Innovative Leadership Series – serie

The need for restructuring and transforming business practices for the benefit of humanity and the environment is a major theme of this book. Interactivity and connectedness of people and things/data is transforming everything. Many organizations, even the traditional ones, have entered a process of transformation through innovation and rethinking their business models, which affects the way leaders communicate, lead, and co-create.Brilliant leadership is a new intellectual framework to guide strategists, gamechangers, senior executives, and aspiring leaders. This new framework is based on our current work on leadership development and focuses on what it means to become a brilliant leader. Brilliant leaders have an authentic personality, the willingness to engage people/teams, inspire others, facilitate (co-)innovation, and commit to making significant contributions (humanity, environment, ethics), and be relevant. The framework is also consistent with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education, fostering innovation, and developing a lifelong learning mindset.Each chapter of the book is more than a collection of ideas. It is a part of the new intellectual framework that describes ‘Brilliant Leadership’. Each chapter includes a distinct contribution by experts and that at the same time is connected to other chapters through the book’s organizing schema, paralleling how the different facets of leadership are inseparable from one another. Together, the chapters present a holistic view of what it means to become a brilliant leader in the transformative digital age. The framework demonstrates this connectivity through a theoretical framework (our model) and a plan (book chapters) of how to approach the specific research inquiry, the tenets of brilliant leadership.What makes this new edition unique? The book is aimed at providing practical strategies and becoming a source of inspiration for what it means to have a new leadership mindset - a brilliant leader who understands how to communicate with empathy and authenticity, engage and inspire others, shift responsibility into shared-commitment, and spark learning in a purpose-driven innovation culture.

The need for restructuring and transforming business practices for the benefit of humanity and the environment is a major theme of this book. Interactivity and connectedness of people and things/data is transforming everything. Many organizations, even the traditional ones, have entered a process of transformation through innovation and rethinking their business models, which affects the way leaders communicate, lead, and co-create.Brilliant leadership is a new intellectual framework to guide strategists, gamechangers, senior executives, and aspiring leaders. This new framework is based on our current work on leadership development and focuses on what it means to become a brilliant leader. Brilliant leaders have an authentic personality, the willingness to engage people/teams, inspire others, facilitate (co-)innovation, and commit to making significant contributions (humanity, environment, ethics), and be relevant. The framework is also consistent with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education, fostering innovation, and developing a lifelong learning mindset.Each chapter of the book is more than a collection of ideas. It is a part of the new intellectual framework that describes ‘Brilliant Leadership’. Each chapter includes a distinct contribution by experts and that at the same time is connected to other chapters through the book’s organizing schema, paralleling how the different facets of leadership are inseparable from one another. Together, the chapters present a holistic view of what it means to become a brilliant leader in the transformative digital age. The framework demonstrates this connectivity through a theoretical framework (our model) and a plan (book chapters) of how to approach the specific research inquiry, the tenets of brilliant leadership.What makes this new edition unique? The book is aimed at providing practical strategies and becoming a source of inspiration for what it means to have a new leadership mindset - a brilliant leader who understands how to communicate with empathy and authenticity, engage and inspire others, shift responsibility into shared-commitment, and spark learning in a purpose-driven innovation culture.

Establishing a culture of trust in organizations and strengthening the middle line are both critical for implementing innovation, especially during major disruptions. Work units and teams operate in environments that are largely influenced by broader organizational and institutional goals where middle managers are most needed for guiding and directing the staff to carry out change.Recently, however, the value of middle managers has come under attack. Despite their valuable contributions that often have gone unnoticed by senior executives, middle managers have regularly been viewed as non-value-added practitioners who consume resources but do not add value to products or services. Further, as technology advances and social media allow executives to interact more directly with stakeholders, it also removes middle management from the communication loops or the decision-making process.Conscious about the potential of being eliminated, demoted, or bypassed, some middle managers attempt to "prove their premium" by working excessively hard, thus becoming hyper-effective, working longer hours with a desire to perform their roles better. Surprisingly, however, executives who react harshly to these attitudes and behaviors also typecast middle managers as being unmotivated and needed to be further bypassed or often incentivized monetarily to accomplish important tasks. Neglecting middle managers’ strengths or focusing on negative attributes and weaknesses creates conditions of failure harmful to employees and organizations.Transparent Leadership: Bridging the Trust Gap Between Senior Executives and Middle Managers focuses on trustworthy relationships between senior executives and middle managers. A proven framework of trustworthy leadership is presented as a practical guide for leaders and professionals wishing to gain skills for building and maintaining trust in the workplace. It provides practical strategies and assessment tools for bridging the trust gap between executives and middle managers.

