Your Leadership Moment: Democratizing Leadership in an Age of Authoritarianism - Softcover

Martin, Eric R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1642502677 ISBN 13: 9781642502671

Publisher: TMA Press, 2020

Synopsis

Take Adaptive Leadership to the Next Level
"Each of us has the potential for a leadership moment. Reading this book will help you find yours." —Dr. Marty Linsky, faculty at Harvard Kennedy School & author of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
 
#1 Best Seller in category
 
Ahead of its time, more relevant than ever. When Your Leadership Moment was first released, Eric Martin warned of the mounting pressures of authoritarianism and the urgent need for everyday people to lead. What felt prescient then has become undeniable now. In an age of polarization, fragile institutions, and accelerating uncertainty, this book meets the moment with clarity and courage.
 
Adaptive Leadership was introduced to the world in 1994 by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky of the Harvard Kennedy School. Building on his work with Heifetz and Linsky and with Alexander Grashow, Eric Martin distills Adaptive Leadership for both new and seasoned practitioners. His mission to "democratize leadership" has taken him around the world—from the White House to the Himalayas—gathering lessons from leaders confronting the most complex challenges of our time.
 
Leadership for this moment. Your Leadership Moment draws on stories of ordinary people driving extraordinary change. Through failures and breakthroughs, Martin shows how leadership is not about authority, position, or power—it is about mobilizing others to make progress on the problems that matter most. This is not theory for another era; it is a playbook for today.
 
Anyone, anywhere can lead meaningful change. Whether you are an executive, entrepreneur, educator, activist, or parent, this book offers tools and techniques to act with courage, clarity, and resilience. It equips readers to thrive in uncertain times, confront authoritarian pressures with democratic leadership, and inspire others to join them.
 
Your Leadership Moment empowers you to:

• Spot leadership opportunities in real time and act with confidence
• Break through recurring obstacles by solving the right problems, not the easy ones
• Influence power dynamics without relying on authority
• Replace fear and hesitation with clarity, resilience, and courage

 
If you like The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Adaptive Leadership Facilitator Guide, Leadership on the Line, or An Everyone Culture, you'll love Your Leadership Moment.

About this title

About the Author

Eric Martin, a Detroit native turned prominent leadership expert, specializes in leadership development and systems change. Eric’s work has been used to tackle challenges to transition to a low-carbon economy, improve health equity and access, and evolve the role of advanced technologies in our daily lives. Over the past decade, he has brought leadership development to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in 146 countries. Eric’s work draws on Adaptive Leadership, an unconventional and somewhat provocative leadership practice developed at Harvard by faculty Drs. Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky and by Alexander Grashow, with whom he has mentored and worked.

Eric has served in an advisor/speaker/leadership trainer role at: Acumen, Rockefeller Foundation, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, US Business Council for Sustainable Development, White House Presidential Personnel Office, United Nations Innovation Network, World Bank, Cornell University, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Sustainability Consortium, Democracy Fund, National Academy for Science Engineering & Medicine, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, National Association for County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), Forum for the Future, LEAD India, Patagonia, USAID and The Aspen Institute. Previously, he served in various roles at The Synergos Institute, a Rockefeller-affiliated international development organization. Eric holds an MS in Organizational Change Management and BS in Systems Analysis and Operations Research. Eric’s work has been published in such places as: Fast Company, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and Environmental Leader.

From the Back Cover

Leading Every Moment

You face leadership moments every day. The question is, would you recognize a leadership moment when it comes your way...and do you know what to do when it does?

Your Leadership Moment brings this this question to life for both novices and advanced leadership practitioners alike. The leadership framework it provides draws on the extensive personal research, travel, conversations, and reflections of author Eric Martin, a prominent leadership expert. The author's quest to democratize leadership has taken him around the world—from the White House and corporate boardrooms to the foothills of the Himalayas. Through poignant stories of both success and failure, you learn what's possible when people discover the capacity and courage to lead regardless of identity, history, or access to power and financial capital.

Your Leadership Moment is an unforgettable account of the democratizing leadership of three ordinary people leading extraordinary change...all painted on the candid canvas of racism in the author's hometown of Detroit. It's an exciting expansion of Adaptive Leadership—an unconventional and provocative leadership practice developed at Harvard University—that can help anyone learn to lead. It provides practical tools, techniques, and inspiration to discover your own leadership moment. Ultimately, it seeks to leverage leadership moments around the world, adapting our institutions and ourselves to create the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.

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"Touching, provocative, and deeply human stories." —Jacqueline Novogratz, founder & CEO of Acumen

"Your sense of yourself and what is possible will be elevated on the other side of reading this book." —Alexander Grashow, author of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership

"Democratizing leadership...offers hope for healing a fractured nation." —Roger Sorkin, award-winning producer and executive director of the American Resilience Project

From the Inside Flap

Praise for FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP MOMENT
"The critical skill that leaders need today is the ability to work across lines of difference to create meaningful change that benefits everyone, not just the privileged few. Your Leadership Moment allows readers to build that skill through touching, provocative, and deeply human
stories and its call for everyone, regardless of their circumstances, to choose to lead."

—Jacqueline Novogratz, founder & CEO of Acumen

"An adaptive leadership truth-telling about defining moments of our times. A compelling read for people and companies who seek to challenge the status quo and survive."

—Lauren Serota, head of performance & talent at Patagonia

"Eric lives leadership. From the intimate stories of his own life, to his pragmatic ability to hand people and groups what they need, to his deep love and commitment for a more just and generative world...we are lucky to have his contributions. Your Leadership Moment shares ideas everyone can use and a humanity we are all hungry for. Your sense of yourself and what is possible will be elevated on the other side of reading this book."

—Alexander Grashow, author of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership

"Just like one of Eric Martin's adaptive leadership sessions, Your Leadership Moment takes you on a journey. You end up surprised to find yourself examining purpose, power, and identity with a renewed motivation to change your life, community, organization, and the world."

—Bavidra Mohan, head of leadership at Acumen

"As a scientist, I share Eric Martin's passion for tackling challenges at the interface of humans and the environment. I take heart in his pragmatic and systemic, yet human-centered, approach to leading adaptive change."

—Dr. Sarah Elaine Lewis, senior director for innovation at The Sustainability Consortium

"Eric Martin combines relentless optimism with hard-nosed realism in powerful stories of people like you and me who saw a leadership opportunity and refused to sit on the sidelines. Each of us has the potential for a leadership moment. Reading this book will help you find yours."

—Dr. Marty Linsky, coauthor of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership

"Eric Martin invites us to consider the power of leadership moments to influence change both within and outside of corporate walls. Creating a sustainable future requires nothing less than each of us seizing these moments."

—Euan Murray, CEO of The Sustainability Consortium

"Eric Martin has managed to put into writing what he so masterfully and authentically does in his life and work: make acts of leadership, fuelled by courage and compassion, accessible to all. This book has real heart and real tools for leaders. I'm excited to put its wisdom to use."

—Molly Alexander, founder of MPA Global Advisors

"The perfect balance of evocative storytelling with practical leadership ideas. Democratizing leadership speaks to people across our social and political divides, and offers hope for healing a fractured nation."

—Roger Sorkin, award-winning producer & executive director of the American Resilience Project

Edition details

• Publisher: TMA Press
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1642502677
• ISBN 13: 9781642502671
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 212