EPI Book Recommendations: Open Leadership

A monthly-ish column from our friends Jerry, Ron and Howard at Education Partnerships, Inc. (EPI) who work with GEAR UP principals. They will offer a short review of a book that will inspire, motivate, and/or challenge educators. This month, Ron reviews Open Leadership: How social technology can transform the way you lead, by Charlene Li. 

Li explores the way social media technology has changed the relationship between leaders and their constituents. She explains how social media tools can improve efficiency, communication and decision-making. But she cautions that these tools also require a more “open” and transparent leadership style.

Li cautions leaders to not minimize the transformation that social media technology has had on our society. To do so is to put your organization at risk. People expect organizations like schools to be more open, to share information, and to embrace their online presence. She points out that regardless of a leader’s attitude toward social media, their school is being talked about online and people are sharing information and making judgments based on that information.  Leaders can choose to be part or the conversation or not. But the conversation is going on.

While Li is clearly an advocate for use of social media, one of the strengths of the book is that it provides readers with a set of guidelines, strategies and tools that can be used to analyze the benefits and risks of becoming more “open.” Li introduces readers to the “Ten Elements of Openness” and offers explicit tools to assess your own openness and to work with those in your organization so that you can responsibly respond to the altered expectations for openness.

Open Leadership is engagingly written and gently encourages each of us to reflect on our personal leadership style and consider how social media technology is transforming our work. It is thoughtful look at the impact a new technology on the work of leaders.