Establishing a culture of trust in organizations and strengthening the middle line are both critical for implementing innovation, especially during major disruptions. Work units and teams operate in environments that are largely influenced by broader organizational and institutional goals where middle managers are most needed for guiding and directing the staff to carry out change.Recently, however, the value of middle managers has come under attack. Despite their valuable contributions that often have gone unnoticed by senior executives, middle managers have regularly been viewed as non-value-added practitioners who consume resources but do not add value to products or services. Further, as technology advances and social media allow executives to interact more directly with stakeholders, it also removes middle management from the communication loops or the decision-making process.Conscious about the potential of being eliminated, demoted, or bypassed, some middle managers attempt to "prove their premium" by working excessively hard, thus becoming hyper-effective, working longer hours with a desire to perform their roles better. Surprisingly, however, executives who react harshly to these attitudes and behaviors also typecast middle managers as being unmotivated and needed to be further bypassed or often incentivized monetarily to accomplish important tasks. Neglecting middle managers’ strengths or focusing on negative attributes and weaknesses creates conditions of failure harmful to employees and organizations.Transparent Leadership: Bridging the Trust Gap Between Senior Executives and Middle Managers focuses on trustworthy relationships between senior executives and middle managers. A proven framework of trustworthy leadership is presented as a practical guide for leaders and professionals wishing to gain skills for building and maintaining trust in the workplace. It provides practical strategies and assessment tools for bridging the trust gap between executives and middle managers.

Today’s organizational leaders contend with a considerable array of potentially profound disruptive forces. Emerging information management and creation tools like AI and robotics, in conjunction with economic swings, global manufacturing shifts, and political instabilities, are creating immeasurable effects on business strategies and leadership practices. Transforming short-term challenges into long-term opportunities requires rising to the occasion, or what we call "clutch leadership." We believe that all leaders have it in them to be "clutch leaders!" Such is the thrust of this book.Clutch leaders have the skills to manage disruptions, break down silos, and align people around a compelling vision of success that represents a shift from "strategic fit" (matching resources and capabilities with opportunities) to "strategic stretch" (leveraging industry positioning to create competitive advantage). They create a productive and motivating sense of urgency and high aspiration in the organization during times of increased stakes. Clutch leaders build consensus in support of high-stakes decisions and model the way with a combination of confidence, capability, and conviction. Focusing on impact during disruptive times enables clutch leaders to harness the full potential of organizational resources beyond strategic fit, even if it requires a temporary push of skills and behaviors to extremes or taking on additional risks and opportunities (strategic stretch).What makes clutch leadership unique is the focus on "temporary imbalance" – the suspension of trade-offs between staying in the comfort zone versus playing to one’s tried and true strengths – until the gap is closed or until the new vision and reality are realigned through innovation and leverage. Clutch leaders’ distinctive ability to balance high-stress, big picture thinking with composure, agility, attention to detail, and strong logical reasoning with communication skills and empathy allows them to navigate fast-paced, challenging situations quickly and successfully.Numerous case studies are also included to illustrate innovative leadership techniques and applications.

Today’s organizational leaders contend with a considerable array of potentially profound disruptive forces. Emerging information management and creation tools like AI and robotics, in conjunction with economic swings, global manufacturing shifts, and political instabilities, are creating immeasurable effects on business strategies and leadership practices. Transforming short-term challenges into long-term opportunities requires rising to the occasion, or what we call "clutch leadership." We believe that all leaders have it in them to be "clutch leaders!" Such is the thrust of this book.Clutch leaders have the skills to manage disruptions, break down silos, and align people around a compelling vision of success that represents a shift from "strategic fit" (matching resources and capabilities with opportunities) to "strategic stretch" (leveraging industry positioning to create competitive advantage). They create a productive and motivating sense of urgency and high aspiration in the organization during times of increased stakes. Clutch leaders build consensus in support of high-stakes decisions and model the way with a combination of confidence, capability, and conviction. Focusing on impact during disruptive times enables clutch leaders to harness the full potential of organizational resources beyond strategic fit, even if it requires a temporary push of skills and behaviors to extremes or taking on additional risks and opportunities (strategic stretch).What makes clutch leadership unique is the focus on "temporary imbalance" – the suspension of trade-offs between staying in the comfort zone versus playing to one’s tried and true strengths – until the gap is closed or until the new vision and reality are realigned through innovation and leverage. Clutch leaders’ distinctive ability to balance high-stress, big picture thinking with composure, agility, attention to detail, and strong logical reasoning with communication skills and empathy allows them to navigate fast-paced, challenging situations quickly and successfully.Numerous case studies are also included to illustrate innovative leadership techniques and applications.

Disruptive leadership encourages bold, calculated risk-taking behavior and the exploration of new ideas that redefine industry standards and drive innovation and growth.Unlike current approaches to leadership, this book advances important principles of adaptive capacity essential for executing a digital transformation strategy that prioritizes collective intelligence, shared ownership, and creative problem-solving. At times of accelerated disruption, leaders must move beyond linear approaches blending conventional leadership types with new approaches that encompass diverse qualities like decisiveness and empathy, courage and honesty. This book provides a rich framework, offering readers a deeper lens to understanding how and why disruptive and innovative leadership is needed to navigate unpredictability, stimulate resilience, and drive purposeful innovation. The conceptual framework of this book emphasizes the evaluation of disruptive leadership within the context of – Interfunctional Collaboration, Digital Integration, Value Creation, and Continuous Innovation.Together, the parts and chapters in this book demonstrate the transformative nature of disruptive leadership. Hence, the book represents a holistic view of how and why disruptive leaders shift from a traditional leadership role to one that is visionary, agile, and empowering.