HANDBOOK OFLEADERSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE

HANDBOOK

OF

LEADERSHIP THEORY AND

PRACTICE

Harvard Business School Centennial Colloquium

Edited by

NITIN NOHRIA

&

RAKESH KHURANA

Harvard Business Press 2010

Rs. 1250   Pp 822

There used to be a quandary in the days of old that seems terribly trivial now: Are leaders ‘born’ or ‘made’? How does one define a leader? Of course on could fall into the facetious trap and parody Shakespeare: Some are born leaders, some are made leaders, some have leadership thrust upon them. But this would be further trivialising the subject, despite the abundance of evidence available in support, The concept of leadership is as nebulous as ‘character’, as frustrating (to define) as ‘obscenity ’.  

Does a leader, for instance, confine himself to the task at hand (‘performance’) or does he involve himself in making sense out of his and his team’s work? Is the leader seen in his capacity to think and do (‘competencies’) or in his ability to become and be (internal change and an evolving identity)? In one of the chapters Re-Visiting the Meaning of Leadership by Podolny, Khurana, and Besharov, attention is drawn to the current crisis, where the failure of leadership we should be concerned about is not just the economic collapse of the firms they led, but the moral collapse of these firms, and the attendant confusion and loss of meaning then engendered.

On the other hand, do we see the leader as a special person (with a unique personality and character traits, emphasised by disciplines such as history, psychology, and psychoanalysis) or as a relationship of ‘influence’ between the leader and society at large? Do we see the leader as one navigating between recognising the limits of his power (constraints) yet finding a way of taking action (agency)? Is there something in common that unites leaders across all situations and contexts, or is it that each person must lead differently depending on his or her own identity and the situation? These aspects need to be vigorously investigated in future research. Given the choice of defining ‘leadership’, ‘character’ or ‘obscenity’ one would choose ‘obscenity’ – and not merely for its prurient interest!

That the concept is at once complex and elusive is obvious: it has been termed as a psychological phenomenon; a social construct; a negotiated relationship; there are cultural nuances; financial dip-sticks are used where the output is not measurable; it is not clear – yet – whether the concept can be taught. And yet, Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana have embarked on this ambitious journey entitled: Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice, examining the extent of research undertaken in B-Schools and suggesting that it is the responsibility of these Schools to develop better knowledge about leadership and a better ability to develop leaders who will benefit society, or risk undermining their legitimacy. The editors acknowledge that leadership has not been the subject of serious study in any of the institutions – “at best at the periphery rather than at the centre of most schools that profess to indicate the leaders of the future.” They make no attempt to provide answers to questions raised in the academic field and in business about leadership and the development of leaders. The primary purpose of the book, they say, is to stimulate serious scholarly research on leadership. In particular, the subject cannot be left to ‘popular writers’ to expound.

The Handbook, being just as overwhelming as it is comprehensive, brings together critical writings by some of the world's foremost scholars in fields ranging from psychology to economics, sociology, and history; it’s based on a colloquium: “Leadership: Advancing an Intellectual Discipline” organised as part of the Harvard Business School centennial events. 

This review cannot be complete without a few words about the editors:

Nitin Nohria, slated to be the tenth – and youngest ever – Dean of Harvard Business School on 1 July 2010, is co-author/editor of 16 books and numerous other writings, is also the winner of the 1998 George R. Terry Award (granted annually by the Academy of Management to the book judged to have made the most outstanding contribution to the advancement of management knowledge). Nohria works mainly on human motivation, leadership, corporate transformation and accountability, and sustainable economic and human performance, and is passionately interested in generating discussion on the value and importance of leadership in addressing some of society's most pressing problems.

Rakesh Khurana, winner of the American Sociological Association's Max Weber Book Award in 2008 for most outstanding contribution to scholarship in the past two years (the same book won the 2007 Best Professional/Scholarly Publishing Book in Business, Finance and Management, Association of American Publishers), and recognized by London Times as one of the fifty most influential management thinkers in the world, teaches a doctoral seminar on Management and Markets, and The Board of Directors and Corporate Governance in the MBA program.