Our Approach
The framework for leading change when the stakes are high and the answers aren't obvious.
What is Adaptive Leadership?
Adaptive Leadership is a language, framework and set of tools and practices for leading change during times of transition, uncertainty and possibility.
Developed over 40 years at Harvard Kennedy School, it is the most rigorously tested approach to leadership available to organizational leaders today.
Read “What is Adaptive Leadership?” – the definitive guide.
The Work of Leadership
Adaptive Leadership is designed to help people tackle the problems that resist all other approaches. Unlike conventional leadership frameworks that focus on optimizing performance within existing systems, Adaptive Leadership addresses the challenges that resist those approaches. Where expertise alone won’t solve the problem and real progress requires changes in values, behaviors and ways of working.
We call the daily opportunities to do this work Leadership Moments. Our approach is built around helping leaders recognize those moments and act with both clarity and courage.
Recognize the Leadership Moment – Distinguish between problems that expertise can solve and challenges that require something more fundamental.
Define the Real Work – Identify what is actually being asked of the people involved. Often the presenting problem is not the real problem.
Build Allies and Partners – Progress on adaptive challenges requires mobilizing others. Building the coalitions, trust and shared purpose needed to move through change together.
Sustain the Work – Create conditions where leadership capacity deepens over time, not just in moments of crisis. The goal is organizations that can adapt continuously.