The 52nd Floor: Thinking Deeply About Leadership

Anyone who has worked for a large organization understands that all bureaucracies demand to be fed. Some of these bureaucracies can develop insatiable appetites, and when they do, the defining aspect between success and failure is often good leadership. But what is good leadership? Leaders are responsible for making sense of the ambiguity that emerges from the complex relationships that define organizations. They provide the frames to help us understand what we see. But when meaning and purpose begin to fade from the day-to-day taskers, special projects and reports, we are left to wonder whether we are observing mere nonsense or something else we just don t understand. How can we know? We must ask questions -- good questions.Any meaningful attempt to understand the complexities of organizational life requires considerable reflection upon one's own thinking. Through a collection of stories, The 52nd Floor: Thinking Deeply About Leadership takes readers on a reflective journey where they can discover for themselves the right questions to ask to create a path to become a better leader.Welcome to the 52nd Floor.

Dave Levy is an Associate Professor of Management at the United States Air Force Academy and holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Cornell University. He served on active-duty with the Air Force and later worked as an organizational change consultant for both KPMG and Grant Thornton. He is a renowned speaker in the field of adaptive leadership. Jim Parco is a Professor of Leadership and Strategy at Air Command & Staff College. He previously served on the National Security Council at the White House and internationally with an American Embassy. He holds an MBA from the College of William and Mary and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. He is widely published in the fields of economics, game theory, psychology and management. Fred Blass is a faculty member in the College of Business and the Director of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities Program at Florida State University. His professional education includes a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Florida State University and a M.A. from George Washington University.All three authors are Managing Principals of the RSC Consulting Group. For more information, please visit http://www.rscgroup.org