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Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader Kindle Edition

4.5 out of 5 stars 938 ratings

You aspire to lead with greater impact. The problem is you’re busy executing on today’s demands. You know you have to carve out time from your day job to build your leadership skills, but it’s easy to let immediate problems and old mind-sets get in the way. Herminia Ibarra—an expert on professional leadership and development and a renowned professor at INSEAD, a leading international business school—shows how managers and executives at all levels can step up to leadership by making small but crucial changes in their jobs, their networks, and themselves. In Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader, she offers advice to help you:

• Redefine your job in order to make more strategic contributions
• Diversify your network so that you connect to, and learn from, a bigger range of stakeholders
• Become more playful with your self-concept, allowing your familiar—and possibly outdated—leadership style to evolve

Ibarra turns the usual “think first and
then act” philosophy on its head by arguing that doing these three things will help you learn through action and will increase what she calls your outsight—the valuable external perspective you gain from direct experiences and experimentation. As opposed to insight, outsight will then help change the way you think as a leader: about what kind of work is important; how you should invest your time; why and which relationships matter in informing and supporting your leadership; and, ultimately, who you want to become.

Packed with self-assessments and practical advice to help define your most pressing leadership challenges, this book will help you devise a plan of action to become a better leader and move your career to the next level. It’s time to learn by doing.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Advance Praise for Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader:

"Have you had it with navel-gazing? In this terrific book, Herminia Ibarra offers the antidote. She reframes the leader's quest as a process of looking outward rather than inward and includes smart, practical suggestions for expanding your leadership opportunities." — Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author, The Power of Regret

"Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader provides insightful and practical advice about how to do the hardest thing of all—change ourselves." — Linda A. Hill, Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; coauthor, Collective Genius

"Herminia Ibarra has created a valuable and successful model for helping forward-thinking professionals move up the corporate ladder." — Marshall Goldsmith, founder, 100 Coaches; bestselling author, What Got You Here Won't Get You There

"Ibarra powerfully demonstrates how 'outsight' trumps insight for producing sustainable personal growth and provides practical, easy-to-follow lessons on how to use it." — Stewart D. Friedman, Professor of Management Practice, Emeritus, The Wharton School; bestselling author, Leading the Life You Want and Total Leadership

"Ibarra takes future leaders beyond the normal platitudes to a deeper and richer understanding of what it is to become a better leader." — Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice, London Business School; bestselling author and coauthor, Redesigning Work and The 100-Year Life

"This intelligent and thought-provoking book is for those who really want to make a difference—those willing to act their way into leadership situations they might previously have thought themselves out of." — Paul Polman, former CEO, Unilever; coauthor, Net Positive

"In Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader, Herminia Ibarra provides us with a wonderfully practical way of taking control of our own leadership transformation." — Tim Brown, cochair, IDEO; author, Change by Design

About the Author

Herminia Ibarra is an authority on leadership and career transitions. She is the Charles Handy Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School and is ranked among the top management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. She is a member of the World Economic Forum's Expert Network, a judge for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award, and a fellow of the British Academy. She is the author of the highly acclaimed book, Working Identity, and she writes regularly in leading publications, including Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.

Connect with Herminia Ibarra at herminiaibarra.com

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00O4CRR8S
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard Business Review Press
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 20, 2015
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.4 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 242 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1422184134
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 938 ratings

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Herminia Ibarra
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Herminia Ibarra is an authority on leadership and career transitions. She is the Charles Handy Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School and is ranked among the top management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. She is a member of the World Economic Forum's Expert Network, a judge for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award, and a fellow of the British Academy. She is the author of bestselling books, Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader, and Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career and writes regularly in leading publications, including Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
938 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this leadership book provides great information on how to become a leader, with one customer noting it's particularly valuable for early-mid and mid-career professionals. The book receives positive feedback for its readability, with customers describing it as a pleasure to read, and they appreciate its practical approach.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

38 customers mention "Leadership insight"38 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides great information on becoming a leader and is very insightful, with one customer noting it's particularly helpful for early-mid and mid-career professionals.

"...There are lots of good references to studies and research, so if you want to know “why” or “what science says” this is an excellent book for you...." Read more

"I enjoyed reading this book. It gave me some good insights that can improve my leadership skills. The 'Outsight' concept is definitely important." Read more

"...He is personal about his own journey of leadership and repeatedly emphasizes the non-linear, iterative nature of leadership development...." Read more

"Herminia’s approach to act first and then reflect on your leadership is refreshing...." Read more

33 customers mention "Readability"33 positive0 negative

Customers find the book enjoyable to read and consider it a must-read, with one customer noting it is very well written.

"...Ibarra uses helpful sidebars and chapter summaries to make key points. I particularly like the way that she has learned from teaching MBA students...." Read more

"I enjoyed reading this book. It gave me some good insights that can improve my leadership skills. The 'Outsight' concept is definitely important." Read more

"Excellent read!" Read more

"Good review but nothing that hasn't been presented in the management literature in the past" Read more

5 customers mention "Effectiveness"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book effective and practical.

