Synopses & Reviews
"At the very time the need for effective leadership is reaching critical proportions, Michael Fullan's Leading in a Culture of Change provides powerful insights for moving forward. We look forward to sharing it with our grantees."
--Tom Vander Ark, executive director, Education, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
"Fullan articulates clearly the core values and practices of leadership required at all levels of the organization. Using specific examples, he convinces us that the key change principles are equally critical for leadership in business and education organizations."
--John Evans, chairman, Torstar Corporation
"In Leading in a Culture of Change, Michael Fullan deftly combines his expertise in school reform with the latest insights in organizational change and leadership. The result is a compelling and insightful exposition on how leaders in any setting can bring about lasting, positive, systemic change in their organizations."
--John Alexander, president, Center for Creative Leadership
"Michael Fullan's work is remarkable. He masterfully captures how leaders can significantly improve their learning and performance, even in the uncontrollable, chaotic circumstances in which they practice. A tour de force."
--Anthony Alvarado, chancellor of instruction, San Diego City Schools
"Too often schools and businesses are seen as separate and foreign places. Michael Fullan blends the best of knowledge from each into an exemplary template for improving leadership in both."
--Terrence E. Deal, coauthor of Leading with Soul
Business, nonprofit, and public sector leaders are facing new and daunting challenges--rapid-paced developments in technology, sudden shifts in the marketplace, and crisis and contention in the public arena. If they are to survive in this chaotic environment, leaders must develop the skills they need to lead effectively no matter how fast the world around them is changing.
Leading in a Culture of Change offers new and seasoned leaders' insights into the dynamics of change and presents a unique and imaginative approach for navigating the intricacies of the change process. Michael Fullan--an internationally acclaimed expert in organizational change--shows how leaders in all types of organizations can accomplish their goals and become exceptional leaders. He draws on the most current ideas and theories on the topic of effective leadership, incorporates case examples of large scale transformation, and reveals a remarkable convergence of powerful themes or, as he calls them, the five core competencies.
By integrating the five core competencies--attending to a broader moral purpose, keeping on top of the change process, cultivating relationships, sharing knowledge, and setting a vision and context for creating coherence in organizations--leaders will be empowered to deal with complex change. They will be transformed into exceptional leaders who consistently mobilize their compatriots to do important and difficult work under conditions of constant change.
Synopsis
"Valuable insight for leaders who must be able to operate under complex, uncertain circumstances."
Quality Management Journal
"Leading in a Culture of Change provides some sensible, practical, and sometimes provocative insights into leadership in a rapidly changing culture . . . [It] will be of great value to anyone in the field of management but also educators or educational administrators."
Journal of Business and Finance Leadership
"Offers valuable insights into the dynamics of change . . . full of illustrative case examples, exercises, and resources."
Long Range Planning
"This is a book for all would-be heads of department and deputy heads. Every serving head should buy a copy. I shall buy at least 50 and enjoy giving them away to those at the start of their careers in the confident knowledge that the next generation will be more successful as leaders than the present one."
Times Education Supplement
"Fullan articulates clearly the core values and practices of leadership required at all levels of the organization. Using specific examples he convinces us that the key change principles are equally critical for leadership in business and education organizations."
John Evans, chairman, Torstar Corporation
Synopsis
When Shola Richards’s soul-sucking job left him feeling numb and suicidal, he switched focus and devoted himself to transforming the workplace into a space of relentless respect, courtesy, and endless energy. Meant to motivate current and future leaders, The Positivity Solution aims to start a movement that will banish on-the-job bullying, put meaning back into work, and enhance coworkers’ happiness and engagement.
Synopsis
“My mission was clear: I needed to fix the problems facing the workplace. As quickly as I came up with my new mission, I came up with the solution:
We need to treat each other better. Period.”
Shola Richards had reached the end of the road: after nearly two years at a soul-sucking job, he felt numb and suicidal. So he quit and devoted himself to nothing less than transforming the workplace, turning it into a space of respect, courtesy, and endless energy. The Positivity Solution focuses on inspiring current and future leaders to start a movement that will banish on-the-job bullying, put meaning back into work, and enhance coworkers’ happiness and engagement. Richards, whose popular blog has a worldwide following, explains why inaction is insane, why we must move forward with positivity, and why the “abc” employees (asshats, bullies, and complainers) are so destructive. This motivational guide will stay in readers’ hearts and minds long after they finish reading it.
About the Author
Shola Richards is a dynamic public speaker, a certified Emotional Intelligence practitioner, an in-demand leadership trainer/consultant, and an award-winning Director of Training at a world-renowned US hospital. He created his blog, The Positivity Solution (thepositivitysolution.com), in May 2013, and has a worldwide following: his articles have been read by readers in over 160 countries. Richards has made multiple appearances on Huffington Post Live as an expert on workplace happiness and engagement, and his thoughts on how to create a more positive workplace have been published in the Chicago Tribune, Black Enterprise, The Good Men Project site, and Business Insider Australia. Richards has hosted his own television show for the CBS affiliate in New York, and proudly notes that the late literary icon Chinua Achebe was his godfather.
Table of Contents
About the Authors ixAcknowledgments xi
Preface xiii
Introduction xv
ONE The Five Components of Change Leadership 1
TWO Moral Purpose 11
THREE Understanding Change 39
FOUR Building Relationships 77
F I V E Creating and Sharing Knowledge 115
S I X Making Coherence 159
SEVEN Learning the Leadership 185
Appendix: Writings by Well-Known Authors Support the
Concepts Presented in Leading in a Culture of Change 221
References 233
Index 237