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Leaders in transition reflexively rely on the skills and strategies that worked for them in the past. That's a mistake, says Watkins, whose research shows that executives moving into new roles must gain a deep understanding of the situation at hand and adapt to it. To help them accurately assess their organizations and tailor their strategies and styles accordingly, he developed the STARS framework. "STARS" is an acronym for the five common situations leaders move into: start-up, turnaround, accelerated growth, realignment, and sustaining success. Thus, the model outlines the challenges of launching a venture or project; saving a business or initiative that's in serious trouble; dealing with rapid expansion; reenergizing a once-leading company that's now facing problems; and following in the footsteps of a highly regarded leader with a strong legacy of success. Executives can accelerate their immersion in new roles by following certain fundamental principles: Organize to learn about the business, establish A-item priorities, define strategic intent, quickly build the leadership team, secure early wins, and create supportive alliances across the company. But the way those principles should be applied depends very much on the business situation, which the STARS framework can help leaders analyze. Turnarounds and realignments present especially distinct leadership challenges that call for particular transition strategies. Regardless of the business situation, leaders must figure out which things need to happen - perhaps a jump in market share or an expansion into different markets - for their business to achieve its goals. And they must determine which leadership style best fits the new culture they're joining. Armed with such clarity, executives can design effective plans to manage their organizations and themselves.

Many leaders taking on new roles try to prove themselves early on by going after quick wins - fresh, visible contributions to the business. But in the pursuit of early results, those leaders often fall into traps that prevent them from benefiting from their achievements. To succeed in their new positions, leaders must realize that the teams they have inherited are also experiencing change. Instead of focusing on an individual accomplishment, leaders need to work with team members on a collective quick win. In a study of more than 5,400 new leaders, the authors found that those who were struggling tended to exhibit five behaviors characteristic of people overly intent on securing a quick win. They focused too much on details, reacted negatively to criticism, intimidated others, jumped to conclusions, and micromanaged their direct reports. Some managed to eke out a win anyway, but the fallout was often toxic. The leaders who were thriving in their new roles, by contrast, shared not only a strong focus on results - necessary for early successes - but also excellent change-management skills. They communicated a clear vision, developed constructive relationships, and built team capabilities. They seemed to realize that the lasting value of their accomplishment would be the way they managed their teams through the transition. Collective quick wins established credibility and prepared them to lead their teams to harder-won victories. The authors provide a diagnostic tool for identifying opportunities for collective quick wins, and they share some advice for organizations: When grooming new leaders, don't just shore up their domain knowledge and technical skills; help them develop the change-management skills they will need as they settle in with their new teams.

Are women rated lower than men in evaluations of their leadership capabilities because of lingering gender bias? No, according to an analysis of thousands of 360-degree assessments collected by Insead's executive education program. That analysis showed that women tend to outshine men in all areas but one: vision. Unfortunately, that exception is a big one. At the top tiers of management, the ability to see opportunities, craft strategy based on a broad view of the business, and inspire others is a must-have. To explore the nature of the deficit, and whether it is a perception or reality, Insead professor Ibarra and doctoral candidate Obodaru interviewed female executives and studied the evaluation data. They developed three possible explanations. First, women may do just as much as men to shape the future but go about it in a different way; a leader who is less directive, includes more people, and shares credit might not fit people's mental model of a visionary. Second, women may believe they have less license to go out on a limb. Those who have built careers on detail-focused, shoulder-to-the-wheel execution may hesitate to stray from facts into unprovable assertions about the future. Third, women may choose not to cultivate reputations as big visionaries. Having seen bluster passed off as vision, they may dismiss the importance of selling visions. The top two candidates for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president in 2008 offer an instructive parallel. The runner-up, Hillary Clinton, was viewed as a get-it-done type with an impressive, if uninspiring, grasp of policy detail. The winner, Barack Obama, was seen as a charismatic visionary offering a hopeful, if undetailed, future. The good news is that every dimension of leadership is learned, not inborn. As more women become skilled at, and known for, envisioning the future, nothing will hold them back.