"...It was powerful. The book is divided into five chapters, each with a specific topic and advice. Chapter Overviews..." Read more

"Herminia doesn't disappoint. Another great, practical and insightful book...." Read more

"...approach to the kind of leadership that inspires action and delivers results." Read more

"Easily the most practical and impactful book on leadership development." Read more

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I bought this along with my other 4 books and I must say that it arrived in perfect condition! I have not read the book as that I am busy with "The Dip" however, whether I like it or not, I will definitely learn many things from this book. A lot of my friends and family have recommended this book to me and I am happy to have the opportunity to read it.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2016
    Leadership transitions are always a challenge. It doesn’t matter if you’re assuming a leadership role for the first time, assuming a new role, or working to expand your influence while staying in the role or position you have, it’s always hard

    Fortunately, there are several good books out there to help you. I think of them as books about “shedding your old self and moving up.” Two of the best of those are Scott Eblin’s The Next Level and Marshall Goldsmith’s What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader is part of that group, but different and distinctive.

    Herminia Ibarra says that her book is about the process of learning to be a leader. It’s not so much about what kind of leader you should want to be. It’s about the process of becoming.

    The Basic Premise

    Most of the standard advice about how you grow into something new and learn new roles is that you start from the inside. Writers tell you to look for insight into what you are like and what you are good at. Then you should decide what you want to become. Ibarra goes back to Aristotle to recommend coming from a very different place.

    “Aristotle observed that people become virtuous by acting virtuous: if you do good, you’ll be good. His insight has been confirmed in a wealth of social psychology research showing that people change their minds by first changing their behavior. Simply put, change happens from the outside in, not from the inside out.”

    Instead of insight she labels what you’ll find starting from the outside as “outsight.” It’s what makes Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader, distinctive and effective. There are three sources of “outsight.” There are new ways of doing your work. There are new relationships that create a new network. And there are new ways of connecting to and engaging people.

    As I read it, I found that the process she outlines gave me different perspectives on a number of issues. It was powerful. The book is divided into five chapters, each with a specific topic and advice.

    Chapter Overviews

    Chapter 1 lays the groundwork for the rest of the book and outlines what Ibarra calls her “outsight” principle. She says that if you want to step into leadership, you have to learn to act like a leader. Because who you are today is a product of your past experiences and successes, it is hard for you to think your way into acting in the new ways you need to act. So, act first and learn from what happens.

    Chapter 2 is titled “Redefine Your Job.” Ibarra talks about the competency traps that we fall into when we do more and more of the things that we are good at, get praised for, and are comfortable doing. When we fall into competency traps, we miss out on opportunities to learn to do other things that are also important and that may be more important in a new situation.

    Chapter 3 is about networking. This isn’t the “networking” from self-help books. It’s networks as social organizations. You need to expand your network outside your current job and team, and perhaps company. You need to bring in other people who can help you make the transitions you want to make and share wisdom with you, because they’ve already been to the places you want to go.

    The problem with trying new things, with learning by doing and creating a new kind of you is that it often feels false. So in Chapter 4, Ibarra suggests you should be more playful with yourself. What she does in this chapter is give you ways to try on new behaviors without threatening your authentic self and to develop an authentic self that fits your new situation as well as your nature.

    Chapter 5 is about managing the stepping-up process. The big insight here is that stepping up to play a bigger leadership role isn’t something that you do once and then are done with. It’s a process. It takes a while. And if you understand it that way, you can keep working at it and keep developing.

    A Very Well Written Book

    There’s a lot of good material in this book, and it’s also very well done. There are lots of good references to studies and research, so if you want to know “why” or “what science says” this is an excellent book for you. Ibarra uses helpful sidebars and chapter summaries to make key points. I particularly like the way that she has learned from teaching MBA students. That gives her a range of examples that will be familiar to most readers.

    Bottom Line

    If you are in the midst of growing into a new leadership role, or if you are thinking about expanding your leadership influence, Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader by Herminia Ibarra is a great book for you.

    This review appeared first on my Three Star Leadership blog.
    46 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2025
    I enjoyed reading this book. It gave me some good insights that can improve my leadership skills. The 'Outsight' concept is definitely important.
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2017
    There are many books that define the problems of current leadership and describe a better leadership destination. This book is not one of them. This is more for those who are caught somewhere in-between that unpredictable journey of good to great. Herminia Ibarra provides his readers with the fruits of a ten-year research journey and the common denominator of successful leadership development. It’s called “outsight”. Outsight is essentially acting yourself into a new way of being. Ibarra is a self-confessing contrarian because he subverts the holy grail of leadership development these days: self-reflection. Introspection on your past, Ibarra says, can be counter-productive without actually changing how you go about doing your job, connecting with your network, and actively experimenting with your leadership identity. Action comes first, then self-relfection. Thus the title of the book. The quote at the outset by psychologist Karl Weick poses Ibarra’s central question to the reader, “How can I know what I think until I see what I do?"

