Craig L. Pearce

Shared leadership entails a dynamic, interactive influence process among groups and teams. Whereas traditional models of leadership emphasize the importance of vertical leadership as a role occupied by an individual in a designated position, shared leadership emphasizes the importance of leadership as an unfolding social process, shifting the influence to the person with the most relevant knowledge, skills and abilities, juxtaposed against the emerging task related requirements. Research shows that shared leadership is a robust predictor of group, team and organizational outcomes across a variety of organizations, industries and cultural contexts. In fact, shared leadership is a better predictor of outcomes than vertical leadership. This Element provides a comprehensive review of the research on shared leadership, and points to promising directions for the future, in terms of both research and the practical application of shared leadership in action. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Shared leadership entails a dynamic, interactive influence process among groups and teams. Whereas traditional models of leadership emphasize the importance of vertical leadership as a role occupied by an individual in a designated position, shared leadership emphasizes the importance of leadership as an unfolding social process, shifting the influence to the person with the most relevant knowledge, skills and abilities, juxtaposed against the emerging task related requirements. Research shows that shared leadership is a robust predictor of group, team and organizational outcomes across a variety of organizations, industries and cultural contexts. In fact, shared leadership is a better predictor of outcomes than vertical leadership. This Element provides a comprehensive review of the research on shared leadership, and points to promising directions for the future, in terms of both research and the practical application of shared leadership in action. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Share, Don’t Take the Lead is a book that offers an alternative perspective on leadership. The philosophy of shared leadership is straightforward: Leadership does not derive solely from position, authority, or hierarchy. Instead, leadership is something that can be executed by anyone who has the best knowledge or skill to undertake the leadership necessary in any given situation. Shared leadership is especially relevant, for example, in empowered teams where shared leadership can be initiated from any team member at any time, depending on the needs of the moment and the capabilities of the individuals. But the notion of shared leadership is also appropriate in a larger context. For example, an individual lower in the hierarchy can provide leadership if that person is best qualified to exercise it. Shared leadership also shows how hierarchical leaders with formal authority can use empowerment to develop leadership in others. This book tells the tales of how multiple trail blazing organizations used shared leadership to build high performance. The notion of shared leadership seems to contradict many of the bedrock ideas of efficient management and effective organizations. A typical first reaction is, “It’ll never work here!” Yet, the organizations that “get it” and implement this new powerful approach tend to be more innovative and to out-perform their “nay-sayer” competitors. In fact, shared leadership is one of the most important ideas to hit business in recent years—our recent feature article about shared leadership in the Wall Street Journal is testimony to that. Shared leadership can provide a way for companies to increase productivity, quality, and flexibility while meeting the competitiveness challenge. Share the Lead provides new insights and information about how to push the organizational envelope to new frontiers.

Share, Don’t Take the Lead is a book that offers an alternative perspective on leadership. The philosophy of shared leadership is straightforward: Leadership does not derive solely from position, authority, or hierarchy. Instead, leadership is something that can be executed by anyone who has the best knowledge or skill to undertake the leadership necessary in any given situation. Shared leadership is especially relevant, for example, in empowered teams where shared leadership can be initiated from any team member at any time, depending on the needs of the moment and the capabilities of the individuals. But the notion of shared leadership is also appropriate in a larger context. For example, an individual lower in the hierarchy can provide leadership if that person is best qualified to exercise it. Shared leadership also shows how hierarchical leaders with formal authority can use empowerment to develop leadership in others. This book tells the tales of how multiple trail blazing organizations used shared leadership to build high performance. The notion of shared leadership seems to contradict many of the bedrock ideas of efficient management and effective organizations. A typical first reaction is, “It’ll never work here!” Yet, the organizations that “get it” and implement this new powerful approach tend to be more innovative and to out-perform their “nay-sayer” competitors. In fact, shared leadership is one of the most important ideas to hit business in recent years—our recent feature article about shared leadership in the Wall Street Journal is testimony to that. Shared leadership can provide a way for companies to increase productivity, quality, and flexibility while meeting the competitiveness challenge. Share the Lead provides new insights and information about how to push the organizational envelope to new frontiers.

"Shared Leadership offers a much-needed shift in our thinking about how leadership happens in teams and organizations. Pearce and Conger have brought together a diverse group of authors who collectively offer a comprehensive view of developing, implementing, and studying shared leadership in organizations. This volume is sure to fulfill its goal of "jump-starting" our knowledge of the shared leadership phenomenon." --Cynthia D. McCauley, Ph. D., Vice President, Leadership Development, Center for Creative Leadership"How leadership is shared in teams and organizations is an important subject, but one that has received little attention in most of the leadership literature. This timely book provides a rich and varied perspective on the subject. The highly qualified collection of scholars provide a good theoretical foundation to guide the future study of shared leadership."--Gary Yukl, State University of New York at Albany"The time is as ripe as ever for a new paradigm of leadership that the authors simply call 'shared leadership.' This timely volume effectively 'jumpstarts' our knowledge of this emerging field by presenting a number of critical perspectives examining shared leadership using conceptual, empirical, and applied lenses."--Joe Raelin, Asa. S. Knowles Chair of Practice-Oriented Education, Northeastern University, and author of Creating Leaderful Organizations: How to Bring Out Leadership in Everyone"This volume redefines the essence of leadership. Pearce and Conger have assembled a cast of 'scholar-entrepreneurs' whose pioneering work firmly establishes the theoretical foundations for the study of leadership now and well into the future. This book is a must read for anyone interested in leadership in the age of teamwork."--Henry P. Sims, University of MarylandIn recent years, scholars have argued that leadership is an activity shared or distributed among members of a group or organization. This line of thinking is gaining attention among leadership scholars, yet our understanding of the dynamics and opportunities for shared leadership is still quite primitive. Given the infancy of the field, it is timely to introduce a volume on the subject that significantly enhances our knowledge. Shared Leadership: Reframing the Hows and Whys of Leadership brings together the foremost thinkers on the subject and is the first book of its kind to address the conceptual, methodological, and practical issues for shared leadership. Its aim is to advance understanding along many dimensions of the shared leadership phenomenon: its dynamics, moderators, appropriate settings, facilitating factors, contingencies, measurement, practice implications, and directions for the future. The volume provides a realistic and practical discussion of the benefits, as well as the risks and problems, associated with shared leadership. It will serve as an indispensable guide for researchers and practicing managers in identifying where and when shared leadership may be appropriate for organizations and teams. Edited by leading authorities Craig L. Pearce and Jay A. Conger, with contributions from the top experts in the field, Shared Leadership is an ideal text for management, education, and communication courses in leadership, teamwork, organizational behavior, and small groups. In addition, practicing consultants will find this an invaluable reference in their leadership and team development programs.