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Leadership for a Fractured World: How to Cross Boundaries, Build Bridges, and Lead Change Spiral-Bound | February 16, 2015
Dean Williams
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Leadership for a Fractured World: How to Cross Boundaries, Build Bridges, and Lead Change
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Leaders today—whether in corporations or associations, nonprofits or nations—face massive, messy, multidimensional problems. No one person or group can possibly solve them—they require the broadest possible cooperation. But, says Harvard scholar Dean Williams, our leadership models are still essentially tribal: individuals with formal authority leading in the interest of their own group. In this deeply needed new book, he outlines an approach that enables leaders to transcend internal and external boundaries and help people to collaborate, even people over whom they technically have no power.
Drawing on what he’s learned from years of working in countries and organizations around the world, Williams shows leaders how to approach the delicate and creative work of boundary spanning, whether those boundaries are cultural, organizational, political, geographic, religious, or structural. Sometimes leaders themselves have to be the ones who cross the boundaries between groups. Other times, a leader’s job is to build relational bridges between divided groups or even to completely break down the boundaries that block collaborative problem solving. By thinking about power and authority in a different way, leaders will become genuine change agents, able to heal wounds, resolve conflicts, and bring a fractured world together.
Drawing on what he’s learned from years of working in countries and organizations around the world, Williams shows leaders how to approach the delicate and creative work of boundary spanning, whether those boundaries are cultural, organizational, political, geographic, religious, or structural. Sometimes leaders themselves have to be the ones who cross the boundaries between groups. Other times, a leader’s job is to build relational bridges between divided groups or even to completely break down the boundaries that block collaborative problem solving. By thinking about power and authority in a different way, leaders will become genuine change agents, able to heal wounds, resolve conflicts, and bring a fractured world together.
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Original Binding: Trade Paperback
Pages: 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1626562652
Item Weight: 0.0 lbs
Dimensions: 2.3 x 0.3 x 3.5 inches
“Professor Williams has crafted an elegant, inspiring road map to help us all become global change agents equipped to cross boundaries, break down silos, and mend our fractured societies. He challenges us to take responsibility for our cultural lens and biases—to strip out the barriers of our own creation. In today’s world of deep divisions, mired in strife, Williams finds beauty and makes me believe we can and we should heal ourselves.”
—Patti Bellinger, Executive Director, Center for Public Leadership, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
“I congratulate Dean Williams for another inspiring book. Given the problems in the world today, this new book is a must-read for any leader, change agent, or active citizen. It is filled with real-world examples, practical advice, and principles for success. I am honored to have been his student!”
—Elbegdorj Tsakhiagiin, President of Mongolia
“Leadership for a Fractured World is a practitioner’s delight, and Dean Williams has brought out in a simple yet profound manner what it takes to lead adaptively in a world that is getting increasingly complex and divisive. This book is a must-read for all those restless with the status quo and wanting to make the world a better place.”
—Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, founder, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, India, and Frank Rhodes Professor, Cornell University
“Drawing on deep experience advising presidents and founders of countries; executives in business, government, and nonprofits; teachers; and grassroots organizers, Dean Williams offers an enormously practical set of tools and insights for leading across boundaries in our divided yet interdependent world. The wisdom of this book is invaluable and lifesaving. Practical, inspiring, and rich with illuminating stories, this is essential reading for leadership today.”
—Ronald Heifetz, King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School, and author of Leadership without Easy Answers
“Leadership for a Fractured World is not your typical leadership manual; it’s an experience. It immediately drives you to want to act differently. Being part of a global organization and dealing with the need to constantly adapt to change makes one realize that creative leadership is necessary for coping with this complex environment. This book opens a world of possibilities that stay with you long after you finish reading it.”
—Limor Benderly, Manager, Excellent Leaders Program, Amdocs
“Our world is shrinking. Civilisations once separated by oceans and continents now coexist in close proximity. We need leaders who can cross boundaries, build bridges and lead change. Dean Williams has studied leaders all around the world. In this book, he shares his insights from his global learning experience. This is a must-read for all future leaders.”
