Creating Collective Intelligence

Several years ago, Google ran a study to determine what made teams effective, and later published the results, including sharing a summary in a New York Times article. While one might think that an effective team depends on having the most capable individuals, Google’s researchers discovered that the members of the team mattered far less […]

The New Psychology of Leadership, by Haslam, Reicher and Platow

Amazon link Reading this book articulated concepts that changed how I view and talk about leadership. The authors start the book by debunking several conventional theories of leadership (e.g. the “Great Man” theory where it’s about the leader’s innate qualities, or a transactional or power approach where people follow leaders in exchange for something) and […]

Creating Alignment with Others

I’ve described leadership as the art of identifying gaps between what is and what could be, and mobilizing others to address them. In the alignment series thus far, I have been addressing the identifying gaps part of leadership in identifying your own gaps for personal development, identifying an aspiration to orient your actions, and identifying […]

Thinking in Systems, by Donella Meadows

Amazon link This is a remarkably readable introduction to systems thinking, a method to understand the inherent behavior of a system, and design appropriate interventions to change what the system is doing. Meadows starts by defining a system as “an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something. … […]

7 Rules for Positive, Productive Change, by Esther Derby

Amazon link Book site Subtitled “Micro Shifts, Macro Results”, Esther Derby’s short but powerful book shares her wisdom on how to enable change in organizations. I first met Esther ten years ago at the Amplifying Your Effectiveness conference, and then got to know her better in 2015 while attending the Problem Solving Leadership workshop that […]