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Aligning Organizational Needs with Individual Capabilities

January 20, 2009

From:  Thomas, R. J. (2008).  Crucibles of leadership: how to learn from experience to become a great leader.  Boston:  Harvard Business Press.

"Deming and Galileo capture precisely the double bind that many organizations face.  Learning is compulsory, but it cannot be forced.  Individual leaders need to grow and develop, to deepen their skills and their capabilities, and to extend the range of situations they can address.  And organizations need them to do those things - not because organizations are particularly enlightened, but because great leadership is necessary.

Organizations cannot teach people to lead, though they can and should provide the means through which technique can be learned and practiced.  Organizations cannot compel individuals to strive for eminence, but they can encourage and support aspiring leaders to look inward and find the insights and the distinctive perspective that could make them great.  Organizations should not provoke adversity, but they do need to recognize the transformative potential of crucible experiences and to provide the resources people need to extract insight from them (Thomas, 2008, p. 213-214)."

Crucibles of Leadership is available on loan from the Ohio State University Leadership Center.  To borrow this resource or any other resource, please go to the resource search page http://spectrum.cfaes.ohio-state.edu/

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Created: 2009-01-20, Updated: 2009-09-05