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Leading through Disruption
Book

Leading through Disruption

A Changemaker’s Guide to Twenty-First Century Leadership

HarperCollins Leadership, 2023 more...

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Concrete Examples
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

Contemporary business is complex, confusing, and disruptive, leaving leaders wondering where to find high-level guidance. Author Andrew N. Liveris is glad to offer some counsel based on his experience as the former CEO and chairman of The Dow Chemical Company, former chairman of the US-China Business Council, and trusted advisor to four US presidents. He shares his hard-earned expertise to help today’s leaders adapt and thrive. Liveris’s knowledge extends well beyond commerce. For example, he includes a telling report on how China has changed, but his business advice – urging both focus and flexibility – may be his book’s most enduring contribution.

Summary

Today’s tough times call for strong, adaptable leaders. 

The modern business world’s frightening disruptions, disasters, and disturbances require steady leadership from tough leaders who can adapt, absorb shocks, and prepare for the future.

Leaders must provide the corporate, financial, and societal foundations to keep their organizations on an even keel while making both progress and profits. They need to develop “platforms of understanding” for their stakeholders while helping their organizations master both their immediate environment and their future trajectory.

Most countries and companies operate strictly for their own benefit, even during international emergencies, like the COVID pandemic.

After World War II, prominent nations created what came to be known as the “liberal international order” (LIO), which is anchored by enduring international institutions: the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Health Organization, the G7, and eventually the G8.

Today these organizations face tremendous challenges from what an environment policy expert Ian&#...

About the Author

Former CEO and chairman of The Dow Chemical Company, Andrew N. Liveris also wrote Make it in America: The Case for Re-Inventing the Economy.


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