WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT LEADERSHIP FOR A FRACTURED WORLD
Elbegdorj Tsakhiagiin, President of Mongolia “I congratulate Dean Williams for another inspiring book. Given the problems in the world today, this new book is a must read for any leader, change agent, or active citizen. It is filled with real world examples, practical advice, and principles for success. I am honored to have been his student!” ………………………………………………… Patti Bellinger, Executive Director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School "Professor Williams has crafted an elegant, inspiring road map to help us all become global change agents equipped to cross boundaries, break down silos, and mend our fractured societies to solve multi-dimensional challenges. Williams builds his case for change from his own field experiences, including early work with the nomadic Penan tribe, to interviews with a great number of courageous change agent-leaders, including heads of state, all of who learn from their failures as well as from their successes. Williams challenges us to take responsibility for our cultural lens and biases – to strip out the barriers of our own creation. He lays out the myriad ways we humans have created a world which is flawed and fractured, yet he inspires us to make the world a better place, with humor, empathy, creativity, resilience, and most of all, with higher purpose. In today’s world of deep divisions, mired in strife, Williams finds beauty and makes me believe we can and we should heal ourselves." …………………………………………………………….. Limor Benderly, Leadership Continuity Director, AMDOCS “Leadership for a Fractured World is not your typical ‘Leadership manual’, it’s an experience. It touches you right in the heart and it immediately drives you to want to act differently. Being part of a global organization and dealing with the need to constantly lead and adapt to change makes you realize that creativity and change agent leadership is a must in order to cope within this complex environment. This book opens a world of possibilities that stay with you long after you finish reading it.” ………………………………………………………… Doris Sommer Director, Cultural Agents Initiative, Harvard University “Williams does even more here than reflect on his decades of successful leadership, as advisor and teacher. He also shows himself to be canny, generous, and self-reflexive, in ways that make him an admirable model for his growing circle of purposeful readers. Williams links together a variety of lessons for Leadership in a Fractured World. As an architect of bridges over apparently impassable differences, Williams structures his multi-dimensional advice on pillars of every relevant discipline, including the arts and psychology, along with politics and economics. All of these he has studied with the open-mindedness and the humility that he recommends for aspiring leaders. A fractured world urgently needs the kind of passionate and principled leadership that Williams offers, sustained by moments for humor, the pleasures of collective art-forms, and the deep satisfaction of co-creating new accords.” ………………………………………………………… David Chamberlain, Senior Vice President, M&T Bank “Given the deeply held but often conflicting beliefs of people everywhere, Leadership for a Fractured World is necessary reading for each of us attempting to navigate the complex realities confronting organizations and people today. This is a wonderful book.” ………………………………………………………………………………….. Ronald Heifetz Author of Leadership Without Easy Answers King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School “Drawing on deep experience advising presidents and founders of countries, executives in business, government, and nonprofits, teachers and grassroots organizers, and teaching at the Harvard Kennedy School, Dean Williams offers here an enormously practical set of tools and insights for leading across boundaries in our divided yet interdependent world. The wisdom of this book will invaluable and perhaps life-saving: practical, inspiring, and rich with illuminating stories, this is essential reading for leadership today.” ………………………………………………………………………………….. Dr R Balasubramaniam, Founder, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, India & Frank Rhodes Professor, Cornell University, USA "Leadership for a fractured World’ is a practitioner’s delight and Dean Williams has brought out in a simple but yet profound manner what it takes to lead adaptively in a world that is getting increasingly complex and divisive. Building on the spiritual undercurrent of interconnectedness and reciprocity, this book is a must read for all those restless with the status quo and wanting to make the world a better place." ………………………………………………………………………………….. Kishore Mahbubani Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and author of “The Great Convergence: Asia, the West and the Logic of One World.” “Our world is shrinking. Civilisations, once separated by oceans and continents, now co-exist in close proximity. We need leaders who can cross boundaries, build bridges and lead change. Dean Williams has studied leaders all around the world. In this book, he shares his insights from his global learning experience. This is a must-read for all future leaders.” ……………………………………….. Takayoshi Yamakawa, President, Dream Incubator Inc. Japan “Dean Williams’ new framework of leadership using the concept of boundaries provides a deep insight for Japan where silos among industries are impeding innovation.” …………………………………………. Srdja Popovic Executive Director, Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies "This is a great guide for those seeking to understand secret of leadership - and why we need it more than ever in this crazy, dynamic, and fractured world!" ………………………………………… Paul Porteous Executive Director, Centre for Social Leadership, Australia “This is a landmark book for those who are passionate about making a real difference in the world. Full of rich examples of leading change, it provides a no-nonsense approach to understanding and tackling the underlying fractures in organizations and communities. The book is a bridge builder in itself, spanning many disciplines and weaving a compelling narrative that will transform the way you think about leadership. It will stimulate and provoke the new conversations we urgently need to repair our fractured world.” |
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT REAL LEADERSHIP
Lee Kuan Yew,
Prime Minister of Singapore, 1959-1990
"Dean Williams has studied the actions of leaders in diverse fields and abstracted the attributes he classifies as “real leadership”. What I did in a pragmatic and instinctive manner in leading Singapore through its many pre-and post-independence challenges, he has conceptualized as creating “a robust holding environment to contain the disequilibrium” and the orchestration of “adaptive work.” Leaders of any organization whether CEOs, directors or ministers, can benefit from studying the principles he has distilled.” ……………………………………………… Mary Robinson, President of Ireland, 1990-1997; and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 1997-2002 “Individuals can make a difference, particularly if they are willing to exercise good leadership. In part this may be instinctive, but much of it can be learned. I welcome the broad and refreshing approach Dean Williams adopts in "Real Leadership," which should help to foster new leadership." ……………………………………………… Elbegdorj Tsakhiagiin, Prime Minister of Mongolia 2004-2006, President 2009-present “Dean Williams is my teacher in leadership. His book is a brilliant achievement – challenging, energizing, a truly path-breaking study of the challenges the leaders face, richly documented with a number examples taken from real practice, from the sights and sounds of everyday life. Real Leadership will have definitely a transforming effect on everyone – ranging from leaders of tiny social groups, tribes, and families to the biggest corporations, international institutions, and nations. Surprisingly all of them face similar problems and challenges accurately depicted in this book. I believe this is the most significant work of scholarship dealing with the changing role of leadership at any level. The book answers many of toughest issues which my country faces today.” ……………………………………………… Marshall Carter, Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange “Dean Williams has thoroughly encapsulated the art and practice of responsible leadership. This is not just another leadership book---but a well-developed set of theories and best practices, reinforced thru excellent historical examples and cases, that strengthens leaders at all levels.” ……………………………………………… Warren Bennis, University Professor, University of Southern California, and author of On Becoming a Leader “A wise and capacious book on the real challenges of leadership. Williams writes with a rare and unique global perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot.” ……………………………………………… David Gergen CNN political analyst, former adviser to five presidents, and Director of the Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School “In this fresh, provocative book Dean Williams sets forth a sweeping and different view of real leadership. He brings to these pages a rich accumulation of insights. Whether or not you agree with him, this book deserves your close attention.” |