The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World

by Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow

We live in a time of danger and opportunity. Individuals, organizations, communities and countries must continuously adapt to new realities to simply survive. Wanting more, wanting to thrive even under constantly shifting and often perilous conditions, people in all sectors are called upon to lead with the courage and skill to challenge the status quo, deploy themselves with agility, and mobilize others to step into the unknown.

Ron Heifetz first mapped a groundbreaking theory of leadership in the seminal book, Leadership Without Easy Answers. Followed by the bestselling Leadership on the Line, he and long-time Harvard colleague Marty Linsky offered a compelling set of arguments and stories to show how to lead and stay alive through the dangers of change.

Now Heifetz and Linsky, joined by Alexander Grashow, have distilled the learning from their combined sixty-plus years of leadership consulting, teaching and training around the globe into a practical hands-on guide to making your leadership both more effective and more powerful.

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership will help you think and execute amidst profoundly changing complexity. With its comprehensive and systemic approach to assessing candidly the situation and yourself, and then taking action, its wisdom and advice are drawn also from the experiences of people like you, committed to advancing what you care about most.

The book is anchored in the framework of Adaptive Leadership, but goes beyond the theory to provide a practical set of stories, diagrams, techniques, and activities that will help you both assess and address the toughest challenges that lie ahead. Dozens of tools and tactics are presented in an exciting, clear, and reader-friendly design.

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership is your handbook to meeting the challenges of leadership in a complex and rapidly changing world.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Management, Education, Professional Development, Grad School

328 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 14, 2009

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard to know what to say about this book. I took on a new position in January, and the other new assistant director and I have been reading this (along with the library director), periodically discussing it at our meetings. It has been great for that, but I haven't been ready to hear some of the ideas, and some of them aren't quite appropriate. This is a book I will keep, and consult from time to time.

The only chapter I really balked at was the "Inspire" chapter. I'm just not sure every person needs to try to be inspiring, or if it can be manufactured using the methods suggested. (Really? Speak more musically, and bam! inspiration? Huh.) I also laughed at the chapter that told me to seek delight from my spouse, so I wouldn't seek it at work. Hahaha. (I get what the author was trying to say, but it took him a while.)

I did get a lot out of it, particularly the sections that served to remind me that it is okay to fail, that people don't always have to like you, and that you have to let go of the past.

"When you make a distinction between the roles you play and yourself, you gain the emotional strength to ignore personal attacks your opponents hope will stymie your initiative. People make attacks personal specifically to divert you from your message. The next time someone tells you that you're 'too aggressive' or 'uncaring' when you're representing a difficult point of view or change initiative, remind yourself that you (as a person) are not your role (as someone seeking to lead change). Though a change may feel personal (and be intended as personal), it is not a statement about your character or your worth as a human being. It is a strategy and an attempt to manipulate you." (chapter 16)

[Elissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I was looking for more of an update and deeper dive into the content of "Leadership On the Line." instead it felt like they pulled back from the core of the individual in the larger system and lost the attention to purpose and values or and their quality of analysis. Less from the heart and the gut, more from the head. Still quite useful though.

[Fred Leland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book this past year as I was part of a steering committee put together to develop emergency first responders. Cops responding to crisis to be specific who need to be flexible of thought. I have taught and even written on adaptability myself but this book had a great way of explaining what adaptability was and how to implement it in an organization. it took into account things I had experienced first hand such as the resistance to the idea of developing adaptable cultures capable of dealing with both technical problems and adaptive challenges. The whole book is packed full of great information but Chapter 3 hit me straight across the brow "Before You Begin: DON'T DO IT ALONE! A mistake I made first hand in my own organization as I went it alone. And meant nothing but a lot of resistance from above, who felt the ideas we a waist of time. If you are trying to develop an organizational culture that thrives and continually learns and improves this book will give you the ideas and tools to do just that. I am glad I found this book, wish I found it early as perhaps I would have less bumps and bruises and few more hairs. I highly recommend it.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I pretty gave up on the leadership genre of books several years back. I've picked up a few having to do with leadership in the missional church in recent years but found those to basically be more of the same. So,"The Practice of Adaptive Leadership," which was assigned reading for a class, was not a book I would have otherwise picked up to read. There is a lesson to be learned somewhere in there as this might be the best thing I've ever read on Leadership. The authors view leadership as the necessary adaptive response to the challenges presented over time to any systematic effort towards a goal. In their understanding, there are two core processes involved; diagnosis and action, both of which must be understood and carried out within the system and by the leader. This book is no mere "how to" of leadership or leadership theory. There is a great deal of practical wisdom looking at the organization as a system and for the individual leader. There is some good straightforward consideration given to the politics involved in leadership while not reducing leadership to a political exercise. Recommended.

