Editorial Review:
Most of us think of leaders as courageous risk takers, orchestrators of major events-in a word, heroes. Yet while such figures are inspiring and admirable, Harvard Business School Professor Joseph Badaracco argues that their larger-than-life accomplishments are simply not what makes the world work. What does, he says, is the sum of millions of small yet consequential decisions that men and women working far from the limelight make every day: how a line worker for a pharmaceutical company responds when he discovers a defect in a product's safety seal; how a manager deals with a valued employee suspected of stealing; how a trader handles a transaction error that will cost a client money. Badaracco calls them "quiet leaders"-people who choose responsible, behind-the-scenes action over public heroism to resolve tough leadership challenges. These individuals don't fit the stereotype of the bold and gutsy leader, and they don't want to. What they want is to do the "right thing" for their organizations, their coworkers, and themselves-but inconspicuously and without casualties. They do so by being baldly realistic about the complexities of their own motives and those of the dilemmas they face. In today's fast and fluid business world, nothing is as it seems. And they know it. Drawing from a four-year study of quiet leadership, Badaracco presents eight practical and counterintuitive guidelines for confronting situations in which right and wrong seem like moving targets. Grounding each strategy in an engaging story, he shows how these "non-heroes" succeed by managing their political capital, buying themselves time, bending the rules, and more. From leaders in the executive suite to aspiring leaders in the office cubicle, Leading Quietly compellingly shows how patient, everyday efforts can add up to a better company and even a better world.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Good Primer for New Managers...  2008-03-02
Author's opening discussion states that most of us believe that the best leaders are heroes, risk takers, captains of industry, inspirational managers - yet he states that the business world is really driven by millions of small but important decisions that managers make each day - those same managers who want to do the right thing for their firms, their coworkers and for themselves. While I feel this book is a good reference guide for new managers, I would not recommend this book for seasoned and successful managers, as much will read as common sense. Chapter titles (and subtitles) are as follows:
1)Don't Kid Yourself
- You don't know everything
- You will be surprised
- Keep an Eye on the Insiders
- Trust, but cut the cards
- Realism vs. Cynicism
2) Trust Mixed Motives
- Stop Playing Gotcha
- Be Sure You Really Care
- Don't Try to Save the World
3) Buy a Little Time
4) Invest Wisely
5) Drill Down
6) Bend the Rules
7) Nudge, Test, and Escalate Gradually
8) Craft a Compromise
9) Three Quiet Virtues (Restraint, Modest, Tenacity)
The true leadership in all of us  2007-06-05
Thumbs up! A book worth reading especially for the manager/sr manager level people in an organization. This is a motivational book for those who went to the pain in making important decisons in his/her daily job..... and without knowing the level of impact their decision making had on the very success of the company they work for.
Big title jobs do not translate into Leadership or the impact it would have in an organization.
Decision Making in the Middle Ranks  2007-02-10
There are big bold decisions. And these decisions require big bold leaders.
In the military aspect, the decision to go on D-Day was one such decision. But after Eisenhower made it, the whole thing was basically out of his hands. After that plans were put into effect, lower level generals did their thing, as did the officers under them. All the way down the chain to the lowest Sergeant people began to make decisions.
This book is about these lower level decision makers. They may be some ways up from the sergeant. Perhaps they are a department head, perhaps head of a small division or even a small company. These are the people who don't make the big bold decisions, but whose decisions are, in total, the life blood of the operation.
It's important also to remember that from these people will come the ones that move into the top ranks. In a way, life as a quiet leader is training for the upper levels. In a time when most leadership books concentrate on the top levels, this is an important look at the role of those who don't make it quite that far.
nice ideas but very basic 2006-12-31
Finished the book in 6 hours - easy to read. Badaracco did a good job in pointing to the some of the obvious truth in the world - where common people bear the daily burden but get little credit for it - in corporate America also we see this day-in and day-out - people with big mouth and connections get most of the glory where as the people who do the real design for success get little or nothing -
it was worth my 6 hours of plane time
I forced myself to finish this book  2006-11-02
The title of this book caught my eye, because of its seemingly different approach to leadership. Over the course of my career, I have read over sixty leadership books, and this by far is the worst one I have read.
The author painfully stretches stories to fit his proposed point of view. Please do not misunderstand me, I believe leaders can lead quitely; however, his examples and portrayal of leaders was awefull.
I will never recommend this book to anyone who wants to know how to be a good leader. Choose a book by Covey, Maxwell, Drucker, Collins, Dow, Merril, or countless other authors. Do not spend your money or, more importantly, your time reading this book. Find a book written by someone who has proven leadership.
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