—Kishore Mahbubani , former Singapore Ambassador to the United Nations; Dean of the Lee-Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and author of The Great Convergence: Asia, the West and the Logic of One World
“Dean Williams’s new framework of leadership provides a deep insight for situations where silos impede innovation.”
—Takayoshi Yamakawa, President, Dream Incubator Inc., Japan
“This is a great guide for those who want to understand the secret to leadership—and why we need dynamic leadership more than ever in this crazy, dynamic, and fractured world!”
—Srdja Popovic, Executive Director, Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies
“This is a landmark book for those who are passionate about making a real difference in the world. Full of rich examples of leading change, it provides a no-nonsense approach to understanding and tackling the underlying fractures in organizations and communities. The book is a bridge builder in itself, spanning many disciplines and weaving a compelling narrative that will transform the way you think about leadership. It will stimulate and provoke the new conversations we urgently need to repair our fractured world.”
—Paul Porteous, Executive Director, Centre for Social Leadership, Australia
—Patti Bellinger, Executive Director, Center for Public Leadership, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
“I congratulate Dean Williams for another inspiring book. Given the problems in the world today, this new book is a must-read for any leader, change agent, or active citizen. It is filled with real-world examples, practical advice, and principles for success. I am honored to have been his student!”
—Elbegdorj Tsakhiagiin, President of Mongolia
“Leadership for a Fractured World is a practitioner’s delight, and Dean Williams has brought out in a simple yet profound manner what it takes to lead adaptively in a world that is getting increasingly complex and divisive. This book is a must-read for all those restless with the status quo and wanting to make the world a better place.”
—Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, founder, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, India, and Frank Rhodes Professor, Cornell University
“Drawing on deep experience advising presidents and founders of countries; executives in business, government, and nonprofits; teachers; and grassroots organizers, Dean Williams offers an enormously practical set of tools and insights for leading across boundaries in our divided yet interdependent world. The wisdom of this book is invaluable and lifesaving. Practical, inspiring, and rich with illuminating stories, this is essential reading for leadership today.”
—Ronald Heifetz, King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School, and author of Leadership without Easy Answers
“Leadership for a Fractured World is not your typical leadership manual; it’s an experience. It immediately drives you to want to act differently. Being part of a global organization and dealing with the need to constantly adapt to change makes one realize that creative leadership is necessary for coping with this complex environment. This book opens a world of possibilities that stay with you long after you finish reading it.”
—Limor Benderly, Manager, Excellent Leaders Program, Amdocs
“Our world is shrinking. Civilisations once separated by oceans and continents now coexist in close proximity. We need leaders who can cross boundaries, build bridges and lead change. Dean Williams has studied leaders all around the world. In this book, he shares his insights from his global learning experience. This is a must-read for all future leaders.”
—Kishore Mahbubani , former Singapore Ambassador to the United Nations; Dean of the Lee-Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and author of The Great Convergence: Asia, the West and the Logic of One World
“Dean Williams’s new framework of leadership provides a deep insight for situations where silos impede innovation.”
—Takayoshi Yamakawa, President, Dream Incubator Inc., Japan
“This is a great guide for those who want to understand the secret to leadership—and why we need dynamic leadership more than ever in this crazy, dynamic, and fractured world!”
—Srdja Popovic, Executive Director, Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies
“This is a landmark book for those who are passionate about making a real difference in the world. Full of rich examples of leading change, it provides a no-nonsense approach to understanding and tackling the underlying fractures in organizations and communities. The book is a bridge builder in itself, spanning many disciplines and weaving a compelling narrative that will transform the way you think about leadership. It will stimulate and provoke the new conversations we urgently need to repair our fractured world.”
—Paul Porteous, Executive Director, Centre for Social Leadership, Australia
Dean Williams leads the World Leaders Interview Project, chairs the Global Change Agent program, and teaches at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is also the director of the Social Leadership Singapore program and served for six years as the chief adviser to the president of Madagascar. He has conducted research in India, Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East, and the United States and is the author of Real Leadership: Helping People and Organizations Face Their Toughest Challenges.