Open Leadership

Grant’s book, incorporating several decades of social-science research on reciprocity, divides the world into three categories: givers, matchers and takers. Givers give without expectation of immediate gain; they never seem too busy to help, share credit actively and mentor generously. Matchers go through life with a master chit list in mind, giving when they can see how they will get something of equal value back and to people who they think can help them. And takers seek to come out ahead in every exchange; they manage up and are defensive about their turf. Most people surveyed fall into the matcher category — but givers, Grant says, are overrepresented at both ends of the spectrum of success: they are the doormats who go nowhere or burn out, and they are the stars whose giving motivates them or distinguishes them as leaders. Much of Grant’s book sets out to establish the difference between the givers who are exploited and those who end up as models of achievement. The most successful givers, Grant explains, are those who rate high in concern for others but also in self-interest. And they are strategic in their giving — they give to other givers and matchers, so that their work has the maximum desired effect; they are cautious about giving to takers; they give in ways that reinforce their social ties; and they consolidate their giving into chunks, so that the impact is intense enough to be gratifying.

Organizational social-media literacy is fast becoming a source of competitive advantage. Learn, through the lens of executives at General Electric, how you and your leaders can keep up. A McKinsey Quarterly Strategy article.

In the final analysis, the critical success factor here boils down to a corporate culture of openness, as it’s masterfully explained in Charlene’s new book — “Open Leadership”. So it is with tremendous pleasure that we kickoff today’s CSF inaugural event with a “fireside chat” with the inspiring author herself.

One of the things I love reading about is seeing real life examples of how people and organisations are making these things happen. In this book Charlene has collected some great collateral and case studies from companies such as Cisco, Best Buy, The Red Cross and The State Bank of India. As society becomes more adept at using social media it is inevitable that Leaders must become open with their employees, clients and partners.

That busi­nesses require its exec­u­tives to adopt an “open lead­er­ship” style of man­age­ment in place of the command-and-control par­a­digm in place at most large com­pa­nies. “Face it — you’re not in con­trol and prob­a­bly never really were,” she writes. “You need to let go of the need to be in con­trol.” As she explains, you aren’t really giv­ing up con­trol — “you are shift­ing it to some­one else that you have con­fi­dence in.”

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What does Open Leadership look like? Podcast with John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing: http://budurl.com/q4qf http://fb.me/AyydRn8X

Presentation by Charlene Li at SXSW Interactive, Saturday, March 13, 2010. Discusses main ideas from Charlene's new book

Open Leadership - or Leadership 2.0 - could be the catalyst for positive changes that workplace visionaries have long dreamed of. But to break through everyday organisational inertia there is a key ingredient that is still missing: ongoing practices in organisational awareness and reframing that can undo the cycles of defensive behaviour that even smart and well-meaning people create in their workplaces. (by Matthew Mezey)

From our very close work together, I know Charlene's mind and ways of thinking extremely well. Now, of course, we compete for the attention of clients thinking about social strategy, which complicates our relationship. Plus, I am the coauthor of Empowered, coming out in September, a book that bears on many of the same topics as Open Leadership.

So to answer the question “How open do you need to be?”, I first define what it means to be open in 10 different areas. Those areas are laid out in the graphic here, and are divided into two areas: 1) Information sharing; and 2) Decision making.

Openness Audit from “Open Leadership” This openness audit comes from the book “Open Leadership” and its purpose

Includes reviews from Marshall Goldsmith, Jim Kouzes, Guy Kawasaki, Keith Ferrazi, Roger Martin, Larry Weber, Renée Mauborgne, and Steve Rubel.

Introduction to the book "Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform The Way You Lead" by Charlene Li. More information at open-leadership.com.

In her new book, Open Leadership, Charlene Li explains how social media is just one force that is requiring leaders to cede control in order to succeed.

Amazon.com: Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead (J-B Warren Bennis Series) (9780470597262): Charlene Li: Books