo de situação que pode ser considerado um "problema adaptativo", depois seguem para ensinar como entender o sistema, depois ensinam como mobilizar o sistema e finalizam com uma proposta de uma brilhante jornada de autoconhecimento.

Você encontrará uma lista abrangente de exercícios para desenvolvimento das competências essenciais a liderança. Tudo aqui passa uma impressão de maturidade, de cuidado e de eficiência. São conteúdos extraordinários que, mesmo tendo lido diversos livros de negócios, me surpreenderam várias vezes. Li com calma porque vale a pena refletir sobre tudo que é apresentado aqui, como por exemplo:

1) O processo iterativo para a liderança de mudanças que segue os três passos: Observação >Interpretação>Intervenção.
2) Os papéis das lealdades na sua vida e trabalho.
3) O papel da autoridade e como lidar com ela em um cenário de mudança.
4) Como puxar seus limites, ao reconhecer e vencer suas rotinas de comportamento.
5) Como mudanças exigem de você diferentes papéis e como a busca por coerência pode gerar conflitos na sua competência em desempenhar estes diferente papéis.
6) Como desenvolver a tolerância necessária, desafiando a sua própria zona de conforto para liderar mudanças.
7) Como reconhecer a importância e responsabilidade do seu próprio papel no sistema na jornada até a situação atual e como considerar isso para a liderança de mudanças.
8) Como ser humilde e aprender a ouvir com julgamentos suspensos e conseguir manter em mente ideias contraditórias sobre o mesmo assunto.
9) Como conseguir buy-in de diferentes stakeholders no processo de mudança.
10) Como trazer para seu lado, mesmo que sem convencer de suas ideias, as pessoas que estão resistindo à proposta de mudança.
11) como categorizar e tratar de maneira específica cada perfil de resistência à mudança.
12) Como manter o silêncio para aprender a observar falas, gestos, expressões faciais.

E por aí vai...esse livro é nada menos que espetacular mesmo.
2 people found this helpful
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Jordan S Polson
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best
Reviewed in Canada on August 9, 2017
Verified Purchase
Outstanding! Great practical techniques along with the theory. I've used concepts in this book for the past 3 years and my staff are better for it. For existing leaders that are looking to increase their capacity, this is where you can start. I hand out copies all the time to leaders that are in growth mode and want to lead different or just better.
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Apoorva Dhamija
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on December 22, 2016
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Good
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A. K. Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars A book that will change the way you lead
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2015
Verified Purchase
This is an amazing book. Having been a leader in the public sector for many years. I wished I could have read this before I took my first big job. It provides both the insight into what the task of leadership really involved and practical tools to help you along the way. If you are leading anything, even if it's not peopl, it will help you lead it better. The most useful concepts for me were the notion that leading adaptive change involves loss for those you are leading and the need to be much more respectful of that, and the idea that you regularly need to get up on the balcony to look down on the dance floor and see how your dancing is affecting others and consider how you might lead the dance differently.
One person found this helpful
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