Ronald Heifetz Adaptive Leadership

Ronald Heifetz presents a theory of leadership in which he redefines leadership as an activity rather than a position of influence. He insists that it is high time that society abandons the idea, “leaders are born and not made”. Heifetz believes that leaders are confronted with two types of problems: technical problems, which can be solved by expertise and good management, and “adaptive” problems, such as poverty, drug abuse, and racial tensions, which require innovation and learning. Performing adaptive leadership requires that people change their values. Leadership consists not of answers or assured visions, but of acting to clarify values. In our text as well as in “Leadership Without Easy Answers”, Heifetz also explores what he calls “leadership without

Therefore, if adaptive leadership is the activity of mobilizing people to tackle tough adaptive challenges and thrive, as the pastor of Bethlehem African Methodist Episcopal Church, I should now be able to identify the adaptive challenges that presently confront my context. Not only should I be able to identify the challenges, but I should also be able to mobilize the members of the context as we seek to diagnose the challenge, ascertain possible interventions, and then perform those interventions through a process of experimentation until we experience change. The leadership of Bethlehem has been able to identify several adaptive challenges that can be observed right outside our church doors on a regular basis: poverty, prostitution, drugs, homelessness, and racism. Since Bethlehem currently has minor resources at our disposal we decided to take on the challenge of poverty: something every member of the church including our youth can participate in. A year ago, we sponsored a free thanksgiving dinner that was offered to mainly the residents in the community but open to anyone willing to come. We also gave out bags of food on a first come first serve basis. From