Contemporary Perspectives on Leadership Development – serie

In the Foreword to The Dialogical Challenge of Leadership Development, eminent scholar Ken Gergen shrewdly points to dialogue as an optimal tool for organizational communication in the 21st Century. Gergen’s comment serves as a quintessential backdrop of the book you are about to read. Dialogical practice is no longer a distant option for organizational leaders to passively consider. Instead, it has become an indispensable tool for leaders who understand the critical significance of relational influence and sustainability for navigating today’s increasingly complex and wicked organizational and societal challenges.Thanks to the wide-ranging talent and varied perspectives of leading scholars and seasoned practitioners from around the globe who graciously contributed to this volume, The Dialogical Challenge of Leadership Development offers compelling evidence that - whether they arise from Brazilian favelas or the world’s largest corporate boardrooms - the challenges which leaders face on a daily basis can be effectively addressed through dialogical practice.

In the Foreword to The Dialogical Challenge of Leadership Development, eminent scholar Ken Gergen shrewdly points to dialogue as an optimal tool for organizational communication in the 21st Century. Gergen’s comment serves as a quintessential backdrop of the book you are about to read. Dialogical practice is no longer a distant option for organizational leaders to passively consider. Instead, it has become an indispensable tool for leaders who understand the critical significance of relational influence and sustainability for navigating today’s increasingly complex and wicked organizational and societal challenges.Thanks to the wide-ranging talent and varied perspectives of leading scholars and seasoned practitioners from around the globe who graciously contributed to this volume, The Dialogical Challenge of Leadership Development offers compelling evidence that - whether they arise from Brazilian favelas or the world’s largest corporate boardrooms - the challenges which leaders face on a daily basis can be effectively addressed through dialogical practice.

Moving the Needle: What We Know (and Don’t) About Developing Leaders examines 34 popular and cutting-edge instructional strategies that educators and trainers have employed to help others develop the capacity to lead. Some strategies have been popular for decades—such as student group projects—while others are just now emerging—such as using generative artificial intelligence. The book is designed to be imminently practical. Each chapter describes a different strategy for development, and includes illustrations of the strategy “in action,” examines the state of empirical evidence suggesting what scholars know about the strategy’s effectiveness, and provides resources for where readers can learn more. For strategies with a shallower pool of evidence, the chapter provides suggestions for a future research agenda targeted at scholars interested in researching the methods and outcomes related to each strategy.

Moving the Needle: What We Know (and Don’t) About Developing Leaders examines 34 popular and cutting-edge instructional strategies that educators and trainers have employed to help others develop the capacity to lead. Some strategies have been popular for decades—such as student group projects—while others are just now emerging—such as using generative artificial intelligence. The book is designed to be imminently practical. Each chapter describes a different strategy for development, and includes illustrations of the strategy “in action,” examines the state of empirical evidence suggesting what scholars know about the strategy’s effectiveness, and provides resources for where readers can learn more. For strategies with a shallower pool of evidence, the chapter provides suggestions for a future research agenda targeted at scholars interested in researching the methods and outcomes related to each strategy.

The Science of High-Performing Teams describes how leaders need to “be” to manage teams, what they need to understand about human behavior to create teams from groups of individuals, and how to think about some of the basic – and more advanced – types of leader behaviors and group dynamics that often result in successful teamwork. The book will help readers assess their surroundings and their team’s environment to make good decisions in the moment. Everything in this book is grounded in decades of rigorous research on team success, drawing on insights from countless scholars across generations. While “leadership” is all around us, most people in positions of authority or influence have little formal training or education in how to use that authority and influence to manage the teams for which they are responsible. The Science of High-Performing Teams explains and exemplifies the current state of research on team dynamics and leadership. It serves as a tool and training resource for aspiring leaders; new managers in professional settings; organizational consultants focusing on interpersonal dynamics; students enrolled in courses focused on those topics; and the secondary and post-secondary faculty who oversee those courses.