Real Leadership: Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest Challenges

In ""Real Leadership, Dean Williams argues that any leadership that lets people sidestep the sometimes harsh truth of reality is irresponsible -- and ultimately ineffective. He then offers a new paradigm that redefines the proper function and purpose of leadership: responsible leadership. This approach, he says, gets people to face difficult realities, and mobilizes them to address their organization's most pressing challenge -- the primary threat or opportunity that must be confronted in order to progress. Responsible leaders help people shift their values, habits, practices, and priorities to accommodate changing conditions and new demands. Williams contends that leaders must have a passion for insight and an unrelenting commitment to discovery -- discovery about the context and specific features of the challenges people face, and discovery about how their power affects the group in their problem-solving ventures. Case studies and real-life examples, some drawn from the author's personal experiences, illustrate responsible leadership at work.