Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing

There are big bold decisions. And these decisions require big bold leaders. In the military aspect, the decision to go on D-Day was one such decision. But after Eisenhower made it, the whole thing was basically out of his hands. After that plans were put into effect, lower level generals did their thing, as did the officers under them. All the way down the chain to the lowest Sergeant people began to make decisions. This book is about these lower level decision makers. They may be some ways up from the sergeant. Perhaps they are a department head, perhaps head of a small division or even a small company. These are the people who don't make the big bold decisions, but whose decisions are, in total, the life blood of the operation. It's important also to remember that from these people will come the ones that move into the top ranks. In a way, life as a quiet leader is training for the upper levels. In a time when most leadership books concentrate on the top levels, this is an important look at the role of those who don't make it quite that far.

Jim Collins and his 21 associates committed more than 15,000 hours to rigorous research on the 15-year performance record of 1,435 companies (that had appeared on the Fortune 500 list) as candidates for designation as "good-to-great." They then shared what they learned in a book. One of the revelations which surprised me most was that what they call "Level 5 Leadership" invalidates conventional wisdom concerning the so-called "charismatic" CEO. (Please see pages 17-40 as well as pages 72-73 in Good to Great.) After four years of his own rigorous research, Badaracco seems to have arrived at many of the same conclusions that Collins and his associates did. For example, that the most effective leaders are passionate about the organizations they lead but not about their own careers; that they are relentless in the pursuit of what Collins calls Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) but, meanwhile, manifest impeccable personal as well as professional integrity; that they are (in Badaracco's words) "quiet leaders because their modesty and restraint are in large measure responsible for their impressive achievements." Badaracco goes on to note that because many big problems can only be resolved by a long series of small efforts, "quiet leadership, despite its seemingly slow pace, often turns out to be the quickest way to make an organization -- and the world -- a better place." Invoking metaphors, I presume to suggest that the so-called "charismatic leader" resembles a Roman candle or perhaps a single sparkler whereas the "Level 5 Leader," the Quiet Leader," resembles a Bunsen burner. Navy fliers training for duty aboard aircraft carriers are told, "There are no old, bold pilots." Badaracco correctly asserts that preparation, caution, care, and attention to detail are usually the best approach to everyday challenges. "What usually matters are careful, thoughtful, practical efforts by people working far from the limelight." How long might it take to achieve a BHAG? Collins suggests ten to 30 years..."or more." The leadership required over such an extended period of time (leadership which includes but is not limited to the CEO) reflects a specific way of thinking about people, organizations, and effective action. "It is a way of understanding the flow of events and discerning the best ways to make a difference." Moreover, Badaracco adds, "...in a small way, quiet leadership is also an act of faith: an expression of confidence in the ultimate force of what [Albert] Schweitzer called 'small and obscure deeds.'"The material in this brilliant book is carefully organized within nine chapters whose titles correctly suggest their respective focal points. For example, in Chapter Eight ("Nudge, Test, and Escalate Gradually"), Badaracco suggests that quiet leaders "prefer more cautious, modest ways of thinking and acting. Instead of hunting confidently for the [in italics] right answer, they concentrate on finding the right ways to to eventually get sound, workable answe

In Leading Quietly, Joseph L. Badaracco observes that society tends to think about leadership primarily in terms of heroic figures. His readers have been taught from their childhood to show respect for the efforts and sacrifices of great men and women. Often, his readers are not properly informed about the fact that most sung heroes like Winston Churchill or Mother Teresa worked, quietly and patiently, for years or decades, before their key contribution to society was widely acknowledged. To his credit, Badaracco celebrates modest, unassuming men and women with their mixed and complicated motives. Like most of his audience, those men and women will probably never be in the limelight but make the world a better place through countless, small, often unseen efforts. Badaracco convincingly demonstrates that it is given to almost all his audience to learn and practice the simple virtues of quiet leadership, e.g.: Restraint, modesty, and tenacity. Contrary to some wisdom, quiet leaders 1) Buy time. 2) Drill down into the political and technical elements of the problems they face.3) Invest their political capital wisely.4) Nudge, test, and escalate gradually.5) Find ways, when necessary, to bend the rules.6) View compromise as a high form of leadership and creativity.In his recently published Good To Great, Jim Collins interestingly comes to the conclusion that the CEOs of great companies turning around good companies successfully are usually humble, modest, and tenacious. Is quiet leadership from top to bottom within any organization the future?In a second edition of Leading Quietly, Badaracco could perhaps use both success stories and failures to illustrate each guideline for practicing quiet leadership. Often, failures are more valuable learning experiences than successes. Furthermore, Badaracco could perhaps further elaborate on white-collar criminality that can have an impact on quiet leaders as well. Quiet leaders at companies like Enron and Andersen could have been pressurized to violate the law and could eventually not simply walk away from their organizations because of their sense of duty and/or their responsibilities towards their family, especially in a downturn economy.

Professor Badaracco acknowledges here what conventional wisdom on business ethics might suggest before he presents a well-argued case for why the stock responses that call for black and white behavior are not always the most effective options for individual choices. Badaracco's take that the quiet leader doesn't knee-jerkingly draw a line in the sand and say, "this is right; this is wrong; I will not cross this line" might strike some readers as coping out or compromising at the expense of doing the absolute right thing. But careful readers will discover that Badaracco's notion isn't to cave when right action is called for, but rather to look more broadly at the issues and make more informed decisions. Main strengths: 1) provocative, well-articulated argument; 2) clarity of writing; and 3) clear case studies to support argument of the book.