Today, leaders are expected to be both reassuring and authoritative, emotionally open and tough, empowering and powerful Success depends on understanding how great leaders face these conflicting demands: what roles they p]ay, how they operate, how they enhance their abil-ities, and how they achieve the best results for their com-panies. Becoming an Effective Leader offers practical guidelines for mastering this challenging role. Learn to:

Take charge swiftly in a new role

Set up processes that enable people to excel

Make wise choices in the moment

Communicate the company's vision and strategy effectively

The Results-Driven Manager series collects timely articles from Harvard Management Update and Harvard Management Communication Letter to help senior to middle managers sharpen their skills, increase their effectiveness, and gain a competitive edge. Presented in a concise, accessible format to save managers valuable time, these books offer authoritative insights and techniques for improving job performance and achieving immediate results.

Introduction 1

What Leaders Do--and Don't Do

 What You Can Learn from Jack Welch

    Walter Kiechel

The Work of a Modern Leader

  An Interview with Ron Heifetz

 Why Authority Still Matters

    Loren Gary

 Lead and Manage Your Organization

with the Balanced Scorecard

    Robert S. Kap]an

The Leader as Charismatic Hero: A Vanishing Breed

 No Time for Happy Talk

    Walter Kiechel

 Power

 How Its Meaning in Corporate Life Is Changing

     Loren Gary

 What Should a Leader Be?

     John Hintze

 The Call for Authentic Leadership

 with Bill George

 In Praise of Pragmatic Leadership

     Loren Gary

 10 Myths About Post-heroic Leadership--and Why They're Wrong

    David Stauffer

Starting Out on the Right Foot

 Debriefing Linda A. Hill

Accelerating the New Manager's Start

    Lauren Keller Johnson

Pulling Yourself Up Through the Ranks

    Loren Gary

Taking Charge Fast

    Eric McNulty

Succeeding Ms. (Mr.) Wonderful

    Jennifer McFarland

Makiwg the Best Derisions

Three Skills for Today's Leaders

 What Leaders Allow Themselves to Know...

     Paul Michelman

 The Perils of Being the Best and the Brightest

     Robert B. Cialdini

Communicating Effectively

 Language

 Churchill's Key to Leadership

     Nick Wreden

 Three Keys to Leadership

 Communication Today

     Janice Obuchowski

About the Contributors 201