Barbara Kellerman |
Articles Barbara Kellerman's latest articles... "The Internet and Americans' Resistance to Leadership" "Barack Obama's Election Culminates the Year of the Follower" "Followers Wield Power in the Workplace Too" "What Every Leader Needs to Know About Followers" "Followers Flex Their Muscles" "When Should a Leader Apologize - And When Not?"
Articles citing Barbara Kellerman...
Latest Articles"The Internet and Americans' Resistance to Leadership"From the November 4, 2009 online edition of US News & World Report: "An upcoming report from Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership once again confirms that most Americans long for leaders better than the ones they now have. The 2009 National Leadership Index (NLI) reveals that our confidence in leaders is above average in only thee sectors—military, medical, and nonprofit.
On one level, then, Americans are like everyone else—we seek leaders who have the real or imagined qualities and capacities that we associate with great leaders. But on another level, one deeper and more telling, Americans have always been, since the start, resistant to leadership, reluctant to grant anyone the right to tell us what to do."
From the November 14, 2008 online edition of US News & World Report: "Notwithstanding the mood of the moment—which is to lionize the leader—this was the year of the follower. This was the year in which those who historically lacked power and influence exercised more power and influence than anyone thought possible even a year or two ago. It does not detract in the least from the preternatural political skills of Barack Obama to say the times made the man. More precisely, the times met the man, which is why the 2008 presidential election will go down as a turning point in human history, not just in American history.
We have had such turning points before, points at which power devolves from—drops from—the top down. The late 18th century was such a watershed moment. Both the American and French revolutions were all about upending kings who, until then, were absolute monarchs. Similarly, during the mid-19th century, those who had little or nothing began demanding something. "Workers of the World Unite!" intoned Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, while at near the same moment Elizabeth Cady Stanton put pen to paper in near the same spirit. "The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward women," Stanton declared. And then there's 1963. This was the year during which Martin Luther King Jr. wrote Letters From a Birmingham Jail , and Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique. Both King and Friedan did no less than overturn the existing order."
From the January 10, 2008 edition of The Dallas Morning News: "Good leadership is the stuff of countless courses, workshops, books and articles. By contrast, most of the limited research and writing on subordinates has tended to either explain their behavior in the context of leaders' development or mistakenly assume that followers are all one and the same.
But the distinctions among followers in groups and organizations are every bit as consequential. As organizations become flatter and more networked, followers increasingly think of themselves as free agents, not as dependent underlings."
From the December 1, 2007 edition of Harvard Business Review: "There is no leader without at least one follower – that’s obvious. Yet the modern leadership industry, now a quarter-century old, is built on the proposition that leaders matter a great deal and followers hardly at all. Good leadership is the stuff of countless courses, workshops, books, and articles. Everyone wants to understand just what makes leaders tick – the charismatic ones, the retiring ones, and even the crooked ones. Good followership, by contrast, is the stuff of nearly nothing. Most of the limited research and writing on subordinates has tended to either explain their behavior in the context of leaders’ development rather than followers’ or mistakenly assume that followers are amorphous, all one and the same. As a result, we hardly notice, for example, that followers who tag along mindlessly are altogether different from those who are deeply devoted. In reality, the distinctions among followers in groups and organizations are every bit as consequential as those among leaders. In these next
pages, I explore the evolving dynamic between leaders and
followers and offer a new typology for determining and appreciating
the differences among subordinates. These distinctions
have critical implications for how leaders should
lead and managers should manage." "Followers Flex Their Muscles" From November 12, 2007 edition of U.S. News and World Report: "Being a leader means having at least one follower—that's obvious. Why then do we obsess about leadership and spurn followership? Hard-wiring is the easy explanation. Like other animals, humans organize themselves hierarchically, focusing on those at the top as opposed to those at the bottom. But we dwell on leaders and ignore followers for other reasons as well. Recent changes in culture and technology further skew our attention toward those with power and influence and away from those without. As a result, the so-called leadership industry is booming. Leader-centrism, though, is not only misguided; it is mistaken. Followers have always mattered more than we generally believe. And as the arc of history testifies, they matter more now than ever." "When Should a Leader Apologize--and When Not?" From the April 1, 2006 edition of Harvard Business Review: "When we wrong someone we know, even unintentionally, we are generally expected to apologize. The person we hurt feels entitled to an admission of error and an expression of regret.We,in turn, try to ameliorate the situation by saying,“I’m sorry,”and perhaps making restitution. But when we’re acting as leaders, the circumstances are different. Leaders are responsible not only for their own behavior but also for that of their followers, who might number in the hundreds, thousands, or even millions. The first question, then, is,Who exactly is the guilty party? The degree of damage is an issue as well. When a leader feels obliged to apologize, especially for a trespass in which followers were involved, the harm inflicted was likely serious, widespread, and enduring. Since leaders speak for, as well as to, their followers, their apologies have broad implications. The act of apology is carried out not merely at the level of the individual but also at the level of the institution. It is not only personal but also political. It is a performance in which every expression matters and every word becomes part of the public record. For leaders to apologize publicly is therefore a highstakes
move: for themselves, for their followers, and for
the organizations they represent.Refusal to apologize can
be smart, or it can be suicidal. Conversely, readiness to
apologize can be seen as a sign of strong character or as
a sign of weakness. A successful apology can turn enmity
into personal and organizational triumph–while an apology
that is too little, too late, or too transparently tactical
can bring on individual and institutional ruin.
What, then, is to be done? How can leaders decide if
and when to apologize publicly?"
Articles Citing Barbara Kellerman"What Happens When Leaders Cry"From the January 14, 2008 edition of The Oklahoman: "In general, Hillary got it right before New Hampshire, said Barbara Kellerman of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and author of Women in Leadership: The State of Play and Strategies for Change....
She used a strong, sturdy voice and touted her service on the Senate Armed Forces Committee to show she was tough enough, or male enough, to get the job done," Kellerman said... "Hillary needed to humanize herself, feminize herself," Kellerman said. "It was no accident she trotted her daughter and mother out at the end of the New Hampshire campaign," Kellerman said. "She wanted to show she was a daughter, mother and wife."
"Management Leaders Turn Attention to Followers" From the December 24, 2007 edition of The Wall Street Journal: "Experts in leadership are plentiful, and Barbara Kellerman, a lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, counts herself as one of them. Now, though, Ms. Kellerman and some other management experts are turning their attention to the other extreme of the organization chart: what matters to followers. In "Followership," a book being published this winter, Ms. Kellerman argues that a big organization's fate can be surprisingly dependent on how well it understands thousands of low-ranking employees, and makes them more effective. Entrepreneurs Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom took a similar perspective last year in their book, "The Starfish and the Spider," suggesting that lower-ranking employees, called catalysts, need to drive organizational change, instead of top bosses. ...
As Harvard's Ms. Kellerman puts it: "Better followers beget better leaders."
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