We have studied crisis leadership for years. The Boston Marathon bombings brought the issue right to our backyard. We saw many instances of meta-leadership as well as the inevitable lessons to be carried forward to a future event. We wrote about our observations of crisis leaders during the bombing response for HBR.org: It is in difficult times … [Read more...]
Crisis -- a time when many organizations hunker down. They tighten restrictions on what people can say or do. They adopt a bunker mentality. That wasn't the case for FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) in the aftermath of super storm Sandy. FEMA deployed an Innovation Team and gave them just two guiding principles: solve problems and … [Read more...]
This post originally appeared at HBR.org. The rambunctious, topsy-turvy U.S. Presidential campaign took its latest turn on Tuesday night. From jobs to gas prices to world events, central to the arguments advanced by both candidates was the idea of exerting control. Governor Romney, in particular, has criticized President Obama for "leading from … [Read more...]
The editors of the new edition of the McGraw-Hill Homeland Security Handbook have chosen to include a chapter on meta-leadership. The chapter is co-authored by Cambridge Meta-leadership's Dr. Leonard Marcus, Dr. Isaac Ashkenazi, Dr. Barry Dorn, Joseph Henderson, and Eric McNulty. "We are thrilled to be included in the new edition," commented … [Read more...]
Humanitarians increasingly find themselves in conflict-stricken areas making their jobs more trying and dangerous than ever before. Yet the need has never been greater: not only must they tackle the traditional challenges of infectious disease but now must also deal with "first world" maladies such as diabetes and obesity. In this piece … [Read more...]
Much of management is about simplifying complexity—leadership requires embracing it. Spreadsheets, process flow diagrams, slideware, organizational charts: Each of these helps codify a commitment to a worldview that is linear, orderly, and predictable. Relationships are precisely delineated. Plans march step-by-step toward a predetermined end. … [Read more...]