Rating: 
Summary: An outstanding and insightful book!
Review: A must read for anyone who honestly wants to become a better, more caring leader. Be cautioned, however, there are no easy answers. This work does not include a list of "silver bullets," rather it will cause you to think very deeply about a very complex subject--leadership. This book is important becauses it causes one to reflect on their own role as a leader (whether formal or informal). It causes one to look within themselves and evaluate difficult, personal areas--such as values and personal practices. Dr. Heifetz draws on years of research and experience in organizational theory and psychology to explain that there are no easy answers. Everything about leadership is becoming more complex. The environment is fluid, every situation is different. We can no longer rely on old paradigms to manage new problems. The best any leader can do is approach problems with a sound "tool box" from which to draw solutions. This book will provide a number of new "tools," if the reader is open-minded enough to take them. I had the opportunity to stundy under Dr. Heifetz during a leadership seminar at Harvard. His lessons inspired a defining moment in my leadership style. Anyone who reads this book should have a similar experience.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding and insightful book!
Review: A must read for anyone who honestly wants to become a better, more caring leader. Be cautioned, however, there are no easy answers. This work does not include a list of "silver bullets," rather it will cause you to think very deeply about a very complex subject--leadership. This book is important becauses it causes one to reflect on their own role as a leader (whether formal or informal). It causes one to look within themselves and evaluate difficult, personal areas--such as values and personal practices. Dr. Heifetz draws on years of research and experience in organizational theory and psychology to explain that there are no easy answers. Everything about leadership is becoming more complex. The environment is fluid, every situation is different. We can no longer rely on old paradigms to manage new problems. The best any leader can do is approach problems with a sound "tool box" from which to draw solutions. This book will provide a number of new "tools," if the reader is open-minded enough to take them. I had the opportunity to stundy under Dr. Heifetz during a leadership seminar at Harvard. His lessons inspired a defining moment in my leadership style. Anyone who reads this book should have a similar experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Cogent, well-argued, more description than prescription.
Review: Do you doubt your insight? Are you worried that you don't know all the answers? Do you find you can't solve the hard problems alone? Are you - heaven forfend - a leader who lacks vision?Good. That's the way you're supposed to be. For as Ronald Heifetz argues in this now-famous work, leadership is not an exercise in imposing one's vision and values on others, but the daily practice of clarifying the values already held by the community. Rather than inveigle or inveigh until people are seduced by a point of view, leaders must "engage people in facing the challenge, adjusting their values, changing perspectives, and developing new habits of behavior." In other words, a leader doesn't influence a community to follow his vision; a leader influences the community to address its problems. This is a lot of responsibility, for leader and community alike. At the heart of Leadership without Easy Answers lies Heifetz's notion of "adaptive work." The true tough problems - civil rights, adjusting to cancer, factories that produce both jobs and pollution - require responses that everyone can accept, learning that enables them to face harsh realities and conflicts. Rather than coerce people into superficially easy remedies or pretend problems don't exist, leaders guide communities to articulate their own values, interpret them in the context of critical questions, test their realities, and discover solutions that will almost certainly require their values and behaviors to be adjusted. It is the people who must find the solutions that they will be expected to carry out; the leader (with or without authority) is the one who identifies the challenge, focuses attention, and puts pressure on the people to work on problems at a rate they can stand. This is a facilitative notion of leadership, not a charismatic one. Readers accustomed to heroic expectations and Great Man theories of history are in for a shock. Yet Heifetz's writing - sober, cogent, contemplative - makes a successful case for his stance. Drawing examples from such figures as physicians, EPA officials, and Lyndon Johnson, he offers a perspective on leadership that skirts the increasingly hackneyed jargon of competencies, team-builders, and business impact. The principles of Leadership without Easy Answers are often elusive, and certainly difficult to emulate. But for those who long for an inspiring philosophy of leadership, this is the book to slake your thirst.
Rating: 
Summary: liberal agenda
Review: does anyone else thing heifetz is pushing a liberal agenda...Every liberal politian/action is praised, and every republican is demonized. what else can we expect from a Harvard professor?
Rating:
Summary: The most unique analysis to leadership I've encountered.
Review: Finally! A scientic analysis of leadership! A qualifier is necessary before you read the rest of my review. I'm a working business person, not a scholar. However, I am a current EMBA student at the Anderson Schoolo at UCLA. I started working (illegally!) at age 13 as a cashier. My childhood upbringing was lower-middle-class and my career has been eclectic, yet challenging. After such humble beginnings, I'm now blessed with the opportunity to help lead an organization into the 21st century. In his book, Heifitz clarifies and legitamizes many of my (and probably your) intuitions about what it takes to be a successful leader. Over the last ten years, I've studied management and leadership by reading books, listening to audio tapes, and attending seminars and workshops. This book stands apart from them all. While I do believe in the "soft" aspect to teaching leadership, understanding the "scientific aspect" (my own description) gives the pragmatists among us something to hold on to. Those who have been intutively practicing Heifitz' concepts will feel affirmed. And those leaders who are struggling with conflicts will find guidance not to be found in most trade books that claim to help build leadership qualities. Heifitz explains how context justifiably influences decision-making, how there is no "right and wrong," and he provides many examples that give substance and clarity to the concept of leading under ambiguous circumstances.
