Leadership is hard, especially now. People want easy answers and quick solutions. But does true leadership promise to minimize harsh realities?

Harvard Professor Marty Linsky describes the challenge this way: “You place yourself on the line when you tell people what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear.” And he describes the hope of leadership this way: “The hope of leadership lies in the capacity to deliver disturbing news and raise difficult questions in a way that people can absorb, prodding them to take up the message rather than ignore it…”

Marty was PURC’s guest for Next Practices Live on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. Marty is a friend of PURC and has contributed greatly to our curriculum on leadership. He has taught leadership at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, written numerous books and articles on leadership, and was a co-founder of Cambridge Leadership Associates.

Marty discussed the challenges of practicing leadership in times like this, what people most need from leaders and those providing leadership, and how those practicing leadership can stay in the game and continue learning and adapting.