Book Alert / The Powers to Lead

The Powers to Lead by Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Oxford UP '08, $21.95, 226 pages, ISBN #0195335627. Index, bibliography, source notes, unillustrated.

In his last book, Soft Power, the professor and former dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government explained why the traditional "command and control" form of leadership has become outmoded because of changes in culture and technology. In its place has come "soft power," which he said depends on trust and attraction.

In his latest work, Joseph Nye suggests a blend of the two, which he calls "smart power." Here, authoritarian leadership melds with a softer style "that seeks to attract, inspire and persuade rather than dictate." A key to its implementation, he argues, is possession of "contextual intelligence."

In Nye's view, hard power, soft power or a melding of the two will be effective only in the context of whatever group one seeks to lead. "In the White House," he writes, "(Lyndon) Johnson needed different political skills (for example, public rhetoric to express a vision and managerial skills to implement it) from those he needed in the Senate," where his task was to assemble majority coalitions of legislators.

Leaders who would seek to assemble coalitions of nations must consider the culture of each, he says. For example, "Theorists have identified at least four patterns in Europe: Anglo market orientation, French pyramidal structures, Scandinavian consensual approach, and German machine efficiency. A European leader has to understand these differences. A two-hour meeting in Germany may take all day in southern Italy."

Then too, the nature of persuasion varies with the target entity: that needed to win over a non-profit organization inevitably differs from that of a corporation. "For example, in bargaining over wages," Nye argues, "inspirational appeals and symbols of soft power are more likely to be successful in a nonprofit situation than in a corporate setting where workers believe the employer has deep pockets."