What do you think?
Rate this book
Leading Change: The Argument for Values-Based Leadership
"[An] important new book . . .Mr. O'Toole puts soul and values squarely back into a vital topic, leadership."
--Tom Peters
The New York Times Book Review
"A deeply philosophical and eminently practical study of leadership as change."
--James MacGregor Burns
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, and author of Leadership
Current management philosophy advocates an outmoded Machiavellian approach to running Leaders are told in countless books that they can only accomplish their goals by being tough, manipulative, dictatorial, or paternalistic as the situation requires.
In Leading Change, noted management theorist James O'Toole proposes a provocative new vision of leadership in the business world--a vision of leadership rooted in moral values and a consistent display of respect for all followers. As O'Toole brilliantly demonstrates, values-based leadership is not only fair and just, it is also highly effective in today's complex organizations.
When leaders truly believe that their prime goal is the welfare of their followers, they get results. The finest leaders--from political giants like Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln to contemporary CEOs like Max De Pree and James Houghton--have always shared leadership with their followers. They create organizations that encourage change and self-reevaluation; they foster an atmosphere of open-mindedness and fresh thinking, in which assumptions can be challenged and goals reassessed.
Grounded in the ideas of moral philosophy, Leading Change powerfully transcends the standard how-to management primer to define a challenging new approach to leadership. As O'Toole so persuasively argues, growth and change are possible, indeed necessary, and they will be effected by individuals who have the stature and the courage to lead morally. This important book, at once thought-provoking and totally practical, is bound to take its place as one of the landmark business volumes of our times.
"Jim O'Toole has written the essential work for organizations to survive and thrive in today's changing world. His intellectually penetrating thinking shows us how the sometimes conflicting problems we wrestle with--often in piecemeal fashion--fit together to form a complete picture, even as the picture itself continues to change. His message is so critical to the very existence of every organization that any leader who fails to heed his advice condemns his or her company to mediocrity and/or early death. It's that basic."
--Warren Bennis
Professor and founding chairman of the Leadership Institute
at the University of Southern California
Author of An Invented Life and Why Leaders Can't Lead
--Tom Peters
The New York Times Book Review
"A deeply philosophical and eminently practical study of leadership as change."
--James MacGregor Burns
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, and author of Leadership
Current management philosophy advocates an outmoded Machiavellian approach to running Leaders are told in countless books that they can only accomplish their goals by being tough, manipulative, dictatorial, or paternalistic as the situation requires.
In Leading Change, noted management theorist James O'Toole proposes a provocative new vision of leadership in the business world--a vision of leadership rooted in moral values and a consistent display of respect for all followers. As O'Toole brilliantly demonstrates, values-based leadership is not only fair and just, it is also highly effective in today's complex organizations.
When leaders truly believe that their prime goal is the welfare of their followers, they get results. The finest leaders--from political giants like Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln to contemporary CEOs like Max De Pree and James Houghton--have always shared leadership with their followers. They create organizations that encourage change and self-reevaluation; they foster an atmosphere of open-mindedness and fresh thinking, in which assumptions can be challenged and goals reassessed.
Grounded in the ideas of moral philosophy, Leading Change powerfully transcends the standard how-to management primer to define a challenging new approach to leadership. As O'Toole so persuasively argues, growth and change are possible, indeed necessary, and they will be effected by individuals who have the stature and the courage to lead morally. This important book, at once thought-provoking and totally practical, is bound to take its place as one of the landmark business volumes of our times.
"Jim O'Toole has written the essential work for organizations to survive and thrive in today's changing world. His intellectually penetrating thinking shows us how the sometimes conflicting problems we wrestle with--often in piecemeal fashion--fit together to form a complete picture, even as the picture itself continues to change. His message is so critical to the very existence of every organization that any leader who fails to heed his advice condemns his or her company to mediocrity and/or early death. It's that basic."
--Warren Bennis
Professor and founding chairman of the Leadership Institute
at the University of Southern California
Author of An Invented Life and Why Leaders Can't Lead
306 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
9 people are currently reading
148 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 22, 2020
Not sure how I missed this book when it first came out in 1995. Probably because I wasn't following the principles of moral leadership that O'Toole espouses. If I had, I might have been truly successful.
Still not too late to learn.
