Heifetz Ronald, Grashow Alexander, Linsky Marty
Cambridge Leadership Associates, USA.
Harv Bus Rev. 2009 Jul-Aug;87(7-8):62-9, 153.
The current economic crisis is not just another rough spell. Today's mix of urgency, high stakes, and uncertainty will continue even after the recession ends. The immediate crisis--which we will get through with policy makers' expert technical adjustments--sets the stage for a sustained, or even permanent, crisis, a relentless series of challenges no one has encountered before. Instead of hunkering down and relying on their familiar expertise to deal with the sustained crisis, people in positions of authority--whether they are CEOs or managers heading up a company initiative--must practice what the authors call adaptive leadership. They must, of course, tackle the underlying causes of the crisis, but they must also simultaneously make the changes that will allow their organizations to thrive in turbulent environments. Adaptive leadership is an improvisational and experimental art, requiring some new practices. Like Julie Gilbert, who overcame internal resistance to reorient Best Buy toward female purchasers, adaptive leaders get things done to meet today's challenges and then modify those things to thrive in tomorrow's world. They also embrace disequilibrium, using turbulence as an opportunity to build crucial new capacities, as Paul Levy did to rescue Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center from a profound financial crisis. Finally, adaptive leaders, such as Egon Zehnder, the founder of an executive search firm, draw out the leadership skills that reside deep in the organization, recognizing the interdependence of all employees and mobilizing everyone to generate solutions.
当前的经济危机并非只是又一段艰难时期。即便衰退结束，如今这种紧迫性、高风险与不确定性交织的状况仍将持续。眼前这场危机——我们将通过政策制定者专业的技术调整来度过——为一场持续甚至永久的危机埋下了伏笔，这是一系列前所未有的严峻挑战。处于权威地位的人——无论是首席执行官还是负责公司项目的经理——不应埋头苦干，依赖他们熟悉的专业知识来应对这场持续的危机，而必须践行作者所说的适应性领导。他们当然必须解决危机的根本原因，但同时也必须做出变革，以使他们的组织在动荡的环境中蓬勃发展。适应性领导是一门即兴创作和实验性的艺术，需要一些新的实践方法。就像朱莉·吉尔伯特，她克服了内部阻力，使百思买重新定位以吸引女性消费者，适应性领导者会采取行动应对当今的挑战，然后做出调整以在未来的世界中繁荣发展。他们还接受失衡状态，将动荡视为构建关键新能力的契机，就像保罗·利维为使贝斯以色列女执事医疗中心摆脱严重金融危机所做的那样。最后，像高管猎头公司创始人埃贡·泽恩德这样的适应性领导者，挖掘组织中深藏的领导技能，认识到所有员工的相互依存关系，并动员每个人共同提出解决方案。
