Leadership Passages--The Personal and Professional Transitions That Make or Break a Leader

David L. Dotlich
James L. Noel
Norman Walker

Copyright © 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass
A Wiley Imprint
989 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94103-1741
www.josseybass.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax [phone], e-mail: [e-mail].

Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986 or fax [phone].

Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dotlich, David L. (David Landreth), 1950-

Leadership passages : the personal and professional transitions that make or break a leader / By David L. Dotlich, James L. Noel, Norman Walker.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-7879-7427-7 (alk. paper)

1. Leadership. 2. Management. I. Noel, James L., 1943- II. Walker, Norman. III. Title.

HD57.7.D675 2004

658.4'092—dc22 2004012064

First Edition

HB Printing      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Authors

David L. Dotlich is the CEO and managing partner of CDR International, a Mercer Delta Company (www.mercerdelta.com), and partner of Mercer Delta Consulting—a global consulting firm that helps companies define and implement strategies to enhance leadership effectiveness and manage change. He is a business adviser to CEOs and senior executives of global corporations such as Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, Intel, Washington Mutual, UBS, Nike, and many others. He is the author of five best-selling leadership books: Action Coaching: Why CEOs Fail; Action Learning: How the World’s Best Companies Develop Their Leaders and Themselves, and the breakthrough book, Unnatural Leadership: Going Against Intuition and Instinct to Develop Ten New Leadership Instincts (all published by Jossey-Bass). Previously, he was executive vice president with Honeywell International and Groupe Bull. He can be contacted at [e-mail].

James L. Noel has over twenty years’ experience in developing senior leaders and executive coaching. His perspective on leadership development was shaped by his tenure at Crotonville—General Electric’s leadership development institute—where he was manager of executive education and leadership effectiveness. Previously, he was vice president for executive development, Citibank; earlier, he was assistant dean of the College of General Studies, The George Washington University. He is a principal with CDR International and Mercer Delta Consulting and is the coauthor of two books: The Leadership Pipeline and Action Learning: How the World’s Best Companies Develop Their Leaders and Themselves.

Norman Walker was, until recently, head of human resources for Novartis; he was a member of the executive committee reporting to the chairman and CEO. In this role, he established business-driven human resource processes to the line and was instrumental in the creation of leading-edge talent and executive development programs. Previously, he was head of human resources for Kraft Europe and Jacobs Suchard; before that, he held senior executive European human resource positions with Grand Met and Ford Motor Company. He consults with senior executives and CEOs on people and leadership development issues; he can be contacted at [e-mail].

Praise for Leadership Passages

“One of the surprising aspects of this book is that these passages are predictable. In a typical career, all leaders will go through these passages. What this book does is provide leaders and those who aspire to senior leadership roles with the tools and techniques to help them understand and navigate personal change to achieve success in both their personal and business lives.”
— Corey Seitz, global head of talent management, Novartis International AG

“The passages described by Dotlich, Noel, and Walker can make or break leaders. Leadership Passages helps readers become aware of these passages, learn what each entails, and acquire the skills necessary to navigate them successfully.”
—Ron Jonash, the Monitor Group

“Leadership Passages provides the missing link in leadership development. The authors recognize that these are key transitions in a leader’s life that can catalyze tremendous growth. Too often, however, these transitions are ignored by individuals and organizations. Dotlich, Noel, and Walker offer great insight and advice on how to turn these passages into dynamic development experiences.”
— Deborrah Himsel, vice president, Organization Effectiveness, Avon Products, Inc., and author, Leadership Sopranos Style