The context of leadership has changed. Traditionally, leaders worked in organizations in which people largely shared a common culture and set of values. Today, leaders must bring together groups of people with very different histories, perspectives, values, and cultures. The people you lead are likely to be different from you and from each other in significant ways. Leaders today need an awareness of social identity, their own and that of others.

This series of guidebooks draws on the practical knowledge that the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has generated, since its inception in 1970, through its research and educational activity conducted in partnership with hundreds of thousands of managers and executives. Much of this knowledge is shared-in a way that is distinct from the typical university department, professional association, or consultancy. CCL is not simply a collection of individual experts, although the individual credentials of its staff are impressive; rather it is a community, with its members holding certain principles in common and working together to understand and generate practical responses to today's leadership and organizational challenges.
The purpose of the series is to provide managers with specific advice on how to complete a developmental task or solve a leadership challenge. In doing that, the series carries out CCL's mission to advance the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide.
We think you will find the Ideas Into Action Guidebooks an important addition to your leadership toolkit.

Kelly M. Hannum is an enterprise associate in the Global Leadership and Diversity and the Design and Evaluation groups at the Center for Creative Leadership. She holds a Ph.D. in educational research, measurement, and evaluation from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.