Rating:
Summary: A great theory, well written...
Review: Heifetz creates a psychological-social-political theory of leadership, which he defines as "an activity" that allows for "adaptive work." Leadership is the work that points out discrepancies beetween what we say we do, and what we actually do; or between our values (democracy, inclusion) and our actions. Leadership ultimately involves reconciling our values to our behavior. Leadership is not merely finding "technical" solutions to "adaptive problems," but, instead, is about finding more congruence (for both leaders and followers) between what they say and hope, and what they do. The author's writing is very clear. I most liked his simple phrasing of complex issues; how the threads through the incomplete theories of leadership (Carlyle, James MacGregor Burns); his practical orientation; his emphasis on followers' responsibility; his way of describing how leadership fails; and his notions of leadership succession. I also liked that this is not a "how to do" leadership book (the "ten best ways to be a leader" genre) aimed at a particular audience (business leaders, educational leaders), but, instead, is a thought-provoking discussion of ideas about leadership.
Rating:
Summary: A great theory, well written...
Review: Heifetz creates a psychological-social-political theory of leadership, which he defines as "an activity" that allows for "adaptive work." Leadership is the work that points out discrepancies beetween what we say we do, and what we actually do; or between our values (democracy, inclusion) and our actions. Leadership ultimately involves reconciling our values to our behavior. Leadership is not merely finding "technical" solutions to "adaptive problems," but, instead, is about finding more congruence (for both leaders and followers) between what they say and hope, and what they do. The author's writing is very clear. I most liked his simple phrasing of complex issues; how the threads through the incomplete theories of leadership (Carlyle, James MacGregor Burns); his practical orientation; his emphasis on followers' responsibility; his way of describing how leadership fails; and his notions of leadership succession. I also liked that this is not a "how to do" leadership book (the "ten best ways to be a leader" genre) aimed at a particular audience (business leaders, educational leaders), but, instead, is a thought-provoking discussion of ideas about leadership.
Rating:
Summary: A great theory, well written...
Review: Heifetz creates a psychological-social-political theory of leadership, which he defines as "an activity" that allows for "adaptive work." Leadership is the work that points out discrepancies beetween what we say we do, and what we actually do; or between our values (democracy, inclusion) and our actions. Leadership ultimately involves reconciling our values to our behavior. Leadership is not merely finding "technical" solutions to "adaptive problems," but, instead, is about finding more congruence (for both leaders and followers) between what they say and hope, and what they do. The author's writing is very clear. I most liked his simple phrasing of complex issues; how the threads through the incomplete theories of leadership (Carlyle, James MacGregor Burns); his practical orientation; his emphasis on followers' responsibility; his way of describing how leadership fails; and his notions of leadership succession. I also liked that this is not a "how to do" leadership book (the "ten best ways to be a leader" genre) aimed at a particular audience (business leaders, educational leaders), but, instead, is a thought-provoking discussion of ideas about leadership.
Rating:
Summary: The best book on leadership theory around...
Review: I do not want to repeat what the above Amazon reviewers have already said. Nevertheless, I think Heifetz's Leadership Without Easy Answers is the best book on the modern theory of leadership around. Heifetz integrates "great man/great woman" (trait) theories of leadership with "great times" (situational) theories, and defines "leadership" as "an activity that fosters adaptive work and addresses the value conflicts that people hold." He distinguishes "technical" problems that may not require leadership (adaptive work) from "adaptive problems" which people experience as threatening to themselves or their group. (The conflict over abortion, for instance, can be seen as an adaptive problem, because it represents a value conflict that provokes work-avoidance--scapegoating, dishonesty, polarizing conversations, etc.) Heifetz sees leadership as being "practical" and "authentic", and the leader is always working towards using authority (formal and informal) to help members of contesting groups arrive at solutions that promote fundamental values (such as democracy, equality before the law, freedom). This book is not a "how-to" book and does not promote charismatic leadership (which the author would view as largely work-avoidance and dependency-fostering). Heifetz is an excellent writer and communicates well with both academics and interested citizens.
Rating:
Summary: The best book on leadership theory around...
Review: I do not want to repeat what the above Amazon reviewers have already said. Nevertheless, I think Heifetz's Leadership Without Easy Answers is the best book on the modern theory of leadership around. Heifetz integrates "great man/great woman" (trait) theories of leadership with "great times" (situational) theories, and defines "leadership" as "an activity that fosters adaptive work and addresses the value conflicts that people hold." He distinguishes "technical" problems that may not require leadership (adaptive work) from "adaptive problems" which people experience as threatening to themselves or their group. (The conflict over abortion, for instance, can be seen as an adaptive problem, because it represents a value conflict that provokes work-avoidance--scapegoating, dishonesty, polarizing conversations, etc.) Heifetz sees leadership as being "practical" and "authentic", and the leader is always working towards using authority (formal and informal) to help members of contesting groups arrive at solutions that promote fundamental values (such as democracy, equality before the law, freedom). This book is not a "how-to" book and does not promote charismatic leadership (which the author would view as largely work-avoidance and dependency-fostering). Heifetz is an excellent writer and communicates well with both academics and interested citizens.
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