I just finished reading Leadership on the Line by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky. I have to say I was quite impressed.

Many of the leadership books I read seem to be fluff…this one was solid food. I read it for a class I was taking and found my thoughts stirred by the pages I read.

The theme of the book is staying alive through the dangers of leadership. It deals both with the how-to aspect as well as the moral and mental health aspect of staying alive. Examples in this book come from the world of business, religion, and public service.

The first part of the book deals with the process of change. There are two kinds of change. The first is technical change. Technical change is problems that are fairly strait forward but need to be addressed. An example for pastors might be needing to recruit more Sunday school teachers. The second type of change is what they call adaptive change. An example of adaptive change would be going away from Sunday school for discipleship to a small group model. Obviously, change of a technical nature is easier to address.

Both types of change require different approaches. The problem comes in when leaders try to apply technical solutions to adaptive problems. So, using the examples above, if they move forward on the change in discipleship strategy by ceasing to recruit teachers and starting small group leader training without getting the church on board with that new strategy, problems will ensue.

This book is very practical with respect to the process of leading adaptive change. The authors talk about creating and releasing pressure. They talk about creating a holding area where the change can be discussed in a third party kind of way. They talk about how to withstand the heat that being a leader of adaptive change can create. Another concept is giving back work to those who will have to live with the outcome of the change.

They call this book, Leadership on the Line, because they believe leadership is dangerous. Staying alive and being healthy is the second part of the book. Leaders set them selves up to be alone, face significant criticism, put families and relationships at risk, and can give in to areas of moral weakness due to the strain of leading. This is not a Christian book but the personal ethic emphasis is one area where they stray greatly from traditional secular leadership writing.

On a few occasions they write about President Bill Clinton and his now infamous affair. They speculate as to why he gave into temptation and reading those parts carefully can give us both sympathy for him and a warning to us.

Another area in this book I really liked was their part on dealing with those who attack you. Their strategies for getting back to the issues at hand are both tough and helpful. I found myself receiving some tough love for taking some criticism personally rather than as an attack on my ideas. Regarding being tough, this endorsement says it well.

“There are many books about leadership, but I know of none more realistic about the risks and rewards of challenging an organization than this one. It is ‘tough love’ applied to the real world.”
—David S. Broder, The Washington Post

If you are feeling the pressures of leading or frustrated by a lack of progress, this book is one you ought to consider.

One more note, if you do decide to buy it, you might want to look used.  It is pretty pricey.