There are five components of leadership which represent independent but mutual reinforcing forces for positive change, according to Michael Fullan in his book Leading in a Culture of Change. The five components are: moral purpose, understanding change, relationship building, knowledge creation and sharing, and coherence making. All effective leaders also possess the personal characteristics which the author labels “the energy-enthusiasm-hopefulness constellation”. Leaders who possess all of the five core components of leadership engender long-term commitment in their followers, and the result is that more good things happen and fewer bad things happen.
These insights are described in the first chapter. I found the rest of the book rather dry, but mercifully brief. Most of the author’s examples are drawn from the author’s experience with school systems, which he assumes can be extrapolated to other types of organisations; however it seems to me that the cultural gap between the typical business and the typical school is just too great to make such assumptions. Further, the book tends to equate leadership with knowledge building; this seems to be more relevant in a school environment where the whole purpose of the system is to build knowledge, rather than in a typical business environment.
On the whole, I think that the author’s solution for leading in a culture of change, as described in the book, is not sufficient. The author is critical of visionary leaders, but his vague notions of “moral purpose” and aim of making “more good things happen and fewer bad things happen” are not sufficient for coping with a complex and rapidly changing environment. Organisations which focus only on incremental improvements will be swamped by organisations in which leaders can choose a clear path for future success and inspire their followers to align themselves with that path.