Still not too late to learn.
April 26, 2012
I find the book is good. The author has done a remarkable work in producing this book.This book could be a helpful to tool for any present and the future leader.
June 23, 2023
The book presents a vision of leadership rooted in moral values, integrity, trust, listening, and a consistent display of respect for all followers. Values-based leadership is not only just, but it is also highly effective. When leaders truly believe that their prime goal is the welfare of their followers, they get results.
The book is grounded in the ideas of moral philosophy. It demonstrates that growth and change are necessary, and they will be effected by individuals who have the courage to lead morally.
The role of a leader is to create followers, and to bring about constructive and necessary change. The book superbly addresses the central question: "Why do leaders fail to do the things necessary to overcome their followers' natural resistance to change?"
This is a practical guidebook for change. It is based on the successes and failures of real leaders, whose experiences are described in this book. It details the reasons why change is resisted. It also gives clear guidelines on how to lead change effectively and morally.
When change fails to occur as planned, the cause is the inappropriate behavior, beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions of would-be leaders. Based solely on this book, a questionnaire for assessing values-based leadership has been developed (Transformational Leadership: Value Based Management for Indian Organizations, Pages 82-100).
The book is grounded in the ideas of moral philosophy. It demonstrates that growth and change are necessary, and they will be effected by individuals who have the courage to lead morally.
The role of a leader is to create followers, and to bring about constructive and necessary change. The book superbly addresses the central question: "Why do leaders fail to do the things necessary to overcome their followers' natural resistance to change?"
This is a practical guidebook for change. It is based on the successes and failures of real leaders, whose experiences are described in this book. It details the reasons why change is resisted. It also gives clear guidelines on how to lead change effectively and morally.
When change fails to occur as planned, the cause is the inappropriate behavior, beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions of would-be leaders. Based solely on this book, a questionnaire for assessing values-based leadership has been developed (Transformational Leadership: Value Based Management for Indian Organizations, Pages 82-100).
Read
May 20, 2021Change needs leadership. To be a leader, you must be willing to change – both yourself and the organization you lead. It’s in this intersection that Leading Change: Overcoming the Ideology of Comfort and Tyranny of Custom shines. It’s a no-holds-barred understanding not just of change and why change efforts fail but also of leadership and how one expresses it in a world where command and control is no longer the rule. Other works like Leadership on the Line include subtitles like “Staying alive through the dangers of change” but fail to weigh in on the broader issues of leadership, at least in a substantive way.
Read more
Read more
May 4, 2013
The aim of this book, as summarized best by the author, is to address three related questions: "1) What are the causes of resistance to change? 2) How can leaders effectively and morally overcome that resistance? 3) Why is the dominant philosophy of leadership, based on contingency theory neither an effective nor a moral guide for people who wish to lead change?". The book addresses these questions through two parts. The first one focuses on the leaders, particularly on values-based leadership (so-called Rushmorean leadership). The second, on the followers with a focus on why people tend to resist change, and strategies to overcome that resistance.
What I particularly enjoyed about this book are the numerous reviews of other classics within these subject areas, which helps the reader further anchor the thoughts being introduced and how they are supported and/or are different from those introduced by the author. A recommended read in the areas of leadership and change!
Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:
1- "In complex, democratic settings, effective leadership will entail the factors and dimensions of vision, trust, listening, authenticity, integrity, hope, and, especially, addressing the true needs of followers."
2- "As Nelson Mandela understood, people will follow only leaders who take them where they want to go. Leaders thus beget followers, and they do so by allowing the followers to take the leader's dream as their own. This can occur only when leaders acknowledge the legitimacy of followers' competing beliefs and diverse values. Hence the overall conclusion from our inquiry: for leadership to be effective, it must be moral, and the sine qua non of morality is respect for people. (This is the concept of leadership we are calling Rushmorean)."
3- "In sum, Rushmorean leadership is not about voting; it is about the democratic value of inclusion. There is nothing oxymoronic, chaotic, or ineffective about leadership based on that moral principle."
4- "What we will find is that people in organizations resist change advocated by their leaders for exactly the same reasons that the leaders of organizations resist change advocated by outsiders."
