Book Tip No. 11 (2015): Radical Leadership

Frankfurt am Main 2012.

Reinhard Sprenger asks the crucial question right on page 15 himself: “Is there anything new in your book?” and he counters this self-posed question: “When was something new ever written?”. The reader might be inclined to put the book down, but a few lines further down, the most profiled management consultant in Germany (blurb) then formulates his statement: “A book that comprehensively and with the mediation of systemic guidelines and individual properties describes what is really timeless and essential about leadership, that has not yet existed.” (p. 15).

So one can be curious. Sprenger delivers – in a well-readable form and very knowledgeable written – considerations on the topic of leadership, which on the one hand reflect the state of research, which on the other hand “radically” question conventional views. Does this help (prospective) executives? With some certainty yes. Because it leads to a comprehensive understanding of the leadership process, to its limits, its situational constraints and conditions, it leads to a “non-heroic” leadership behavior, because after all, incentive systems, organizational structures and processes narrow the actual leadership scope.

Some things may be self-evident – such as the hint that managers have to reduce transaction costs in companies, but many of Sprenger’s considerations – linguistically appealing and pointedly packaged – stimulate to rethink and redesign one’s own leadership everyday life. Here alone, however, it becomes clear that one can confidently give up the search for the “only right” leadership style.