The Dance of Leadership: The Art of Leading in Business, Government, and Society

by Janet V Denhardt

Most successful leaders know that leadership is an art, not a science. They recognize that beyond all the sophisticated systems and theories, the strategies and tactics, leadership is ultimately about intangible things such as timing, intuition, and passion This book shows how successful leaders can master the artistic aspects of their work. It guides readers to the ways that the leadership can be practiced and learned. "The Dance of Leadership" explores the art of leadership by examining the perspectives, training, and insights of artists, most particularly in the fields of music and dance. The authors look at how these people learn their craft, practice their skills, and attain mastery of their art. Then they adapt these lessons from the arts to the experiences of successful leaders in all fields. This book incorporates in-depth interviews with some of the world's premier artists and writers, as well as dozens of leader business, government, the military, and sports. The result is a book that celebrates the art of leadership - but an art that can learned, developed, and practiced.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jim Razinha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I pulled this from a shelf in my office (leadership books acquired over time, more than a few I've not gotten to yet) and had hopes. In the first chapter, the authors observe "we think leading is something people do at all levels of society and in all areas of human endeavor." While that should be intuitively obvious to the most casual observer, a quick survey of the body of work out there returns a majority targeting traditional leaders and how to improve. I find the best books on leadership are not the academic overwritings of say, Kouzes and Posner, or the annoying parables of Blanchard or Lencioni, but the ones that bring a different perspective, a non-traditional perspective (thus, my hopes). correlating the qualities of good leadership with dance, music and other arts should have been a winner.

To play the hands dealt, this falls short of having any real contribution to the repertoire. There are takeaways, but there is little depth. These are basics, with the difference of anecdotes culled, or more probably created, from the arts world.

Still, here are a few margin notes. Each chapter has four pseudo-anecdotes setting the expectations of the chapter topic. For the chapter titled "The Interplay of Space, Time, and Energy", one was

An executive, sensing that where she sits in a crowded meeting will make a difference in the way people respond to her, moves instinctively toward the "head" of the table."

Bad example. Or, rather, good example of an immature (sadly, traditional) leader. "Instinctively" is a problem. Good leaders think about things like that. For me, depends on the purpose of the meeting. If it is my meeting and I don't want my presence to influence, I'll sit to the side or back. I'm more interested in productive conversations than seeking my concurrence (well, it's still needed, but not during the process!) It it is my meeting and I want my presence to influence - maybe I need to establish a direction, convey expectations, etc. - I will sit where I can "command" attention.

Artists see the world differently from other people. Their italics, and spot on. I like to populate the table with as many brains as needed plus more (one of the things I do is manage design and construction of capital facilities.) I value different perspectives.

In that same chapter (this is where the most value is, it seemed when I was done), the authors use a metaphor of moving between boxes and making an assumption moving steadily from box to box results in success, and making the mistake of thinking time stands still while in the various boxes. That they acknowledge boxes is good (and they fall into the trap of saying leaders need to "think outside the box", not knowing there is always a box!)

In the chapter titled "Communicating in Images, Symbols, and Metaphors, the authors bring up Howard Gardner and his book Frames of Mind. Gardner posited multiple intelligences. I wasn't totally on-board with Gardner, considering some of his "intelligences" skills rather than, well, intelligence, but that was just my take.

And my take here is that despite that different perspective, this does offer much.

[Tom Bazan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Denhardt and Denhardt (2006) connect lessons from the arts--specifically, dance--to leadership. The general idea is that the science of leadership "can only take us so far" (175). There are other, intangible, aspects of leadership that science does not teach. And, they argue, several of those lessons can come from studying dance. Once we learn what those aspects are (i.e., working with space, time, and energy; understanding that human interactions have rhythms; communicating with images, symbols, and metaphors; and improvising with creativity and spontaneity), then we can begin to learn to develop the (internal and external) skills to apply them. Lessons in the book are based on interviews with several dance and leadership professionals.

The book is an interesting take on leadership. It admits something that may be left out of other books on leadership--the intangibles. There are things that draw us to great leaders and give leaders the ability to connect with and motivate people in an organization. This book makes some of those intangibles tangible. It is not as much a map--how to get the intangibles--as much as it is an overview of aspects of leadership to look for and work on.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great perspective about leadership and its practice. A must read for any leader who someone who wants to be one.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a really foundational text for understanding transformative leadership in any kind of organization. Denhardt interviews examples of this effective brand of manager from across the disciplines and focuses in on how creativity informs their work. There's special attention given to how the discipline of artists relates to management philosophy and skill...it's really quick read, easy to follow, but chock full of good stuff.