If you're on the way to becoming CEO, take care. Many anointed successors find their path to the corner office unexpectedly blocked. The obstacle is usually a mismanaged relationship with any of six kinds of stakeholders: the current chief executive, the successor's peers, his or her direct reports, customers, analysts and shareholders, and the board of directors. Succession isn't an entirely rational process, explains veteran executive coach Goldsmith. Personal issues, egos, and emotions influence succession decisions just as much as business logic. Look at what happened in 1978 to Lee Iacocca, considered by many the obvious candidate to become head of Ford. Iacocca didn't just fail to get the job - he was fired. In explaining why, Henry Ford II famously remarked, "Sometimes you just don't like somebody." To secure their promotion, prospective heirs must strengthen relationships with the stakeholders whose commitment they'll need to succeed as CEO. That involves striking a delicate balance in a number of areas. For instance, candidates must project readiness to lead while supporting the current CEO, showing respect for peers, and demonstrating that they can make tough decisions without alienating their reports. It's also critical for them to determine if they've made past missteps that call for a change in personal style or relationship-building approach. The current CEO can provide invaluable guidance on areas ripe for improvement, as well as many other issues, such as which customers aspiring successors need to get to know or what the concerns of individual board members might be. Building better relationships with stakeholders takes time and effort, and treading so carefully may be wearying. But executives who do it before they become CEO stand a much better chance of making it across the finish line, and in the end will become much more effective leaders.

No one is in a better position to get an incoming CEO up to speed than his or her predecessor, whose insights and accumulated wisdom are uniquely valuable during the transition and even beyond. The outgoing leader can provide infor-mation about the expectations of high-ranking employees; short-term opportunities ripe for harvesting; how the board and others perceive the newcomer's reputation or personal brand; the strengths and foibles of internal allies and external partners; organizational bench strength; and the wisdom that comes from experience well-reflected upon. Organizations and their shareholders don't want intellectual capital like this to simply evaporate, which is why nearly every multinational corporation makes ongoing consultation a requirement in severance contracts and pays handsomely for it. Nevertheless, candid, in-depth discussions between outgoing and incoming CEOs rarely take place. Friel, formerly the chairman and CEO of Heidrick & Struggles, and Duboff, the CEO and a cofounder of HawkPartners, conducted numerous interviews with people who had been through at least one CEO transition to find out why those discussions don't happen as a matter of course and how best to draw on the knowledge of a departing leader. They clearly outline the steps that organizations can take, such as making golden parachutes contingent on debriefing conversations, having HR arrange the meetings to dispel any awkwardness, and creating a thorough agenda. And they advise the two executives to meet as equals, share the "first 90 days plan," and speak consistently about the past and future - to the media as well as to stakeholders. Much of an outgoing CEO's knowledge will be lost unless a conscious effort is made to capture it. As the average tenure of chief executives shrinks, it becomes increasingly imperative that they get off to a strong start.

In 2006, General Electric launched its Leadership, Innovation, and Growth (LIG) program to support CEO Jeffrey Immelt's priority of achieving corporate growth primarily by expanding businesses and creating new ones. LIG represented a radical approach for GE's famed management development center in Crotonville, New York, because it was the first effort to train all the senior members of a GE business's management team as a group. Prokesch went through LIG with 19 senior managers of GE Power Generation, one of the company's oldest businesses, in October 2007. About a year later he revisited the "turbine heads," as Immelt affectionately calls them, to see how much impact the program had made. The answer was a lot. Team training accelerated the pace of change by giving managers an opportunity to reach consensus on the barriers they faced and how to overcome them. LIG participants were encouraged to consider both hard (organizational) and soft (behavioral) barriers. The training explicitly addressed how to balance the short term and the long term. The program created a common vocabulary of change - actual words that are used daily inside and across GE's businesses. And LIG was not an academic exercise: It was structured so that a team would emerge with the first draft of an action plan for instituting change. The author's firsthand experience in the four-day program, together with his follow-up interviews with GE executives, illuminates the effectiveness of this training approach. Power Generation's managers created a now ubiquitous vision statement, beefed up the leadership in their core business, expanded regulatory staff and project teams in emerging markets, revamped product development, put up a website where any employee can submit ideas for growth, and created a growth board to consider proposals and track their progress.

Yang Jianguo was recently promoted from country manager for China to global head of product development at a staid French perfume maker. He was chosen for his technical smarts and his knowledge of emerging markets - a critical avenue for growth, given that sales in the company's core markets have stalled. Eager to succeed in his new role in Paris, Jianguo has lots of fresh ideas, but they seem to be falling on deaf ears. Members of the executive team, for their part, find Jianguo to be largely indifferent to their input. Can Jianguo adjust to this new culture? And can he succeed without sacrificing his identity? Three experts comment on this fictional case study in R0901A and R0901Z. Katherine Tsang, the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai, explains the cultural differences between China and France and recommends that Jianguo push his thinking beyond the Chinese market. She also suggests that the company give all its executive team members multicultural training so they have the tools to understand one another and work together effectively. Mansour Javidan, the dean of research and a professor at Thunderbird School of Global Management, acknowledges that Jianguo's transition would be easier if he had the full support of the CEO, Alain Deronde. But since that isn't forthcoming, he advises Jianguo to work with Alain to develop targets for growth in emerging and traditional markets and a plan for building an infrastructure to achieve those goals. James Champy, the chairman of consulting for Perot Systems, is surprised that a family business would choose an "outsider" for this important post, but he recognizes it as a wise strategic move. He says that Jianguo needs a coach and should focus on learning the home market first, before trying to make inroads further afield.

