The Shadow Side of Power

The world is evolving and the values and capabilities of leaders must keep pace with and even help shape that evolution. While the virtues of good leaders may be similar through the ages, the consequences of abuse and misuse are amplified in our highly networked, complex, and uncertain times. What does it mean to be a leader with formal power today? The age of command-and-control authoritarianism is fast slipping away, but our need for competent, courageous, and principled leadership is, if anything, even more critical. This book is for you if you: * Are or want to be in a formal leadership role - whether of a small team or a large organization or nation. * Want to be a good - even a great -- leader who is respected by those you lead: leveraging for impact, learning, and leaving a legacy. * Are willing to face into the shadow side of power - the temptations and misperceptions that inevitably attach to authority roles and that may expose both your strengths and your least desirable qualities. * Are a coach or educator who develops people for formal leadership roles In The Shadow Side of Power, join our hero, Adderley, for a fictional journey through the Leadership Inferno in a thought-provoking, awakening, and accessible story. Having just been promoted to a senior executive-level position in his company, Adderley finds that the temptations are great, and he begins to head down a dangerous road of abuse of his power. But with the help of a wise guide and mentor, Peneth, Adderley confronts his shadow side. He travels through the seven circles of an inferno where leaders' sins of omission and commission are punished, meeting leaders who began much as he has but chose to abuse their power. In this allegory mirroring Dante’s Inferno, Adderley must acknowledge the many challenges that face people in formal power roles. During his journey, Adderley sees five ways that leaders fail in their role and two ways they abuse their power. In the process, he learns seven lessons that will make him a good and principled leader for these very challenging times where leadership seems to be failing us on so many levels. Readers will be inspired and energized to meet the challenges of leadership as a choice and a responsibility—much more than simply a title or an opportunity to make more money. Jim Kouzes, coauthor of the bestselling The Leadership Challenge and Executive Fellow of Leadership at the Leavey School of Leadership, Santa Clara University, asserts, “The Shadow Side of Power is just plain great storytelling—the kind that draws you in, stirs your passions, sustains your interest, teaches meaningful lessons, and leaves you both gratified and wanting more. That’s all the more significant when the topic is the dark side of leadership. With skillful writing, imaginative storytelling, and a powerful narrative Pat McLagan takes us on a journey to visit those places that lurk in the shadows. To the places where such sins as ignorance, shortsightedness, narrow-mindedness, cowardice, abuse, and corruption reside. They've never been more entertaining, nor more meaningful and practical, than in this book. Before you embark on your next leadership adventure, take a guided tour through the allegorical world of the Leadership Inferno. You’ll be better prepared for your other challenges once you have.” For four decades, Pat McLagan has worked with business and government to develop leaders and to transform leadership systems. She is the fifteenth person inducted into the Human Resource Development Hall of Fame and is known globally for her publications, provocative speeches, and change management work. In The Shadow Side of Power, Pat draws on in-depth experience with leaders at all levels in a variety of institutions. She knows firsthand the immense energy and promise that come along with formal power, for she has seen leaders face, struggle with, succumb to, be corrupted by, and grow from the dilemmas and opportunities of their role.