    In the age of fast-paced transitions and do-it-yourself “jungle gym careers”, Ibarra finds that the primary challenge for ambitious leaders is their inability to move out of their realm of expertise and onto the balcony where they can see and sense the broader systemic challenges. In order to step up into this balcony, you must redefine the habits of your daily routine, network outside your comfort zone, and play with your sense of leadership self-concept. Ibarrow borrows from a number of spheres to clarify each of these actions. In the realm of business leadership he connects outsight with micro-mangagement, cross-instituational collaboration, as well as “the vision thing”. Ibarra also borrows from the realm of psychology to clarify the connection between doing, thinking, and self-understanding. He is personal about his own journey of leadership and repeatedly emphasizes the non-linear, iterative nature of leadership development.

    Perhaps the most clarifying moment for me in this book was Ibarra’s deconstruction of the virtue of “authenticity”. While being true to yourself has value, Ibarra often sees authenticity as a trap that gets leaders stuck in their past. With reference to a popular TED talk (Ibarra references TED talks throughout), he suggests a better approach, “be like water” or shape-shift your leadership identity with agility in an effort to achieve your personal and organizational goals. While some leader types might at first disagree because they value transparency and integrity, Ibarra’s ideas about imitation and identity are a helpful remedy for those who feel stuck in how a leader “ought to be”.

    Ibarra’s work is directed at the self-made and career-focused. They are, as Fransican Priest Richard Rohr likes to say, the goals of the “first half of life”. That said, much of the best wisdom from leading and career-advancing researchers like Ibarra is their ability to connect leadership with an overall holistic life. As a pastoral leader myself, the virtues of curiosity, humility, and interdependency for the sake of the common good rings true. Leading well, it seems, has much overlap with basic Christian discipleship. While pastoral leaders can righty be critical about the business model of church and the career-climing mentality, there is much to glean from the wisdom of leaders like Herminia Ibarra.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2025
    Excellent read!
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2024
    Herminia’s approach to act first and then reflect on your leadership is refreshing. I work in the leadership development space and I often see people paralyzed by trying to map out a career path. They don’t know where to start. This book will give them the advice they need to get moving.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2015
    Good review but nothing that hasn't been presented in the management literature in the past
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2016
    I don't often write reviews, but after finishing Chapter 2 of this book, I realized I just had 2 epiphanies, 2 chapters deep. Unheard of for me. So far, this book has made me realize that I need to look around me and think objectively about myself to start acting and thinking like a leader. Not only a leader, but a person in society. A leader in society. I have sticky notes littering the pages and am constantly thinking about ways I can use what Ibarra is saying in the text to act on improving my relationships (professional and personal) and work to be the best leader I can be - without boxing myself into a stereotype. I recommend this book to anyone who is wanting to improve themselves, both professionally and personally. So glad I bought this book.
    15 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2015
    Herminia Ibarra goes beyond the common sense advices of how to become a leader. Some insights are really good reflections as : does this change start inside us or outside (by our actions) or is it possible to copy our heroes without loosing our own personal characteristics?
    The chapters are concise and build a path to achieve our goal : redefine our job, our network and our self . Then act now.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Manageris
    5.0 out of 5 stars Comment concilier management opérationnel et posture de leader ?
    Reviewed in France on August 17, 2015
    L'auteur a vu passer dans ses programmes de leadership beaucoup d'excellents managers opérationnels qui ne parvenaient pas toujours à adopter la posture de leadership attendue et qui se voyaient refuser des promotions en dépit de très bons résultats. L'auteur recommande de s'appuyer sur la dimension opérationnelle, sur l'action pour développer ce fameux leadership. Elle détaille les grands types d'actions à mener pour se positionner progressivement comme leader : comment faire évoluer la nature de sa valeur ajoutée, comment trouver des marges de manœuvre, construire son réseau vers le haut et en transverse, élargir la palette de ses styles de leadership. Les exemples utilisés sont très inspirants.
    Report
  • trung
    5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book on stepping up
    Reviewed in Australia on January 10, 2024
    Very good book. Highly recommend for those who wants to change for better and struggle with the idea of not being authentic
  • 9447914010301202202112022021030104197449
    4.0 out of 5 stars A bit advanced version of conventional leadership books
    Reviewed in Japan on September 18, 2016
    While most books on leadership state that it is important to envision the end result of you as a leader upfront, the author argues that the end result comes last and that you have to act first.

    Her arguments sounded authentic, genuine and realistic. Those who are thinking about stepping up to a leadership role should read it before determining what to do.
  • Cesar Ramirez
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good advice and it is definitely applicable to reality
    Reviewed in Canada on March 22, 2018
    Excellent perspective on achieving and keeping leadership positions. It definitely applies to reality and allows the reader to draft a plan to start acting like a leader right away.
  • Beto
    5.0 out of 5 stars insightful and practical
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2023
    The book challenges the traditional authentic leader model based on a solid, well researched basis. It offers practical tools and ways of approaching your leadership development. The real life cases are less impressive than the theory.

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