[Paul Laughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to learn the real practice of Adaptive Leadership

Plenty of new terms for leadership have become fashionable while considering leading through recent crises, one with the most academic grounding is Adaptive Leadership.

Inside & outside the data leader community, I began hearing more leaders & experts reference this term. It was even raised during a coaching supervision session, so I decided to learn what it really means & its relevance to data leaders.

Its origins are as a practical leadership model developed at Harvard University by Professors Ronald Heifetz & Martin Linsky. As well as their academic work they have authored a number of books to help leaders master this approach, the latest of which is “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership“. It is designed as a field guide focussed on practical application rather than theory & is so relevant for all types of leaders today.

In this post, I will outline what you’ll find in this book & heartily recommend it for the leadership development of all types of leaders today. That certainly includes data, analytics & insight leaders who can too easily mistake adaptive challenges for technical ones & so take an approach that fails.

Defining Adaptive Leadership
Before going any further, it would help for me to define this buzzword. Part One of this book provides a grounding in the theory of Adaptive Leadership & includes this handy definition:

“Adaptive leadership is the practice of mobilising people to tackle tough challenges and thrive.”

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Heifetz, Grashow & Linksky (2009)
The authors go on to suggest identify 6 aspects of this (using nature biological analogies):

Adaptive leadership is specifically about change that enables the capacity to thrive.
Successful adaptive changes build on the past rather than jettison it.
Organisational adaptation occurs through experimentation.
Adaptation relies on diversity.
New adaptations significantly displace, deregulate & rearrange some old DNA (culture).
Adaptation takes time.
I’m sure you can see the relevance to our current times. Both in the themes highlighted above & the range of threats facing today’s businesses (from global to local, societal to technological). In these first few chapters, the authors also help us distinguish the more familiar technical challenges from adaptive ones.

Kind of challenge Problem definition Solution Locus of work
Technical Clear Clear Authority
Technical & Adaptive Clear Requires learning Authority & Stakeholders
Adaptive Requires learning Requires learning Stakeholders
The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Heifetz, Grashow & Linksky (2009)
The rest of this great book goes on to help leaders recognise the skills they need to develop to successfully learn in such circumstances & navigate the politics of those needed stakeholders. We have all heard about the need for organisations to change, even to transform if they are to survive (let alone thrive) in the future of commerce, work & society. Too often the focus has been on the need for technical changes (data, digital, AI – choose your prefix to the word transformation). However, those actually leading such projects always attest to the greatest challenges being the people side of change. Cultural/People change requires a wider set of skills than is normally acknowledged. This book brings to life both the mindset & skills needed within a framework model.

The four phases that structure this book
1) Diagnose the System
Part two of this book is a plea to pause and take time to diagnose. Rather than rushing into action, like a good medical doctor, the diagnosis should come before treatment. All too often leaders, perhaps especially experienced data or analytics leaders, can be quick to assume they understand the problem & rush into working on a solution. This section of the book reminds us how nuanced reality can be & what we need to learn to notice.

Highlights include help with escaping the allure of status quo thinking & spotting cultural norms in things like folklore, rituals, group norms & meeting protocols. Then the authors help you distinguish between technical & adaptive challenges in practice. The includes the helpful description of 4 adaptive challenge archetypes:

Gap between espoused values & behaviour
Competing communications
Speaking the unspeakable
Work avoidance
Chapter 6 helps readers diagnose the political landscape in their organisation. This is so helpful & well worth reading for all those with responsibility for stakeholder management. Throughout this book, the wisdom with which it engages with navigating the messy reality of office politics is one of its greatest benefits. A useful analogy of a vegetable stew (complete with diagram) is used to help you think about each stakeholders factions, constituencies & loyalties. To diagnose the politics at work, adaptive leaders need to:

Uncover the values driving stakeholder behaviour
Acknowledge stakeholders multiple loyalties
Name the losses at risk for each person
Realise hidden alliances to improve your influence
2) Mobilise the System
In part three, we move to action. Making interpretations based on your above diagnosis & designing effective interventions to achieve adaptive change. A seven-step process will really help leaders think through how to approach this stage. But, once again, the greatest strength of this part of the book is its thinking on the messy human reality of needing to act politically, orchestrate conflict & build an adaptive culture.

