Leadership for the
Common Good
Tackling Public Problems
in a Shared-Power World
Second Edition
Barbara C. Crosby
John M. Bryson
Leadership for the Common Good
Leadership for the
Common Good
Tackling Public Problems
in a Shared-Power World
Second Edition
Barbara C. Crosby
John M. Bryson
Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Crosby, Barbara C., 1946–
Leadership for the common good : tackling public problems in a
shared-power world / Barbara C. Crosby, John M. Bryson.-- 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Bryson's name appears first on the earlier edition.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7879-6753-X (alk. paper)
1. Leadership. 2. Political leadership. 3. Common good. 4. Public
administration. I. Bryson, John M. (John Moore), 1947– II. Title.
JF1525.L4B79 2005
303.3'4--dc22
2004025833
Printed in the United States of America
FIRST EDITION
HB Printing
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface
xiii
Acknowledgments
xxv
The Authors
Part One: Understanding Leadership
in Shared-Power Settings
1
2
3
4
5
When No One Is in Charge: The Meaning
of Shared Power
xxix
1
3
Leadership Tasks in a Shared-Power World:
Leadership in Context, and Personal Leadership
34
Leadership Tasks in a Shared-Power World:
Team and Organizational Leadership
64
Leadership Tasks in a Shared-Power World:
Visionary, Political, and Ethical Leadership
108
Policy Entrepreneurship and the Common Good
156
Part Two: The Process of Policy Entrepreneurship
195
6
Forging an Initial Agreement to Act
197
7
Developing an Effective Problem Definition
to Guide Action
216
8
Searching for Solutions in Forums
242
9
Developing a Proposal That Can Win in Arenas
267
10
Adopting Policy Proposals
290
11
Implementing and Evaluating New Policies,
Programs, and Plans
312
vii
viii
12
CONTENTS
Reassessing Policies and Programs
340
Summary and Conclusion
359
References
365
Resource A: Conflict Management
393
Resource B: A Guide to Oval Mapping
395
Resource C: Seven Zones
399
Resource D: Forums, Arenas, and Courts
401
Resource E: Future Search
427
Resource F: Initial Policy Retreats
433
Name Index
437
Subject Index
445
List of Exhibits
Exhibit 1.1.
Exhibit 5.1.
Exhibit 6.1.
Exhibit 7.1.
Tackling Public Problems in a Shared-Power
World: Some Definitions
22
Policy Entrepreneurship and the
Common Good: Some Definitions
158
Characteristics of Effective Coordinating
Committees and Other Policy-Making Bodies
209
Generic Problem Statement Format
238
Exhibit 11.1. Guidance for Pilot Projects, Demonstration
Projects, and Transfer to Entire
Implementation System
337
Exhibit D.1. The Three Dimensions of Power
402
Exhibit D.2. Designing and Using Forums
410
Exhibit D.3. Designing and Using Arenas
416
Exhibit D.4. Designing and Using Courts
421
ix
List of Exercises
Exercise 1.1. Understanding Public Problems in a
Shared-Power World
Exercise 2.1. Discovering Cares and Concerns
Exercise 2.2. Assessing the Context for Leadership
Exercise 2.3. Assessing Global Trends
Exercise 2.4. Assessing Cultural Differences
Exercise 2.5. Exploring Personal Highs and Lows
Exercise 2.6. Assessing Additional Strengths and
Weaknesses
Exercise 2.7. Analyzing Social Group Membership
and Means of Bridging Differences
Exercise 3.1. Using “Snowcards” to Identify and Agree
on Norms
Exercise 3.2. Assessing Your Team
Exercise 3.3. Stakeholder Identification and Analysis
Exercise 3.4. Mission Development
Exercise 3.5. Constructing an Organizational Vision
of Success
Exercise 3.6. Assessing Your Organization
Exercise 4.1. Outlining and Constructing Personal Visions
Exercise 4.2. Using a Power-Versus-Interest Grid
Exercise 4.3. Analyzing Interpretive Schemes,
or Problem Frames
Exercise 4.4. Assessing Visionary Leadership Capacity
Exercise 4.5. Laying the Groundwork for a
Winning Coalition
Exercise 4.6 Assessing Political Leadership Capacity
21
38
43
45
48
50
60
62
72
78
83
85
88
103
116
121
124
130
137
144
xi
xii
LIST OF EXERCISES
Exercise 4.7. Identifying Ethical Role Models, and
Overcoming Barriers to Ethical Leadership
Exercise 4.8. Analyzing Ethical Principles, Laws,
and Norms
Exercise 4.9. Assessing Ethical Leadership Capacity
Exercise 5.1. Thinking About a Public Problem
Exercise 5.2. Thinking About the Public Interest and
the Common Good
Exercise 6.1. The Basic Stakeholder Analysis Technique
for a Policy Change Effort
Exercise 6.2. Constructing a Stakeholder Influence
Diagram
Exercise 6.3. Participation Planning Matrix
Exercise 6.4. Assessing Stakeholder Attitudes Toward
the Status Quo
Exercise 7.1. Developing Objectives from Preferred
Solutions for a Problem
Exercise 7.2. Constructing a Diagram of Bases of Power
and Directions of Interest (Goals)
Exercise 7.3. Constructing a Map of the Common Good
and Structure of a Winning Argument
Exercise 8.1. Undertaking a Solution Search Within
Specified Areas
Exercise 8.2. Constructing a Stakeholder-Issue
Interrelationship Diagram
Exercise 8.3. Using a Multicriteria Assessment Grid
Exercise 9.1. Pursuing a Big-Win or a Small-Win Strategy
Exercise 9.2. Constructing a Stakeholder-Support-VersusOpposition Grid
Exercise 9.3. Conducting a Stakeholder Role Play
Exercise 9.4. Constructing a Grid of Policy Attractiveness
Versus Stakeholder Capability
Exercise 11.1. Tapping Stakeholder Interests and
Resources for Policy Implementation
147
152
153
166
191
203
204
204
211
233
234
235
254
257
259
276
283
284
285
327
Preface
Our world is so complex, interdependent, and interrelated
that the old paradigms of singular leadership will not
work and cannot work.
SUZANNE W. MORSE
Remember that leaders come in both genders, all sizes,
[all] ages, [and] from all geographic areas and
neighborhoods.
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN
Several times over the last few years, we’ve asked ourselves about
our own call to leadership in a world beset by unprecedented challenges and crises, from the AIDS pandemic to global warming to
the destruction and fear wrought by terrorism and state responses
to it. We have joined particular initiatives to respond to these challenges, but we always return to the conviction that our best contribution is teaching and writing about how the world’s citizens can
work together for the common good in their organizations and
communities.
In particular, we realized it was high time to respond to the
many users of the original Leadership for the Common Good who asked
for more practical guidance in how to lead in a shared-power environment, and for more recent and varied examples of how others are striving to achieve the common good. The new Leadership
for the Common Good is our effort to update and make our leadership framework more accessible to a variety of audiences, to connect it with the challenges of the twenty-first century, and to draw
on the best of recent research on leadership and public problems.
We take heart (and guidance) from the many other leadership
scholars and practitioners who also have turned their attention to
the importance of shared leadership and the need for collaboration
xiii