David L. Dotlich & Peter C. Cairo 
Unnatural Leadership 
Going Against Intuition and Experience to Develop Ten New Leadership Instincts

Written by David Dotlich and Peter Cairo– two of the country’s top executive coaches and educators– Unnatural Leadership debunks the common notion of the natural leader as a flawless figure. The book describes the truth about being a real leader in a business environment turned upside down by e-commerce, diversity, security concerns, globalization, and matrix structures. Drawing on personal experience working with successful leaders in top-tier companies throughout the world, Dotlich and Cairo identify a style of leadership used by those who succeed in complicated business and people situations, a style that maximizes a leader’s strengths and acknowledges weaknesses.

Table of Content

Foreword ix
Stephen H. Rhinesmith

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction 1

Part One: The Importance of Unnatural Leadership

1 Ten Unnatural Acts 11

Exercise: Assessing Your Unnatural Leadership 29

2 Adapting to an Increasingly Unnatural Environment 31

Exercise: Breaking the Rules of Natural Leadership 46

3 Resistance Factors 47

Exercise: Assessing Your Resistance to Unnatural Leadership 66

Part Two: Personal Challenges for the Unnatural Leader

4 Refuse to Be a Prisoner of Experience 71

Exercise: Refusing to Be a Prisoner of Experience 86

5 Expose Your Vulnerabilities 89

Exercise: Exposing Your Vulnerabilities 102

6 Acknowledge Your Shadow Side 107

Exercise: Acknowledging Your Shadow Side 122

7 Develop a Right-Versus-Right Decision-Making Mentality 125

Exercise: A Tool for Developing an Unnatural Decision-Making Mentality 137

Part Three: Leading Teams as an Unnatural Leader

8 Create Teams That Create Discomfort 141

Exercise: Creating Teams That Create Discomfort 158

9 Trust Others Before They Earn It 161

Exercise: Trusting Others Before They Earn It 174

10 Coach and Teach Rather Than Lead and Inspire 177

Exercise: Coaching and Teaching Rather Than Leading and Inspiring 188

Part Four: Leading the Organization as an Unnatural Leader

11 Connect Instead of Create 193

Exercise: Connecting Instead of Creating 206

12 Give Up Some Control 209

Exercise: Giving Up Some Control 221

13 Challenge the Conventional Wisdom 225

Exercise: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom 239

14 Giving Yourself Unnatural Options 243

Bibliography 251

Index 257

About the Authors 267

About the author

DAVID L. DOTLICH, former executive vice president of Honeywell and Groupe Bull, is a partner of CDR International (www.cdrintl.com) and coauthor of Action Learning (Jossey-Bass, 1998) and Action Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 1999), both of which identify breakthrough ways to develop leaders and are used by companies throughout the world. He is a business adviser, educator, and coach to top executives of Johnson & Johnson, Intel, Siemens, Bank of America, Novartis, Sun Microsystems, The Gap, Nike, Sprint, Washington Mutal, and more.

PETER C. CAIRO, former chair of the Department of Organizational and Counseling Psychology at Columbia University, specializes in the areas of leadership development, executive coaching, and business effectiveness. He is a partner of CDR International (www.cdrintl.com). His clients include Andersen, Avon, Bank of America, Colgate Palmolive, Lilly, and Merck. He is coauthor of Action Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 1999).