The Search For Leadership

Dear Colleague,

Even the most sophisticated Leadership Development programs in even the most forward-thinking organizations can seem like little more than glorified fish polishing.

Systems Thinking (and our own experience) tell us that individual managers and leaders are like fish in a fish tank. All HR’s efforts to train, develop and polish the fish will be wasted if the water remains foul.

So, while 2009 might seem like a good year to look for heroic, archetypal leaders to lead us out of the fear and uncertainty wrought by recession, climate change, British MPs’ expenses and pig flu – maybe it isn’t.

Peter Senge started the discussion about Systemic Leadership. Now Bill Tate, formerly head of HR Strategy at British Airways, has developed the definitive guide to Systemic Leadership. Its starting point is simple:

• a leader is only as good as the system he or she operates in

• leadership isn’t just about leaders or people, it’s about the whole organizations (its values, culture, policies, shadow-side, strategies, systems, etc.)

• ‘leader development’ [what Bill Tate calls ‘polishing fish before putting them back into the murky water of the fish tank’] is a fatally flawed solution

• a more distributed leadership culture is vital if organizations are to tap into front-line experience and generate energy for change

To find out more, please visit the dedicated website at: www.TheSearchForLeadership.com

About Triarchy Press
Triarchy Press is an independent publisher of books and pamphlets focusing on organisations, how they work and the way we work in them.
[email protected] ~ www.triarchypress.com

Alison Melvin
Triarchy Press, Station Offices, Axminster, De EX13 5PF, United Kingdom.