Being able to view oneself objectively, as a subject in one's own experiment, requires skill and practice.

The question is no longer, "How to manage change?" The question now is, "How to lead adaptive change?" We live in extraordinary times in the arc of our social, political and economic development. Miraculous products and events hit the news every week, it seems.

This "global hyperchange" is very exciting. But it is also exceedingly demanding, and some say dangerous, to take on leadership at this time. These kinds of innovative leaps require workers and leaders alike to challenge long-held beliefs about how things should be done. Habits and practices that have built the road to success and economic dominance are routinely turned on their heads, threatening the stability and security of many. And the leaders take the brunt of the fear response these evolutionary cycles evoke.

To respond to these kinds of demands, organizations need the capacity to adapt — their approaches, their economic models, their thinking, and their leadership. Adaptive Leadership embraces the idea that the same old leadership approaches and the existing leadership toolkit are insufficient to solve the complex problems of today's business environment. Adaptive Leaders acknowledge the proportionate relationship between risk and adaptive change: the more radical the change and the more new learning demanded, the more people resist the change. As a result, there is an increased danger to the leaders themselves.

Adaptive Leaders must model new behaviors and embrace learning and risk taking as fundamental competencies. And foster these adaptive capacities in those they work with. A few approaches to accomplishing this include:

• reframing the leader's job from that of problem-solver to that of developer of problem solvers,
• asking the important, tough questions while not having all the answers,
• fostering reflection and big-picture thinking, slowing down to move the action forward, and
• demonstrating and modeling courage.

By understanding and assimilating several leadership paradoxes, and by applying the principles of Adaptive Leadership as outlined in this paper, the Adaptive Leader can minimize risk and heighten results in achieving positive, sustainable change.

The era of perilous change

"Perilous" is not a word normally associated with leading in today's business environment. Bungee jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge, or mountain biking through Afghanistan — these are perilous. But, leading change? It's complex, and fraught with pitfalls, but is it really "perilous"? Defined as "involving exposure to very great danger," perilous seems just a bit over the top when referring to leadership. And therein lies the danger.

What makes leading in our current business environment perilous, according to authors Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government (in their book, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading), is the very lack of awareness of the peril.

Today we face a competitive, global business environment containing hidden peaks and valleys that traditional leadership wisdom could never have predicted. What's more, we don't always have the topographical maps to navigate the terrain — erratic fluctuations in the stock market, the quiet swelling of emergent third-world economies, socio-political upheaval, off-shoring, and the global talent war — just to name a few. These give rise to what Heifetz and Linsky call "adaptive" challenges.

Adaptive challenges require new thinking, experimentation, and breaking out of the box of traditional approaches. These kinds of problems also call for new learning. And the sustainability of the necessary changes depends on the solutions being forged throughout the organization, but especially by the people who are closest to the problem. So, in this state of "hyperchange" the question is no longer, "How do we manage change?" The question itself is already out of date. The question today is "How to lead adaptive change?"

Part of the answer is, "not with the same old, same old leadership practices." The challenges faced by senior leaders are often systemic problems that traverse functional, geographic, and cultural barriers: e.g., redesigning core business strategies, merging or dissolving businesses, and managing across space, time and culture. The solutions are murky at best, and may not be easily seen from the executive suite.

This is where we get back to "perilous." What most people want to do when faced with intense change is to find shelter. Frequently, they look to find shelter under the wing of authority — the senior leader. They look to those who have built the system for answers to the problems in the system.