April 18, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Leading for Innovation and Organizing for Results
by Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, and Iain Somerville
This book, part of a series by the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, stems from an observation by Mr. Drucker, a management expert, that innovation in an organization “creates a new dimension of performance.”
The book features the perspectives of authors, consultants, and business, government, and nonprofit leaders who have successfully incorporated innovation in their endeavors. The essays focus on four themes: how to lead independent, dedicated, and persistent people who are likely to bring about innovation; creating an environment that encourages innovation; the relationship between leadership and innovation; and experiences with innovation in academe, business, and public service.
One section of the book, for example, explores how a creative atmosphere can be developed and reinforced. Among the contributors to this section is the former mayor of Indianapolis, Stephen Goldsmith, who describes how he changed the city’s government from what he called an inefficient bureaucracy to a structure that involved more citizens. Among other things, he encouraged people to nominate projects that could be handled by contractors instead of government agencies. The goal, he says, was to create competition, which he hoped would lead to innovation in the delivery of government-subsidized services.
In a chapter about leading innovators, Margaret J. Wheatley, president of the Berkana Institute, a DESCRIPTION TK, says that a diverse staff is key to an organization’s ability to innovate and adapt, because “when the environment changes and demands a new solution, we can count on the fact that somebody has already invented or is practicing a new solution,” she says.
Other authors include Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a business administration professor at Harvard Business School; David S. Pottruck, chief executive officer of the Charles Schwab Corporation; and Marshall Goldsmith, a founding director of the Financial Times Knowledge Dialogue, which connects executives with consultants and experts.
Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 1 Wiley Drive, Somerset, N.J. 08875; (800) 225-5945; fax (800) 597-3299; http://www.wiley.com; 299 pages; $27.95; I.S.B.N. 0-7879-5359-8.
