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Leadership lessons from Mikhail Gorbachev
Author(s) -
Bolman Lee G.,
Deal Terrence E.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
human resource development quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.756
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1532-1096
pISSN - 1044-8004
DOI - 10.1002/hrdq.3920030103
Subject(s) - patience , collective leadership , context (archaeology) , action (physics) , process (computing) , control (management) , public relations , sociology , psychology , management , social psychology , epistemology , political science , law , computer science , philosophy , economics , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , china , biology , operating system
The experience of Mikhail Gorbachev provides important lessons for leaders in the 1990s. Leadership is a process of mutual influence that produces collective action in the service of shared or compatible goals and values, usually in a context of conflict and uncertainty. The job of the leader is not to control the tides but to know where they are going and to move with them. Leaders need to combine core values with elastic strategies; expect conflict, encourage its expression, and create arenas to confront it openly; and recognize the paradox of success: the more you succeed, the more you will be surprised and the likelier it is that events will outrun you. Leaders need the patience to recognize that change will take much longer than they hope and that things usually get worse before they get better. They need to be able to think complexly and to use multiple perspectives.