内容简介
Most of us think of leaders as courageous risk takers,orchestrators of major events-in a word, heroes. Yet while suchfigures are inspiring and admirable, Harvard Business SchoolProfessor Joseph Badaracco argues that their larger-than-lifeaccomplishments are simply not what makes the world work. Whatdoes, he says, is the sum of millions of small yet consequentialdecisions that men and women working far from the limelight makeevery day: how a line worker for a pharmaceutical company respondswhen he discovers a defect in a product's safety seal; how amanager deals with a valued employee suspected of stealing; how atrader handles a transaction error that will cost a clientmoney.Badaracco calls them "quiet leaders"-people who chooseresponsible, behind-the-scenes action over public heroism toresolve tough leadership challenges. These individuals don't fitthe stereotype of the bold and gutsy leader, and they don't wantto. What they want is to do the "right thing" for theirorganizations, their coworkers, and themselves-but inconspicuouslyand without casualties. They do so by being baldly realistic aboutthe complexities of their own motives and those of the dilemmasthey face. In today's fast and fluid business world, nothing is asit seems. And they know it.Drawing from a four-year study of quietleadership, Badaracco presents eight practical and counterintuitiveguidelines for confronting situations in which right and wrong seemlike moving targets. Grounding each strategy in an engaging story,he shows how these "non-heroes" succeed by managing their politicalcapital, buying themselves time, bending the rules, and more.Fromleaders in the executive suite to aspiring leaders in the officecubicle, Leading Quietly compellingly shows how patient, everydayefforts can add up to a better company and even a betterworld.Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. is a Professor at Harvard BusinessSchool, the Chair of the M.B.A. Elective Curriculum, and the authorof Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right andRight (ISBN 0875848036, HBS Press, 1997).