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Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership [Paperback]

Bill Torbert (Author)

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 1 May 2004

Action Inquiry introduces readers to “action inquiry”—a type of disciplined leadership practice that increases the timeliness of one’s actions

Timely leadership action helps teams, organizations, and still larger institutions become more creative, more aware, more just, and more capable of self-transformation as warranted.

The book’s appendix describes the scholarly basis for the book’s claims, as well as how the practice of action inquiry transforms social science itself.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } Action Inquiry introduces readers to “action inquiry”—a type of disciplined leadership practice that increases the timeliness of one’s actions

Timely leadership action helps teams, organizations, and still larger institutions become more creative, more aware, more just, and more capable of self-transformation as warranted.

The book’s appendix describes the scholarly basis for the book’s claims, as well as how the practice of action inquiry transforms social science itself.

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Product details

Paperback: 248 pages
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler (1 May 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 157675264X
ISBN-13: 978-1576752647
Product Dimensions: 15.4 x 2 x 22.8 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 244,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

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Product Description

About the Author

Now Professor of Management at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, William Torbert has earlier served as the school’s Graduate Dean and Director of the PhD Program in Organizational Transformation.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
"By ""action inquiry,"" we mean a kind of behavior that is simultaneously productive and self-assessing." Read the first page

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific: a real bible of leadership 20 July 2008

By Ian

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Books on leadership typically fall into one of these categories:
* Airport business books with a snappy title and a breezy style. They are quick and easy to read, and offer tips, aphorisms and advice.
* "Here is how I did it" by a famous business leader offering the story of their struggle and their tips for success.
* Bandwagon drivel. An academic or writer, usually with no leadership experience or knowledge, publishes some garbage with leadership in the title because they sell. So many books fall into this category, unfortunately.
* Rare and true insight on what leadership is all about. Perhaps about 1% of leadership books fall into this category.

Action Inquiry is in the last category, offering rare and true insight.

People grow through different 'action logics', and these action logics reflect what meaning they make from events/circumstances and how they tend respond to those circumstances. For example, suppose someone strongly disagrees with you?

A 'diplomat' would interpret it as rejection, and tend to hide/flee from conflict.
An 'expert' would be certain the other person was wrong, and try to use arguments/data to persuade the other person, probably doing very little listening.
An 'achiever' would do more listening than an expert and try to find common ground, but still see the other person as a barrier/blocker to overcome.
A 'strategist' would be me much more adept at balancing listening and persuading, understanding the other person's point of view, finding the root cause of the disagrement, and exploring common ground. Strategist would be much more likely to see the disagreement as an opportunity to improve their own understanding rather than as a barrier to overcome.... Read more ›

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Missing in method 14 Nov 2010

By Simon D

Format:Paperback

I have just completed a master's project where I used an Action Inquiry as a methodology. The fundamentals are simple; it is about learning to simultaneously act and reflect upon action and modify that action as necessary. It is a very challenging process to enact and therein lies my disappointment in this book. Despite a comprehensive discussion about the underlying principles and then a description of various action logics, I did not find they tied together particularly well. The other major aspect missing from this book is a method of Action Inquiry which I anticipate will leave readers, like me, a little bit at sea trying to implement what is proposed and move through the various action logics. However, I do have to say that once I found a method that worked from me, the outcomes were extremely positive.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh action awareness 20 Jan 2012

By N. Marik

Format:Paperback

To live at one's leisure, performing work of value to others, listening into the dark, exercising presencing attention, and loving even what turns from the light in ourselves and others: this is one good way to express what it is in a lifetime of action inquiry that can be named "the secret of timely and transforming leadership".

'Who among us would voluntarily take on the continual suffering of witnessing the gaps among intentions, espoused values, actual practices, and outcomes in ourselves, in others, in organizations, and in larger social processes? Who struggles to transform such suffering, not into imprisoning neuroses or social victories at others' cost, but, rather, into emancipating consciousness that graces each meeting afresh?'

This book by Bill Torbert and his associates establishes, once and for all, that the ultimate objective function in life is continuous personal development.

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