Power and influence

The position, not the person, often determines whether a manager has power.

Skills leaders need today from the professor who wrote the book on leadership.

Set them - and your executives - up for success.

Leadership transitions go awry with alarming frequency, often the result of an emotionally charged power struggle between the CEO and his would-be heir. Four practices, however, can help successors defuse the crisis—and make it to the top.

When an executive comes from the private sector to a nonprofit, the usual understanding is that he or she is there to inject some business discipline. When I arrived at the American Red Cross, there were certainly problems to be tackled. The books were closed on FY08 just six days after I started, with a […]

When a crisis forces outside directors to navigate major changes, investors and directors must adopt new roles. The largest such case to date provides some useful lessons. The Royal Dutch/Shell Group was a 60/40 joint venture between Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Transport and Trading. It was run by a five-person committee of managing directors […]

Just a few days ago James Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, was riding high. Not only did he pick up Bear Stearns in what amounted to a fire sale – shares that only a year ago fetched $159 a piece were going for $2 – he was heralded for doing so. Seen as a savior, […]

Congratulations—you’ve been asked to lead a change initiative! But there’s a catch—its success hinges on the cooperation of several people across your organization over whom you have no formal authority. If you’re like most managers, you’re facing this sort of challenge more often these days because of flatter management structures, outsourcing, and virtual teams. For […]

What leaders do while they are trying to get power is not necessarily what they do after they have it. In the case of U.S. president Lyndon Johnson, the difference reveals both his genius and his shortcomings.

Why cartoons are so memorable.

Tales of great strategies derailed by poor execution are all too common. That's because some organizations are designed to fail. For a company to achieve...

You think life is tough? Imagine you were Jacques Rogge. Imagine you were president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and had to rest your head last night fearing the “Journey of Harmony” was going to explode yet again, this time on the streets of San Francisco. The Journey of Harmony is the moniker that […]

Do daughters influence the business decisions of S&P 500 leaders? New research suggests that the answer is yes.

Find ways to work with influential people in your organization.

by Madeleine Homan

In the World According to Twitter, giving away access to information rewards the giver by building followers. The more followers, the more information comes to the giver to distribute, which in turn builds more followers. The process cannot be commanded or controlled; followers opt in and out as they choose. The results are transparent and […]

You may have heard of "evidence-based medicine," the notion that medical decisions should be based on clinical research and evidence. What scares me about...

Researchers found that it supersedes charisma, influence, power, personality, attractiveness, and genius.

They’re natural, but you don’t have to be captive to them.

It might seem impossible to narrow the vast field of leadership down to a few must-read titles. But in this article, one scholar tackles the task, culling the essential works from five centuries of leadership literature.