Chapter 2. The Many Contexts of Leadership

One of the biggest mistakes a leader can make is to fail to understand that what works in the leader’s own organization can be very wrong in other contexts that may be a part of the leader’s wider responsibilities. I have seen leaders who were brilliant in shaping their own organizations fail utterly when they found themselves in leadership roles in very different kinds of organizations.

Why that happens will be our theme in this chapter. I describe a number of different leadership contexts and briefly explore the special challenges facing their leaders. Each of the contexts requires a different approach to leadership, and I suggest what styles work best in each case. I again point out that the list ...

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