Why did the authors write this book?

Progress Makers emerged from a series of long, deep discussions about the underlying challenges faced by organizations and our society. We just didn’t believe leadership boiled down to power, titles, positions, or even personalities. Yet, that was the implicit message sent by many gurus. We were equally amazed, frustrated and disturbed by the orientation of many leadership “experts.” These perspectives appeared to be narrow minded, tradition laden and illusion creating. Upon deeper reflection we realized that our concerns revolved around three fundamental questions:

​

1. How should leaders manage uncertainty?

2. Why the virtual silence about the relationship between progress and leadership?

3. How could we transform leaders into progress makers?

These questions dominated our research and discussions over a 10-year period. The release of Embracing Uncertainty and related research partially answered the questions. Yet, we yearned to make these insights more accessible to aspiring leaders and those in leadership positions. The result? More research projects. Further mind-bending conversations. And finally the new book, Transforming Leaders into Progress Makers: Leadership for the 21st Century.