Scholar insights: The role of a leader

To blend the study and practice of leadership, we periodically offer brief insights from leadership scholars on the role and behaviors leaders should display to be most effective.

From Dr. Sim Sitkin, Michael W. Kryzewski Chair in Leadership and Faculty Director, Fuqua/Coach K Center of Leadership and Ethics at Duke University:

I think it's important that practitioners understand how difficult it is for people to make sense of the complex, rapidly changing world that we're in today. And it often seems to leaders that they don't need to explain things because it's clear to them, or because they're working with people who are very experienced; but it is a critical function for leaders to help take the complexity of the world and make it simpler and help people know what to focus on. It's important for leaders to know how to help people see what our strategy is, how the pieces of the organization fit together, why we have the norms and practices we do. And, finally, it's important for leaders to help individuals understand how their professional identity links with the identity of the organization.

View Dr. Sitkin's video