Advice on acting politically mobilises the understanding of different/overlapping constituencies and loyalties identified during your diagnosis. Planning for this approach includes advice on strengthening your relationships, scoring some early wins, addressing some interests that are unconnected with the adaptive challenge & selling small pieces of your idea. A helpful worksheet is provided to help leaders identify & plan their tactics for 5 groups of stakeholders (allies, opponents, senior authorities, casualties & dissenters).

The charter on orchestrating conflict will be challenging for some leaders. Few of us enjoy conflict, but the writers explain why a willingness to create it & raise the heat up to a productive level is vital. Coaches will be familiar with the language of ‘holding the disequilibrium‘ rather than being tempted to calm others or offer solutions yourself. Practical advice is offered for using off-site events & other communication tools. They identify 7 steps to help you orchestrate productive conflict:

Prepare
Establish ground rules
Get each view on the table (your list of allies, opponents et al, as listed above)
Orchestrate conflict (starkly, but evenhandedly, articulate competing claims)
Encouraging accepting & managing losses
Generate and commit to experiments
Institute peer leadership coaching
3) See yourself as a System
Part four requires more introspection and reflection by leaders. It is a time, as advocated by a Psychosynthesis approach, to recognise your own multiple subpersonalities and how these can help you. To help you engage with the political landscape, the authors help you identify your multiple loyalties (including ancestors, aspects of identity & your communities beyond work). Then be able to intentionally choose how you show up & prioritise your loyalties & losses you can bear.

A further chapter helps you consider your ‘tuning‘. Not just whether you are highly strung, but being aware of your own triggers, hungers & through greater awareness reducing your reactivity. There is also a helpful chapter on broadening your ‘bandwidth‘ (not just avoiding overwork but understanding your own tolerance for change & conflict). Following chapters guide leaders on how to understand their multiple roles & articulate their motivating purpose (from many potential purposes).

4) Deploy yourself
The final part of this book focuses on taking personal action to achieve change. In many ways, this is a mirror of the ‘Mobilising the System’ section above. Just as that responded appropriately to a careful diagnosis, this final section responds to everything that has been learnt above (especially greater self-knowledge). It helps leaders recognise that they are not impartial observers but rather key agents of change through the way that they lead & interact with others. Leadership advice in this section includes how to:

Stay connected to your purposes
Engage courageously (including focussing on what is being conserved, not just what is new)
Inspire people (including listening from the heart & use of silence)
Run experiments (data & analytics leaders will love this section, though it has wider application)
As a mentor to a number of successful data leaders, I was pleased to read their final chapter entitled “Thrive”. It rightly identifies the need for support & self-care for leaders, if they are to achieve thriving adaptation in the organisation. The authors highlight a number of elements that will sustain leaders & help them to both personally thrive & role model for others what is healthy:

Grow your personal support network
Find Confidants
Satisfy your hungers outside of work
Anchor yourself in multiple communities
Create a personal holding environment (a sanctuary)
Renew yourself (a balanced portfolio, find daily satisfaction)
Be coolly realistic & unwaveringly optimistic (both at the same time)
All this is good leadership advice that I have seen help my mentoring clients.

How it helps you practice adaptive leadership
This book is co-authored by Alexander Grashow (who shares an academic background in leadership with Heifetz & Linsky but also has experience of training & consulting globally). It is the hands-on experience with helping all types of organisations (from all 3 authors) that shines through & makes this book so helpful.