5- "In general, the successful processes of change initiated...had the following things in common: 1) Change had top-management support. 2) Change built on the unique strengths and values of the corporation. 3) The specifics of change were not imposed from the top. 4) Change was holistic. 5) Change was planned. 6) Changes were made in the guts of the organization. 7) Change was approached from a stakeholder viewpoint. 8) Change became ongoing."
6- "Here's a sample of some of the most popular hypotheses: 1) Homeostasis, 2) Stare decisis. 3) Inertia. 4) Satisfaction. 5) Lack of ripeness. 6) Fear. 7) Self-interest. 8) Lack of self-confidence. 9) Future shock. 10) Futility. 11) Lack of knowledge. 12) Human nature. 13) Cynicism. 14) Perversity. 15) Individual genius versus group mediocrity. 16) Ego. 17) Short-term thinking. 18) Myopia. 19) Sleepwalking. 20) Snow blindness. 21) Collective fantasy. 22) Chauvnistic conditioning. 23) Fallacy of exception. 24) Ideology. 25) Institutionalism. 26) Natura non facit saltum. 27) The rectitude of the powerful. 28) "Change has no constituency.". 29) Determinism. 30) Scientism. 31) Habit. 32) The despotism of custom. 33) Human mindlessness."
7- "...The possession of the skill of overcoming resistance to change is what separates the mass of individuals with good ideas from the few leaders who are able to implement them."
8- "Thus even though progressives may argue that change will not affect the power, prestige, and positions of the haves, the haves understand intuitively that in fact change must undermine their ideology, upset their belief system, and discomfit them greatly."
9- "The current focus of leadership studies in business has a misplaced emphasis on helping haves (corporate leaders) overcome resistance among the have-lesses and have-nots in their organizations. As we see from the foregoing analysis...the far greater problem in overcoming resistance among the haves. In fact, it is progressives inside and outside corporations who face resistance from the people who have the most power to resist: the established leaders."
10- "Conflict, tension, and turmoil are the order of the day - today and tomorrow. Thus, great leaders recognize that there is a never-ending struggle to balance the constant and never-abating demands of those with different objectives...Because it is not possible to ignore, nor to completely satisfy, the conflicting demands of all constituencies, leaders live in a state of perpetual tension. Poor leaders cannot tolerate this discomfiting posture, and they attempt to resolve the tension by either giving in to the demands of those who are most powerful, or by issuing a command that represents their own will. There is another way: the values-based leadership described in this book. At its core, the process of values-based leadership is the creation of moral symmetry among those competing values...Hence, the task is to lead through the process of design, composition, tension, balance, and harmony."
11- "If one wishes to learn this particular art, the first piece that must be put into place is personal acknowledgment that no other form of leadership can be both moral and effective. Once a leader makes that difficult commitment, all the other pieces will eventually fall into place, bit by bit."
What I particularly enjoyed about this book are the numerous reviews of other classics within these subject areas, which helps the reader further anchor the thoughts being introduced and how they are supported and/or are different from those introduced by the author. A recommended read in the areas of leadership and change!
Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:
1- "In complex, democratic settings, effective leadership will entail the factors and dimensions of vision, trust, listening, authenticity, integrity, hope, and, especially, addressing the true needs of followers."
2- "As Nelson Mandela understood, people will follow only leaders who take them where they want to go. Leaders thus beget followers, and they do so by allowing the followers to take the leader's dream as their own. This can occur only when leaders acknowledge the legitimacy of followers' competing beliefs and diverse values. Hence the overall conclusion from our inquiry: for leadership to be effective, it must be moral, and the sine qua non of morality is respect for people. (This is the concept of leadership we are calling Rushmorean)."
3- "In sum, Rushmorean leadership is not about voting; it is about the democratic value of inclusion. There is nothing oxymoronic, chaotic, or ineffective about leadership based on that moral principle."
4- "What we will find is that people in organizations resist change advocated by their leaders for exactly the same reasons that the leaders of organizations resist change advocated by outsiders."
5- "In general, the successful processes of change initiated...had the following things in common: 1) Change had top-management support. 2) Change built on the unique strengths and values of the corporation. 3) The specifics of change were not imposed from the top. 4) Change was holistic. 5) Change was planned. 6) Changes were made in the guts of the organization. 7) Change was approached from a stakeholder viewpoint. 8) Change became ongoing."