Yang Jianguo was recently promoted from country manager for China to global head of product development at a staid French perfume maker. He was chosen for his technical smarts and his knowledge of emerging markets - a critical avenue for growth, given that sales in the company's core markets have stalled. Eager to succeed in his new role in Paris, Jianguo has lots of fresh ideas, but they seem to be falling on deaf ears. Members of the executive team, for their part, find Jianguo to be largely indifferent to their input. Can Jianguo adjust to this new culture? And can he succeed without sacrificing his identity? Three experts comment on this fictional case study in R0901A and R0901Z. Katherine Tsang, the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai, explains the cultural differences between China and France and recommends that Jianguo push his thinking beyond the Chinese market. She also suggests that the company give all its executive team members multicultural training so they have the tools to understand one another and work together effectively. Mansour Javidan, the dean of research and a professor at Thunderbird School of Global Management, acknowledges that Jianguo's transition would be easier if he had the full support of the CEO, Alain Deronde. But since that isn't forthcoming, he advises Jianguo to work with Alain to develop targets for growth in emerging and traditional markets and a plan for building an infrastructure to achieve those goals. James Champy, the chairman of consulting for Perot Systems, is surprised that a family business would choose an "outsider" for this important post, but he recognizes it as a wise strategic move. He says that Jianguo needs a coach and should focus on learning the home market first, before trying to make inroads further afield.

In July 2007, Wachovia Corporation's CEO is pleased with a report that shows the firm's record-setting second quarter results. In the past three months, Wachovia has doubled its earnings and posted record revenues, mostly attributable to the large consumer real-estate loans related to the Golden West Financial acquisition that has contributed to the bank's growth. The transition of Golden West into Wachovia's platform had been quick and smooth, despite their cultural, geographic, and product-offering differences. The CEO was excited that the acquisition provided new opportunities for lending in what were perceived as less risky markets, particularly single-family home mortgages with adjustable rates. But he wondered if there were any adjustments necessary to extract ultimate value from Golden West.

This case covers Terry Leahy's career at Tesco, the UK-based retailer, and especially the ten years since he became CEO in 1997. Tesco has come a long way since the early 1990s, when it was playing second fiddle to Sainsbury's. It now has a 30% share of the UK groceries market, almost as big as its two closest competitors, Sainsbury's and the Wal-Mart-backed Asda, put together. It has used its solid domestic base to develop its international operations, culminating with the launch of a chain of convenience stores on Wal-Mart's home turf in late 2007. The case looks at the leader who has overseen this remarkable progress, Terry Leahy. It traces his rise from council house kid to Britain's most admired business leader (five times running) and adviser to the British prime minister. His success is all the more surprising given his low-key style and lack of charisma. We look at the other factors - such as ambition, passion and personal example - that have contributed to his rise, effectiveness and longevity as a leader. Learning Objectives: This case allows instructors to examine Terry Leahy's leadership through three lenses: in terms of the desirable personal traits of an effective leader; the main competencies required; and the critical roles played by the leader. These three perspectives are complementary and allow participants to get a full appreciation of the challenge of leadership - covering how leaders need to be, what they need to know, and what they need to do. The case also allows exploration of other issues, related to learning, surrounding oneself, time allocation and maintaining one's edge over time.

This case describes the evolution of a fast growing Indian energy firm. It illustrates both leadership change as Hema is evolving as a leader, as well as how organization Architecture (culture, systems, incentives and human resources) is evolving. The case highlights a set of decisions Hema makes to build the firm.

In 2004, Fiat was a laughingstock. It seemed that whenever you opened a newspaper in Italy, there was another embarrassing story: Fiat had lost more money; a new car had flopped; a strike was on somewhere. The company had gone through four CEOs in three years. Then Sergio Marchionne, an industry outsider, came on board. Today, Fiat's bottom line is solidly in the black and the automaker's latest car, the Cinquecento, is the talk of the industry. In this article, Marchionne describes how he changed the way the company was run. He abandoned the "great man" model of leadership that had long characterized Fiat and created a culture where everyone is expected to lead. The CEO details how he made four particularly effective improvements. First, he searched the company for hidden leadership potential - such as people far from headquarters and young talent in marketing and other functions that hadn't been considered high-potential career paths. Once Marchionne found those potential leaders, he engaged with them in myriad ways - such as through formal performance assessments, informal conversations, and text messages - demonstrating his commitment to them and improving the corporate culture. Second, he set ambitious goals and actively guided managers toward achieving them, in part by challenging long-held assumptions. The time to market for the Cinquecento was whittled down from four years to just 18 months once engineers and designers started questioning and streamlining their processes. Third, he pushed the organization to be less inward-looking, adopting benchmarks from Apple, for instance, and hiring people from outside the car industry. And fourth, he showed respect for Fiat's employees by making adjustments - such as opening kindergartens and grocery stores near plants - to help them cope with work/life balance.