In each chapter the authors share plenty of examples both from their personal lives & their consulting experience. There are anecdotes from public bodies, private businesses of all sizes & not for profit organisations around the world. The layout of each chapter also helps (you can tell these authors are experienced educators). As well as the helpful 5 part structure that I have laid out above, each part has a short overview introduction. Then within each part the structure of chapters & sections is explained with overviews & frameworks. So, the reader always understands where there are in the structure of their argument. Other useful elements of each chapter are:

Regular examples from their hands-on experience in a wide range of organisations.
“On the balcony” exercises – to prompt leaders to step back & see the bigger picture..
“On the practice field” exercises – to try using with your team.
Case studies in grey boxes (short stories that bring principles or issues to life).
How well are you addressing adaptive challenges?
I hope that book review was helpful and has inspired you to learn about Adaptive Leadership & strengthen your adaptation skills. What sounded most relevant to your day-to-day or strategic challenges?

What else helps you address what are adaptive rather than technical challenges? What helps you lead change that requires more than data science or analytics? What challenges do you face that require cultural & people change in your organisation? I encourage you to think about this as no data transformations will be achieved as purely technical exercises.

[Sarah Cupitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Change is inevitable, but leading change effectively is tough. How do you manage the challenges of clashing perspectives, etc. (blah blah) Book is a lil repetitive and disorganised.

Main Takeaways:
- a framework to mobilise people in tackling tough challenges
- adaptive leaders engage people across an organization to form a culture of flexibility and embracing change
- adaptive leaders engage people across an organization to form a culture of flexibility and embracing change
- crucial for longevity and success in our rapidly changing world

More notes:
- The challenge in this endeavor is gaining perspective. To fully comprehend how a system evolves, one must step back, observing from a distance to identify the interconnections and subtle shifts. Organizations develop a status quo characterized by deeply rooted structures, culture, and habitual practices. Often, these elements that once propelled success can become the very barriers to adaptability in new circumstances.
- At its core, a technical problem is one that can be addressed using existing solutions and expertise. It's akin to fixing a broken machine with a known set of tools. Leaders with authority often tackle these issues using established methods and expertise.
- Systems require a broad perspective for adaptability. Differentiating between technical problems and deeper adaptive challenges is vital. Additionally, comprehending stakeholder roles, relationships, and external commitments shapes effective leadership. The interplay of these elements drives successful adaptive leadership.

Good quotes:
- “Your behavior reflects your actual purposes.”
- “What people resist is not change per se, but loss.”
- “If you find what you do each day seems to have no link to any higher purpose, you probably want to rethink what you're doing.”
- “Yesterday's adaptations are today's routines.”
- “You know the adage “People resist change.” It is not really true. People are not stupid. People love change when they know it is a good thing. No one gives back a winning lottery ticket. What people resist is not change per se, but loss. When change involves real or potential loss, people hold on to what they have and resist the change.”
- “The most common leadership failure stems from trying to apply technical solutions to adaptive challenges.”

[Erika RS · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ideas in this book are critical for anyone engaging in organizational change in the face of complex change. What keeps it from 5 stars is that, as a book, it feels more repetitive and disorganized than it needs to be which makes it harder to focus on the key points.

Adaptive leadership is leadership in the face of complex (in the Cynefin sense) organizational problems. Adaptive problems generally require learning, risk taking, and figuring out what parts of past culture and procedure to keep and which to get rid of because it is no longer serving the organization. Expertise is of little use when solving adaptive problems.

This book is meant to provide practical ideas and exercises to help leaders grow in their ability to handle adaptive problems. It contains a lot of material, so I will try to outline just the key topics. There's a lot in the details. The exercises, in particular, are one of the most valuable parts of this book. Overall, this is worth a deeper read if you need to engage in complex organizational change.

There is a strong emphasis on diagnosis before action and understanding the many systems you and the organization have embedded in them. Since adaptive problems cannot rely on existing technical expertise, understanding the shape of things is critical to trying the right things. Diagnosis is critical because the status quo is tenacious, and changing it often has deeper structural implications than the initial surface problem may indicate.

We must distinguish technical challenges from adaptive challenges. Technical challenges can be broken down and solved incrementally. They often are best addressed using existing expertise. They are, in the Cynefin sense, complicated. Adaptive problems are interconnected. Existing technical solutions are often part of the problem. These problems are less about the surface shape of the problem and often are rooted in long standing values, beliefs, and loyalties. They are fundamentally human problems, and solutions must be centered on changing hearts and minds.

We must characterize the nature of adaptive leadership. Many leaders get to the positions they are in because they have a proven track record of solving problems. They are often rewarded for continuing to succeed in the same way (even if that success was boundary pushing the first time). Being an adaptive leader requires thoughtfully pushing at the boundaries of your influence and authority. This is because solutions to the complex problems of today are not to be found in the techniques and authorizations of the past. But they cannot just jump beyond the scope of their authority. Solving an adaptive challenge requires dancing on the edge between existing authority and leadership which pushes beyond that authority.

This is because solving adaptive problems often requires making people uncomfortable. An adaptive leader needs to be willing to raise the issues that others are unwilling to speak about. They need to be willing to push people into the zone of productive disequilibrium. This is the zone where they feel uncomfortable enough that they are motivated to take action but not so uncomfortable that they give up. Orchestrating productive conflict is hard. A leader needs to prepare by listening and learning, establishing ground rules for a safe conversation, making sure all views are heard, and keeping the uncomfortable issues on the table.

Leading in complex situations is an inherently political activity. This does not mean that it's about gaining and keeping power. Rather, it's about the more expansive sense of politics: the creation of coalitions to meet a common goal, across sometimes uncomfortable boundaries. An adaptive leader needs partners who are willing to support them, even when it is risky.You need to understand who will be affected by change. What will they gain? What will they lose? How likely are they to care? Acting politically also means being aware of the bounds of both formal and informal authority and working to expand that authority in directions that will aid future interventions.

Complementing all of this is the need to be observant. The metaphor used throughout the book is getting off of the dance floor and up on the balcony. Problems need to be observed and interpreted in multiple ways. These multiple interpretations open up the door to pursuing iterative experiments. Leaders need to understand that their interpretation is not the only one. They need to understand the interpretations of others, both to test for weaknesses in their own interpretations and to understand how to persuade others. Leaders also need to be able to lead others to new interpretations. Just as important as the interpretations themselves is growing the organization's ability to hold multiple, conflicting interpretations at once.

Leaders should see themselves as complex systems that interact with the organizational systems they are embedded in. Leaders have many loyalties and many roles they play, both professional and personal. Sometimes these can hold a leader back from doing what they need to. Each person is affected by the world around them in different ways. Leaders need to understand how they typically react so they can make sure those reactions don't become liabilities. Leaders need to intentionally stretch their capabilities.

Solving adaptive problems is hard. Progress will feel stymied by distractions, foot dragging, and failures. Adaptive leadership carries a real risk of failure with negative consequences on your role in an organization. Thus, a leader needs to make sure that they are working towards a purpose that they believe in strongly enough to handle the despair and stomach the risk. They need to stay connected to this purpose and let go of the parts of their past that limit their ability to achieve this purpose. All this is tiring, so leaders also need to make sure to take care of themselves by having sources of meaning and connection outside of the organization they are trying to change.

They also need to be able to inspire others when the going gets tough. Inspiration isn't about having a particular demeanor or saying the right words. Insted, it's about listening closely to the audience with curiosity and compassion so that the leader understand where they are in their journey. Then, when this has been absorbed, a leader needs to speak from their heart -- from their values, beliefs, and emotions -- so that they connect with the values, beliefs, and emotions of others.

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realistic treatment of what to expect when being a part of change in an organization. Quotes and illustrations are good, but reviewing a couple of months later I can't remember any jaw-dropping or eye-opening insights. I gave it four stars at the time, so some of its influence must fade after a little while. This is why I read LITERATURE and remain open to practical, timely implications of it rather than boiled-down how-to material.

[Zach · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would be amazing if it went to the depth of inquiry necessary. You read a section, and are left just wanting more, but not in a good way like a solid novel. Instead, you being to understand the topic the authors are getting at, and are ready for more, and the chapter ends. Very unexpected, and not very useful.

[Oko Khosbayar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Change doesn't come easily. In order to change people around you, your community and the world, you should adapt the leadership. I really enjoyed reading it and the message I got is that you have to have that willing to be changed.
I think I'll reread when I become a part of any organization.

[Danielle Baranowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. If you've never, ever read a book about leadership, this might be interesting, but it's mostly repetition of things that have been said better elsewhere. tl;dr: be flexible, build relationships, keep learning, question everything.

[Shane Orr · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this book, but there was a lot more "what" than "how" and much of the "what" was intuitive.

[Eli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure where the 'hands on' part was... Maybe i missed it, but i didn't find anything valuable in the first 50 pages.

[Brad Layland · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership is one of those rare leadership books that doesn’t just give you tools—it quietly changes how you see yourself, your organization, and the people you lead.

This is not a hype-driven leadership book. It’s slower. Deeper. More demanding. And far more honest.

What struck me most is how clearly the authors distinguish between technical problems (those with known solutions) and adaptive challenges—the ones that require people to change, not just systems or strategies. Most leadership failures, they argue, happen when we treat adaptive challenges like technical ones. That insight alone is worth the price of the book.

One of the most helpful metaphors is learning to get “off the dance floor and onto the balcony.” Leaders must participate fully in the work and periodically step back to observe patterns, loyalties, emotions, and resistance. Leadership, in this framing, is less about control and more about interpretation.

The sections on loyalties were especially powerful. We are constantly pulled by competing commitments—to colleagues, community, ancestors, institutions—and adaptive leadership requires naming those tensions honestly. Change often feels like betrayal, even when it’s necessary. This book doesn’t minimize that cost; it helps you face it.

I also loved the emphasis on experimentation. Real adaptation doesn’t come from grand plans—it comes from small, imperfect experiments with high learning value. Progress requires risk, and risk always brings loss. Leaders who pretend otherwise eventually lose trust.

Another standout theme is culture. Culture isn’t what’s written down; it’s what gets rewarded, tolerated, or quietly discouraged. The book offers practical ways to surface unspoken norms and name the forces shaping behavior—something every organization thinks it understands but rarely does.

Finally, the authors remind us that leadership is dangerous. The word “leader,” they note, comes from a root meaning “the one who carries the flag into battle”—often the first to die. That’s sobering, and true. Adaptive leadership requires courage, patience, restraint, and a willingness to absorb heat on behalf of others.

This is a book I’ll return to again and again—not because it’s easy, but because it’s faithful to reality.

Highly recommended for anyone leading through change, tension, or uncertainty—which, of course, is all of us.

[Jung · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adaptive Leadership offers a compelling framework for navigating the complexities of change, providing invaluable tools and tactics to guide organizations through transformative challenges. Recognizing the inevitability of change, the book emphasizes the importance of adaptive leadership in managing the inherent difficulties that arise when facing shifting perspectives and equilibrium.

At the core of adaptive leadership is the ability to diagnose the system, a skill essential for understanding the intricate workings of an organization. By stepping back and observing from a distance, leaders gain a holistic perspective that allows them to identify deep-rooted structures, cultural norms, and habitual practices. The book highlights the role of incentives and cultural elements in shaping behavior, urging leaders to discern these patterns to leverage them for adaptability.

Further, the distinction between technical and adaptive challenges is a crucial concept in the adaptive leadership model. While technical problems have established solutions, adaptive challenges demand internal transformations, requiring leaders to peel back layers and address deeper organizational issues. This distinction is vital for effective problem-solving and leadership efforts.

The political landscape within an organization is another critical aspect explored in the book. Understanding the roles and relationships of stakeholders is paramount, as their interests, motivations, and alliances shape the trajectory of adaptive change. By navigating the intricate dynamics of stakeholder involvement, leaders can align change initiatives with fundamental values, fostering collaboration and unity.

In essence, the book underscores that successful adaptive leadership is a comprehensive endeavor that involves understanding systems, differentiating between technical and adaptive challenges, and navigating the intricate political landscape. These interconnected elements form the backbone of adaptive leadership, empowering leaders to guide their organizations through transformative change and thrive in an ever-evolving world.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could be helpful to individuals trying to get ahead in various organizations. I am skeptical that it's useful for "changing the world" in a good way. The big problem I see in organizations is not a lack of opinions, but rather a failure to prioritize objective evidence and relevant outcomes.

Alternatives:
How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between
Thinking In Systems: A Primer

[Max Tachis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was semi-required reading for my team in the workplace. The Silicon Valley work environment is changing plenty fast as it is, but with COVID-19 and stronger discussions around race, safety, and equity there's simply no time to NOT facilitate an adaptive workplace. This book provides a lot of actionable solutions to issues facing modern employment and collaborative team-building. It benefits from a straight read-through, but will probably continue to serve my team and I better in the future as a strategic textbook that can be referenced for any given situation.

The biggest surprise was how applicable most of these concepts are to enriching your relationships and community impact outside the workplace. Facets of adaptive leadership like voicing "elephants in the room" regularly, questioning the status quo, and being okay with being uncomfortable are major topics of discussion worldwide right now. In fact, they're IMPERATIVE to the future of our society.

Not just a great guide for strengthening your output at work, but also for navigating (and helping others navigate) the progress of an ever-changing world.

[Synthia Salomon · Rating 3 out of 5]

BOOK OF THE DAY

Become an adaptive leader.

Change is inevitable, but leading change effectively is tough. How do you manage the challenges of clashing perspectives and shifting equilibrium? 

That’s where adaptive leadership comes in. It’s a framework to mobilize people in tackling tough challenges and thriving amidst difficult change. Instead of enforcing a top-down fix to perceived problems, adaptive leaders engage people across an organization to form a culture of flexibility and embracing change.

This book emonstrates how leaders can mobilize people to tackle tough challenges and thrive in the face of harsh realities that demand new skills and responses. It provides a practical framework for diagnosing situations, distinguishing between technical problems and adaptive challenges, and avoiding common leadership pitfalls that come with over-dependence on authority

[Alyssa Foll · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best leadership book that I have read. "The Practice of Adaptive Leadership" is about leading change, but how to do so in leading others through loss and how to lead yourself. It's one of the first leadership books that I have come across that made sense, intuitively, to me.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is leading in their organizations, schools, churches, or communities.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not saying this was a fun book to read, it is definitely a textbook and not something I would have read if it weren't required for one of my grad classes. But, as far as textbooks about leadership go, it was useful and I could really see myself putting the strategies into practice in my work and community life. It is definitely a book I would recommend for anyone wishing to take on more of a leadership role in any facet of their life, especially if there are major changes afoot.

[Marcy · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I hadn’t been assigned this book for school I would have stopped reading it because although I think the authors are probably quite good consultants, they seem to think they are also professional psychologists and politicians and sociologists and their attempt to do too much waters down the real message when they venture out of their expertise and had they not strayed, this would have been a better HBR article.

[Imad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended book. In this time of VUCA, we need leaders with growth and experimental mindset who does not accept the status quo. Many of the other inherited traits like open minded, insperational, empowering,...etc. are still needed to be demonstrated by a modern leader. A must read for everyone, including those of us who lived the autority leadership for long.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read on recommendation from a mentor. Very practical and well-written. The audible version does not include an accompanying PDF which would have been very helpful for some of the worksheets and the narrator was a little strange. Overall though? A great read, particularly if you have a specific challenge in mind.

[Abdulfattah Popoola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, the first chapters were fluffy but I really liked the last chapters that focused on personal growth and pushing the limits of one’s capabilities, reading the room for supporters and detractors, taking intelligent risks, building a support network and more.

I hope to reread and take the exercises.

[Rebecca Fenerty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, good leadership resource. Very specific tools and techniques related to adaptive challenges within the workplace. Not an introductory resource for new leaders necessarily, but excellent for someone who is getting ready to tackle a major change/shift within an organization.

[Alex Bergland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Required reading for my masters class.

Although not a strictly education book, the concepts apply to education well and I really liked a lot of the concepts that were talked about in this book. It opened my mind to some new ways of doing things.

[Superkermit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book on leadership, because it brings everything back to yourself. Practical insights and lessons on how to influence, reframe, reposition, mobilize, andsoforth, to further your cause and stay connected to your purpose.

[Sincerely Mai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just read the whole book in one sitting. So reliable and so supportive in time of pandemic. This book is what I am thristing for during Covid-19 period which needed to implement adaptive leadership in all setting.

[Madison Huffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has good takeaways, but nothing monumental. I also think there are much better leadership books out there that will engage the audience much better. The only time I would recommend it moving forward is for a discussion course where there will be questions, answers, etc.

[Mihkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book came to me in a wonderfully perfect moment. Full of approaches, questions (to ask oneself), and usable action items about leadership in general, but especially about leadership in novel or changing environments.