Jeffrey Ford's Page

  • Does Authority Reduce Leader Effectiveness?

    Jeffrey Ford posted a blog post

    Does Authority Reduce Leader Effectiveness?

    MBA students frequently tell me they would be far more effective if only they had authority over certain people.  Unfortunately, years of research, such as a forthcoming study in Organization Science, indicates that having authority may actually reduce a manager’s effectiveness, not improve it....

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    March 6, 2015

  • Leadership of Change: Do Steps Trump Style?

    Jeffrey Ford posted a blog post

    Leadership of Change: Do Steps Trump Style?

    When it comes to the leadership of change, which is more important, leadership style or following the “right” steps for implementation? For the past several months, I have been conducting research into the leadership of change.  My interest is in finding out what differentiates effective leadin...

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    March 6, 2015

  • Where Do You Keep Your Word after You Give It?

    Jeffrey Ford posted a blog post

    Where Do You Keep Your Word after You Give It?

    I believe a cornerstone of personal leadership effectiveness is operating with integrity.  Michael Jensen, the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School contends that without integrity, nothing works. Jensen defines integrity as honoring your...

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    March 6, 2015

  • It Doesn’t Exist If It Isn’t Written Down

    Jeffrey Ford posted a blog post

    It Doesn’t Exist If It Isn’t Written Down

    If you want to increase your personal leadership effectiveness, then you may want to adopt the following policy: It doesn’t exist if it isn’t written down. Most people are familiar with the cliché “out of sight, out of mind”.  One way to interpret this cliché is that if we don’t have some way o...

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    March 6, 2015

  • Where Is the Access to Leadership?

    Jeffrey Ford posted a blog post

    Where Is the Access to Leadership?

    For the past several months, I have been conducting research into the leadership of change to learn more about the role leadership plays in successful change.  Frankly, I have been disappointed in what I have found.  More accurately, I have been disappointed in what I haven’t found – an access ...

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    March 6, 2015

  • It’s What You Deliver That Matters

    Jeffrey Ford posted a blog post

    It’s What You Deliver That Matters

    I recently played golf with someone I didn’t know prior to our playing together.  As we walked down the first fairway, he asked, “What do you do?” Asking people what they do is a polite and socially acceptable way of getting to know them.  It’s completely normal and completely appropriate. But ...

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    March 6, 2015

  • The Two Sides of Leadership

    Jeffrey Ford posted a blog post

    The Two Sides of Leadership

    There are two sides to leadership: the constructive side and the destructive side.  Both are evident in organizations, but only one seems to get all the attention. Implicit in contemporary approaches to leadership, particularly the leadership of change, is the assumption that leaders are a cons...

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    March 6, 2015

  • The Lie in Leadership

    Jeffrey Ford posted a blog post

    The Lie in Leadership

    It is popular to blame leaders for the state of affairs in organizations, communities, nations, and the world, particularly when things don’t go the way we want.  If the US Supreme Court makes a ruling we like, then they are showing leadership, but if they make one we don’t like, they are faili...

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    March 6, 2015

  • Where are the Missing Managers?

    Jeffrey Ford posted a blog post

    Where are the Missing Managers?

    Managers are missing.  Organizations apparently have plenty of leaders, but few managers. I know this is true because the leadership literature says so. Over the last two years, we have been doing extensive research on the academic leadership literature as it relates to leadership of change.  O...

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    March 6, 2015

  • Leadership Research Is Naive

    Jeffrey Ford posted a blog post

    Leadership Research Is Naive

    There is something very naïve about the leadership literature. For more than a year, I have been engaged in a comprehensive review of the academic literature related to the leadership of change.   Since there are very few articles that deal specifically with the leadership of change, the job re...

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    March 6, 2015

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