Chapter 9. Leading

All too often the effectiveness of an organization's leaders is the default explanation for many of the good and bad things that happen in—and to—organizations. We have a strong need to explain why things happen, and a strong tendency to assign a causal basis to the behavior of top executives. They typically get the credit when a company is successful—and the blame when a company stumbles or fails. [110]

Without question, senior executive leadership is very important to the effectiveness of all organizations. The quality of an organization's CEO, and the quality of those who hold senior executive positions, clearly affects financial performance and the motivation and satisfaction of its talent.

But senior leadership is only one ...

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