Claremont Graduate University Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Organizational Behavior Jean Lipman-Blumen is a co-founding director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Leadership. She has served as assistant director of the National Institute of Education and as special advisor to the Domestic Policy Staff in the White House under President Carter, has consulted for various governments and private sector organizations, and was the president of L-BS International, Ltd., a management consulting and public policy research firm. She has published six books, three monographs, and more than 70 articles on public policy, management, leadership, crisis management, and gender issues. Her book, The Connective Edge: Leading in an Interdependent World (Jossey-Bass, 1996), paperback (Oxford University Press, 2000), was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Hot Groups: Seeding Them, Feeding Them, and Using Them to Ignite Your Organization, with Harold J. Leavitt, professor emeritus, Stanford Graduate School of Business, was the American Publishers' Association "Business Book of the Year." Her most recent book is The Allure of Toxic Leaders: Why We Follow Destructive Bosses and Corrupt Politicians - and How We Can Survive Them (Oxford University Press, 2004). Professor Lipman-Blumen consults to numerous public and private sector organizations in the U.S. and abroad. She also serves on several editorial and other not-for-profit boards, including the International Leadership Association and the De Pree Leadership Center.

Blog Entries by Jean Lipman-Blumen

The Valuable Inconvenience of Leadership: A Message for the Class of 2009

Posted May 22, 2009 | 05:23 PM (EST)


As graduation season rolls around once again, it is time to ask the new crop of bright and eager graduates to consider an important challenge. The immense problems the world faces require every graduate to engage in what I call "the valuable inconvenience of leadership." Class of 2009, will you...

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Four Reasons Why Obama is the Connective Leader for a New Era

Posted January 22, 2009 | 07:02 PM (EST)


Economist John Kenneth Galbraith's measure of the best world leaders he had known was their ability to meet the unique challenges of their era. President Barack Obama's inaugural address and his campaign leading up to it make it clear that he is determined to do just that. His determination is...

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Bush: Perhaps the Most Toxic Leader of Our Time

Posted January 16, 2009 | 06:25 PM (EST)


As President George W. Bush exits the White House, the trail of destruction he leaves behind bears many earmarks of a toxic leader. Toxic leaders, by virtue of their dysfunctional personal qualities and destructive behavior, inflict serious and enduring harm on their followers, as well as many others who happen...

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Bush: Perhaps the Most Toxic Leader of Our Time

Posted January 16, 2009 | 04:22 PM (EST)


As President George W. Bush exits the White House, the trail of destruction he leaves behind bears many earmarks of a toxic leader. Toxic leaders, by virtue of their dysfunctional personal qualities and destructive behavior, inflict serious and enduring harm on their followers, as well as many others who happen...

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