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Bookshelf The Risks of Leadership It isn't easy to be a leader, but few authors outline the hazards quite so forcefully as Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky do in Leadership on the Line. They make it clear that the job comes with a host of potential risks, from losing your popularity to losing your career to—in the case of Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin—losing your life. Leadership seems do not shrink from it, no matter how difficult or distasteful it might be. That many of these leaders fail to achieve their goals is the issue Heifetz and Linsky want to examine. Carefully and precisely, they analyze what went wrong with the leaders' approaches, which group they failed to account for, and how they might have suc- ceeded by taking another tack. One of their key points is the dif- so perilous in their book because their definition of a leader is one who steps forward and directs necessary change, even when the changes fall outside of his purview. Their leaders are people who see a task that must be done and ference between technical leadership and adaptive leadership. A technical leader can address a specific prob- lem—the need to computerize a business, for instance—but unless he also addresses the underlying reasons that have prevented computerization from happening earlier, his plan will fail. He will not have addressed the adaptive challenges of convincing other personnel that this change is a good one. "Without learning new ways—changing attitudes, values, and behaviors—people cannot make 54 BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2002 the adaptive leap necessary to thrive in the new environment," the authors write. Because people and organizations are so resistant to change, they also resist, or do away with, leaders who promote change. "When exercising leadership, you risk getting marginal- ized, diverted, attacked, or seduced," the authors warn, and they give detailed examples of leaders who were derailed by each of these meth- ods. In equally detailed fashion, they explain how leaders can navigate the minefields of change with certain set responses: seeing the whole picture, thinking politically, orchestrating the conflict, sharing some of the respon- sibilities with others, and making sure they manage themselves. Leader ship on the Line is an excellent handbook for the executive who is facing the daunting task of reorgani- zation—or the young manager who wants to step up and prove he can do a difficult job. (Harvard Business School Press, $27.50) Women Who Work Women are different from men— and the way they operate in the workplace is different, too. While much research has been conducted on how the corporate experience varies between genders, Standing at the Crossroads does more than outline the unique problems faced by "high- achieving women." Authors Marian N. Ruderman and Patricia J. Ohlott discuss the chal- lenges these women face as they attempt to achieve their professional and per- sonal goals—and they give concrete information on how women can bring those goals into alignment. environment, women must examine their own priorities and how they can fit into their careers—which sometimes might mean turning down a promotion, sacrificing time with children, or working to develop friendships, depending on the woman's current goal. The authors examine five themes that influence women in the workplace: acting authentically, making connections, becoming an active agent in one's own destiny, achieving wholeness, and achieving self-clarity. Through a succession of inter- To succeed in the corporate views with 61 high-level women who attended The Women's Leadership Program at the Center for Creative Leadership, the authors have come up with guidelines that a woman can use to identify which of these themes are most important to her. If she has been highly successful in her career but feels she is lacking close, intimate connections, how can she find time to develop relationships with family and friends? If she has excellent rela- tionships but is dissatisfied with the pace of her career, how can she learn to act as an agent on her own behalf? Throughout the book, the authors offer several exercises that help read- ers sort through their own values and recognize which ones matter most to them—at the moment—for the authors also emphasize that val- ues can change over time. A wide variety of anecdotes grounded in a range of corporate set- tings will give almost every reader a jolt of familiarity at some point. And that's truly every reader, male or female— because, as Ohlott and Ruderman note, women