HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER
Title: The Devolution of Power
Competency: leadership
Who benefits: those interested in a fresh and unique view of leadership
Consultant Usage: something to think about for consultants at the organizational level; possibly useful background material for coaches; can be used to raise questions in management and leadership classes.
What’s it about? One reviewer calls Barbara Kellerman a “naughty, naughty girlâ€.  Another claims she “does not play nicely with the other boys and girls-and we are all the better for itâ€.
Who is Barbara Kellerman? What is she saying? And why should we care?
Barbara Kellerman holds the very prestigious position as the James MacGregor Burns Lecturer in Public Leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and she is the Founding Executive Director of the Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership. She has three graduate degrees from Yale University and was previously awarded a Danforth Fellowship and three Fulbright fellowships. She has been writing books on leadership since 1981 when she published her first book, the cleverly titled All The President’s Kin. In other words, this “naughty, naughty girl†knows thereof what she writes!
Normally I prefer to review content with a practical bent: “Here, read this, there is something in there that can help you in some way.†Today I offer up a review of a different kind. If you want a one sentence review, it would be “Here is a history of leadership.†Not practical but interesting.
The book is The End of Leadership. It begins with a review of expectations of Gods and Goddesses in Greek Mythology. She takes this concept to a modern day metaphor in the corridors of power, be it C-Suites  or at senior levels in any other large organization. She develops the concept of devolution of power. And the doom and gloom it brings before we can see the light.
Along the way she invokes Jung, Freud, Confucius, Plato and mythologists Joseph Campbell. She talks about our needs for Heroes and Sheroes … and how often we get what we ask for … and get bitten in the ass. We elect those we think can lead us out of the current abyss only to discover that they too are powerless or worse, covet power for all the wrong reasons. They become the monster leaders.
Think of the new CEO who promises a new company life, raising it from its current state of mediocrity. And then fires 30% of the assets. Trust to follow?
Much of the book focuses on leadership development and leadership training and how far off the mark most of it is. It challenges many of our assumptions.
As a practitioner often leading and facilitating management and leadership classes during my career, I had a good sense of what I knew, what was right, what could be learned and relatively good sense of what the outcomes would be. After reading this book my foundations and confidence are shaken. My pillars of knowledge were embedded in sand. The knowledge I have gained from this book is how little knowledge I previously possessed.
This book may not offer many practical ideas. But it will challenge what you think you know.
Should you desire more reading from Professor Kellerman, may I suggest Followership: How Followers Are Creating Change and Changing Leaders, which explores the impact on organizations of five types of followers: Isolate, Bystander, Participant, Activist and Diehard. Between the two books she completes her blueprint of downgrading leadership (as we know it) and upgrading followership. Verrrrrrry interesting!
Catch you later.
Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.
