Leadership and Change in the 21st Century: A Synthesis of Modern Theory, Research, and Practice is really two books in one.

The first—The Science of Modern Leadership—uses modern theory and research to make the case for a new form of leadership with the potential to enable us to work together to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

The second—The 21st Century Leader in Action—provides insights into how a leader might apply this modern form of leadership to effect positive social change in an increasingly interconnected world.

Written for the student, scholar, and thoughtful practitioner, Leadership and Change in the 21st Century contains theoretical and practical insights that every modern leader needs to know to tackle the important problems faced by individuals, groups, organizations, nations, and society as a whole in the 21st century.

Excerpt

The New Leadership Paradigm

Thomas Kuhn (1962/2004) used the term paradigm to describe a tradition of scientific inquiry, such as Copernican astronomy or Newtonian dynamics, based on an unprecedented new view of the world which better explains the mysteries that scientists seek to resolve while leaving many unresolved problems for its practitioners to study (p. 10). In this context, a scientific revolution is the result of a dramatic movement to adopt a new paradigm--a paradigm shift.

To meet the challenges of the 21st century, we need to replace the increasingly dysfunctional...style prevalent today with a new leadership paradigm. Fortunately for us, the essential elements of this new paradigm are becoming more and more evident. Furthermore, the advocates of each, as we shall see, include many eminent social science scholars, such as Burns, Boyer, Lewin, and Maslow.