6- "Here's a sample of some of the most popular hypotheses: 1) Homeostasis, 2) Stare decisis. 3) Inertia. 4) Satisfaction. 5) Lack of ripeness. 6) Fear. 7) Self-interest. 8) Lack of self-confidence. 9) Future shock. 10) Futility. 11) Lack of knowledge. 12) Human nature. 13) Cynicism. 14) Perversity. 15) Individual genius versus group mediocrity. 16) Ego. 17) Short-term thinking. 18) Myopia. 19) Sleepwalking. 20) Snow blindness. 21) Collective fantasy. 22) Chauvnistic conditioning. 23) Fallacy of exception. 24) Ideology. 25) Institutionalism. 26) Natura non facit saltum. 27) The rectitude of the powerful. 28) "Change has no constituency.". 29) Determinism. 30) Scientism. 31) Habit. 32) The despotism of custom. 33) Human mindlessness."
7- "...The possession of the skill of overcoming resistance to change is what separates the mass of individuals with good ideas from the few leaders who are able to implement them."
8- "Thus even though progressives may argue that change will not affect the power, prestige, and positions of the haves, the haves understand intuitively that in fact change must undermine their ideology, upset their belief system, and discomfit them greatly."
9- "The current focus of leadership studies in business has a misplaced emphasis on helping haves (corporate leaders) overcome resistance among the have-lesses and have-nots in their organizations. As we see from the foregoing analysis...the far greater problem in overcoming resistance among the haves. In fact, it is progressives inside and outside corporations who face resistance from the people who have the most power to resist: the established leaders."
10- "Conflict, tension, and turmoil are the order of the day - today and tomorrow. Thus, great leaders recognize that there is a never-ending struggle to balance the constant and never-abating demands of those with different objectives...Because it is not possible to ignore, nor to completely satisfy, the conflicting demands of all constituencies, leaders live in a state of perpetual tension. Poor leaders cannot tolerate this discomfiting posture, and they attempt to resolve the tension by either giving in to the demands of those who are most powerful, or by issuing a command that represents their own will. There is another way: the values-based leadership described in this book. At its core, the process of values-based leadership is the creation of moral symmetry among those competing values...Hence, the task is to lead through the process of design, composition, tension, balance, and harmony."
11- "If one wishes to learn this particular art, the first piece that must be put into place is personal acknowledgment that no other form of leadership can be both moral and effective. Once a leader makes that difficult commitment, all the other pieces will eventually fall into place, bit by bit."
May 16, 2018
I enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book which discusses values based leadership and sought to disprove the idea of contingency based leadership. The last 3-4 chapters, which were more a history lesson on why and how some leaders, like Robert Owen, were ahead of their time and experienced resistance even from those who would benefit from the change was tougher to get through.
Overall a good book, and some pertinent topics covered here.
Overall a good book, and some pertinent topics covered here.
September 29, 2017
First half of the book is great. Second half is rather boring as O'Toole focuses his arguments on old, specific leaders that are not as relevant to millennial readers today. I also think the argument about resistance to change is over complicated and too long.
I did really enjoy the first half of the book though. Good read for an academic style analysis on trying to guide organizational change.
I did really enjoy the first half of the book though. Good read for an academic style analysis on trying to guide organizational change.
October 12, 2018
Pretty good read for anyone interested in organisational change. Easy to read with lots of examples.
June 20, 2020
One of the best books on the both leadership and leading change ever written. O'Toole's LEADING CHANGE addresses the "why" and the personal and is a great complement to John Kotter's writings on the "how" and the pragmatic. O'Toole was writing in the context of the authoritarian leadership styles that defined the 1980's and 1990's, and he argued that being tough, manipulative, dictatorial, or paternalistic would not yield sustainable growth and results. Rather, he proposed a kind of leadership rooted in moral values and respect for followers. This book was ahead of its time when it was written, and it still is.
Read
August 5, 2011A very good book on leading effective organizational change with integrity.
May 27, 2012
This book could have been half the length. For all the anecdotes that Owen became dottering in his old age, O'Toole's rambling style is just as annoying the latter part of this book.
September 16, 2015
Un planteamiento de liderazgo que hace mucho sentido y una buena reflexión sobre la resistencia a los cambios.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews