Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing »

Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. is a Professor at Harvard Business School, the Chair of the M.B.A. Elective Curriculum, and the author of Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and Right (ISBN 0875848036, HBS Press, 1997).

Badaracco (business ethics, Harvard) observes that the most effective leaders are rarely public heroes or high-profile champions of causes. His study of "quiet leadership," carried out over four years, presents a series of stories describing quiet leaders at work and drawing practical lessons for executives and aspiring corporate leaders. The cases include a hospital CEO dealing with a case of sexual harassment; a bank president under pressure to remove underperforming but longtime employees; and a high-tech marketing rep who learned that his company was dumping obsolete equipment on its small customers. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Publishers Weekly

When we think of great leaders, it's usually the charismatic, globally influential Churchill, Patton, Jack Welch who spring to mind. But as Harvard Business School professor Badaracco (Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and Right) correctly points out, everyday leadership is not so dramatic, and daily leadership decisions are rarely carried out at the top of an organization. Badaracco focuses here is on helping the middle- and senior-level managers who make the ordinary decisions that ultimately determine an organization's success. As he puts it: "What usually matters are careful, thoughtful, small, practical efforts by people working far from the limelight. In short, quiet leadership is what moves and changes the world." Out of a four-year study of these real-life leaders, Badaracco describes eight strategies for making effective leadership decisions in murky situations where the "right" thing is far from obvious. The strategies range from the commonsensical (truly examine the question at hand; don't ignore corporate politics) to the counterintuitive (don't expect to be wholly altruistic and accept that some of your motives are self-interested; try not to make important decisions as quickly as possible). Badaracco presents each principle with a brief introduction, followed by a case study and summary of the lessons to be learned. The sum is a useful checklist middle-level managers can put to work immediately. (Feb. 11) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.