As America struggled to regain its balance in the aftermath of the American Civil War, Maggie Lena Walker did her best to actively effect change by finding solutions to the social and economic problems facing blacks and especially black women. Taking charge of the flailing Independent Order of St. Luke in 1899, Walker transformed the organization into a vibrant and thriving economic engine for blacks. With a vision of economic self-sufficiency, she established a newspaper in 1902, chartered the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in 1903 becoming the first woman bank president in the United States, and opened a store run by and for blacks. Throughout her life, Walker persevered and thrived despite personal, social and professional obstacles.

This case illustrates the leadership and management challenges of starting a new firm based on a new business model and how success creates pressures that challenge the work/life balance which was one of the original goals of its two founders. The case also raises issues about the changing nature of careers and changing preferences people have for structuring their personal and professional lives.

a-connect was started in 2002 by three former McKinsey partners who wanted to develop an alternative business model consulting firm which they have positioned as a high-end staffing company. The company has been very successful, growing to revenues of CHF 30 million with offices in Zurich, Dusseldorf, Boston, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Instead of hiring full-time employees, the company uses a pool of 700 independent professionals (IP) who are typically former consultants from firms like Bain, BCG, and McKinsey. These professionals are managed by Talent Partners who match up IPs with client needs. One of the biggest challenges the firm faces is finding people who can fill this Talent Partner role since it requires a wide range of interpersonal and business development skills. As a way of instilling discipline in processes and procedures, from the very beginning the company set the objective of doing an IPO as a staffing company, thereby hoping to get the multiple of that category. Achieving this will require substantial growth in order to get to revenues of CHF 100 million, which they think is the size they need to be. Through the "Crystal Initiative" the company reviewed the three strategic choices of leveraging the operating platform, expanding the service portfolio, and focusing on the Global Sliver. They chose the latter, which means they decided to focus on getting deeper penetration into their existing large accounts. At the end of the case the founders are wondering if an IPO is still the right thing to do.

The "Breaking Through Action Plan" is a developmental tool based on the book, Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America by David A. Thomas and John J. Gabarro. The Action Plan was originally designed as part of a facilitated session, but can also be used in conjunction with the book. The Action Plan guides individuals through an examination of the critical areas of competence, credibility, confidence, and relationships. Completing this Action Plan will allow individuals to reflect on these critical areas and help them determine appropriate and impactful steps to help further their development.

This note reviews research findings on the leadership challenges of diversity, including the social psychology of similarity and difference, the value of multiple perspectives to problem-solving, the relationship between diversity and firm performance, and management paradigms for diversity.

The case traces the rise of Enron, covering the company's business innovations, personnel management, and risk management processes. It then examines the company's dramatic fall including the extension of its trading model into questionable new businesses, the financial reporting problems, and governance breakdowns inside and outside the firm. The case offers students an opportunity to explore why Enron failed and to understand the systemic problems in governance that affected its board of directors, the audit committee, the external auditors, and financial analysts.

Billionaire Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation, has purchased the Dow Jones & Company, which includes the Wall Street Journal, from the Bancroft family after many family discussions about the sale. At issue is whether Murdoch, known for his involved and hands-on management style, will impose his will on the editorial personnel and policies of the WSJ and risk destroying the very intellectual capital he has just acquired.

CEO Jim Billings wants to attract energetic, entrepreneurial talent to Stone Finch, Inc., which comprises an older division that fabricates products like piping and tanks for water and wastewater processing plants, and a much newer division that develops biochemical solutions associated with water purification. To accelerate the company's growth, Billings sets up subsidiaries to create cutting-edge technologies that can be brought to market by the biochemical solutions division. After a few years the subsidiaries have indeed produced innovative products and driven growth; however, problems are surfacing. Much of the investment in the subsidiaries has come from the old manufacturing-based "cash cow" division, which is now suffering from turnover, loss of morale, and loss of competitive position. Moreover, the solutions division -- which has absorbed numerous employees who became wealthy by developing successful subsidiaries -- is plagued by increasing polarization between the "haves" and the "have-nots."