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As employees strive to do their jobs, they face threats to productivity from all quarters-disruptive technology, meddlesome superiors, senseless organizational practices, and abusive clients and customers. Sutton, of Stanford University, reminds us that the best bosses identify and slay those dragons, thereby protecting the time and the dignity of their people and enabling them to focus on real work. Self-awareness is the key to defending employees effectively. Good leaders resist their own tendency to exercise power: They keep meetings short, listen to their followers, and make it safe to disagree with the boss. They also work to reduce outside distractions by, for example, championing mornings free of e-mail or streamlining performance review processes. When their own bosses are the problem, they occasionally defy orders. Once in a while, they encourage their people to overtly comply with misguided demands from on high without actually buying in to them. Good bosses fight enemies. They take the heat for their teams. They have their employees' backs. Stepping on to this battlefield requires humility, intelligence, and bravery. In leading the charge to make the workplace safe and productive, however, you may risk martyrdom. Don't lose sight of the need to retain your own political power as you defend against the institutional forces that threaten your employees. And remember that preserving your own well-being will ensure that you have the energy to fight the good fight.

In 2004, Rick Hendrick, owner of the NASCAR racing operation Hendrick Motorsports, lost most of his management team in a plane crash. Among those killed was his brother and his only son, Ricky, whom Hendrick had been grooming to take over the business. Yet this devastating accident would inspire everyone in the company to fight harder, and would transform Hendrick into a wiser leader.

One of the world's most famous newspaper editors talks about leading the Washington Post through Watergate and beyond-and reflects on the future of print journalism.

Fresh research shows that people who've lived abroad are more creative problem solvers and effectively better managers.

Many organizations have anger-management programs for their most egregious bullies, but the reality is that the vast majority of employees will experience anger triggered by anything from a family quarrel to a lost parking space-and their work will suffer for it. Here's some fresh research on how anger affects cognitive function.

Contrary to what most people think, gossip is actually good for organizations. It can spread valuable information to employees and helps networks establish norms and censure those who don't adhere to them. So why do managers dislike it? Because it threatens their control. Research shows that the more you gossip, the higher your peers rate your informal influence.

One surefire way to avoid failure is to narrowly define it. If you care about your company and your customers, entrepreneur Seth Godin argues, you'll take a much more inclusive view.

Why large companies are hiring artists to draw their meetings.

Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences Elinor Ostrom discusses the challenges posed by the world's common-pool resources (CPRs) and how to approach collective-action dilemmas. She presents seven 'design principles' for well-managed CPRs and talks about some of the key challenges to implementing them, explains what 'nested attributes' are and describing the benefits of collective management and 'polycentric' systems.

The periphery -- that 'fuzzy zone' at the edges of your organization's focus -- is where early signals of both threats and opportunities can first be sensed, the authors argue. Their study of more than 300 global executives found that 80 per cent felt that their organizations had less capacity for peripheral vision than they needed, and the majority of leaders in another study said that they had been surprised by as many as three high-impact events in the past five years alone. They describe how 'network reach', 'network capture', 'network speed' and 'network resilience' can be harnessed to contribute to strong peripheral vision.

In most western societies, the concept of choice -- and the ability to exercise it -- is seen as fundamental to people's sense of autonomy and well being. As a result of this 'choice is good' thinking, the number of offerings in a wide variety of product and service categories has increased significantly over time. For instance, compared to just 10 years ago, the range of products available in a typical North American supermarket has increased by 55 per cent. The author describes five strategies for dealing with 'overchoice', including 'organizing and eliminating options' and 'encouraging attribute-based decision making'.

Some organizations - including Google, Pixar and Cirque de Soleil -- appear to thrive in ambiguity. The authors, senior consultants at design strategy firm Jump Associates, have a name for them: exploratory organizations. They describe five basic characteristics of exploratory organizations, including empathy and 'hybridity', and argue that by infusing their groups with some of the best practices of these organizations, leaders in any industry can dramatically increase their success at solving their most pressing challenges.

Whether they like it or not, business leaders will continue to be confronted with greater turbulence and uncertainty. The authors argue that the shift towards an environment characterized by rapid change, discontinuities and ambiguity necessitates three specific capabilities that are not readily apparent in many of today's organizations: taking an ecological perspective on the role of the organization within an interconnected web of interdependencies; helping people make sense of the events and rapid changes they are experiencing; and understanding and working constructively with acute anxiety states. They describe each skill in detail and show that we are experiencing a paradigm shift for how many of us think about leadership.

Although precise numbers are difficult to obtain, the United Nations reports that 2.5 million people are trafficked each year. Approximately 80 per cent of victims are women and girls, with most engaged in the sex trade. The authors, members of the Massachusetts General Hospital Initiative to End Slavery, conducted research in eight metropolitan areas: New York City, Los Angeles, London, Manila, Mumbai, Kolkata (India), Rio de Janeiro and Salvador (Brazil), interviewing hundreds of health workers and anti-trafficking leaders. Based on their research, they make four recommendations for global businesses, who they encourage to exercise leadership in the effort to eradicate human trafficking.

The Rohm and Haas Board decided how to move forward after its largest shareholder chose to sell all of its shares in the company.

The Dow Board made a bid for Rohm and Haas Company in order to transition its portfolio away from commodity chemicals towards specialty chemicals.

The global economy entered a crippling recession in the fourth quarter of 2008 and Dow lost its primary source of funding for its planned acquisition of Rohm and Haas.

Dow's board and management team worked on arranging appropriate financing to complete the acquisition of Rohm and Haas. Meanwhile, the board of Rohm and Haas filed suit against Dow after it delayed the completion of the acquisition.

Dow completed the acquisition of Rohm and Haas and escaped a battle in a Delaware courtroom

This primer outlines a process for preparing and executing personal development and growth. Our foundational idea is that a leader's effectiveness depends to a great degree on how others see him or her. Thus, improving as a leader often requires that a person tune in to how others perceive (and misperceive) him or her. We describe methods for gathering and analyzing others' views, culling a sense of personal strengths and development needs that reflect both others' perceptions and one's own personal goals and ambitions. We detail an approach to articulating a concrete and practical action plan and give suggestions for implementing and sustaining change.