Ronald A. Heifetz Quotes

• Progress on problems is the measure of leadership; leaders mobilize people to face problems, and communities make progress on problems because leaders challenge them and help them to do so.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Leadership, People, Community

  Ronald A. HEIFETZ, Ronald A Heifetz (2009). “Leadership Without Easy Answers”, p.15, Harvard University Press

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• Conflict is the primary engine of creativity and innovation. People don't learn by staring into a mirror; people learn by encountering difference.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Leadership, Creativity, Mirrors

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• What people resist is not change per se, but loss.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Loss, People

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.185, Harvard Business Review Press

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• The improvisational ability to lead adaptively relies on responding to the present situation rather than importing the past into the present and laying it on the current situation like an imperfect template.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Past, Imperfect, Currents

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• And leadership then is about mobilizing and engaging the people with the problem rather than trying to anesthetize them so you can go off and solve it on your own.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  People, Trying, Problem

  "Lessons In Leadership: It's Not About You. (It's About Them)". "Morning Edition" with Linda Wertheimer, www.npr.org. November 11, 2013.

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• But to practice leadership, you need to accept that you are in the business of generating chaos, confusion, and conflict

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Practice, Confusion, Needs

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2013). “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World”, p.203, Harvard Business Press

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• Your behavior reflects your actual purposes.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Purpose, Behavior

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2013). “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World”, p.219, Harvard Business Press

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• Exercising adaptive leadership is about giving meaning to your life beyond your own ambition.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Ambition, Exercise, Giving

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.320, Harvard Business Review Press

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• Attention is the currency of leadership.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Attention, Currency

  Ronald A. HEIFETZ, Ronald A Heifetz (2009). “Leadership Without Easy Answers”, p.113, Harvard University Press

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• Yesterday's adaptations are today's routines.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Yesterday, Today, Adaptation

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.204, Harvard Business Review Press

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• Knowing how the environment is pulling your strings and playing you is critical to making responsive rather than reactive moves.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Moving, Knowing, Environment

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• Values are shaped and refined by rubbing against real problems, and people interpret their problems according to the values they hold.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Real, People, Problem

  Ronald A. HEIFETZ, Ronald A Heifetz (2009). “Leadership Without Easy Answers”, p.22, Harvard University Press

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• Your inspiration taps hidden reserves of promise that sustain people through times that induce despair. You enable people to envision a future that sustains the best from their past while also holding out new possibilities.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Inspiration, Past, People

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• Worry not that your child listens to you; worry most that they watch you.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Children, Worry, Watches

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• Conflict is the primary engine of creativity and innovation.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Creativity, Innovation, Conflict

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• If you find what you do each day seems to have no link to any higher purpose, you probably want to rethink what you're doing.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Links, Want, Purpose

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.319, Harvard Business Review Press

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• Stay diagnostic even as you take action.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Action

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.254, Harvard Business Review Press

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• The activity of interpreting might be understood as listening for the 'song beneath the words.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Song, Listening, Might

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky, Alexander Grashow (2014). “Adaptive Leadership: The Heifetz Collection (3 Items)”, p.193, Harvard Business Review Press

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• Exercising leadership is an expression of your aliveness... But when you cover yourself up, you risk losing something as well. In the struggle to save yourself, you can give up too many of those qualities that are the essence of being alive, like innocence, curiosity, and compassion.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Giving Up, Struggle, Exercise

  Ronald A. Heifetz, Marty Linsky (2013). “Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading”, p.119, Harvard Business Press

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• I think that notion of leadership is bankrupt.

  Ronald A. Heifetz

  Thinking, Notion

  "Lessons In Leadership: It's Not About You. (It's About Them)". "Morning Edition" with Linda Wertheimer, www.npr.org. November 11, 2013.

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