It is extremely difficult to overcome what James O Toole calls the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom. O Toole explains why.
Executives know what needs to be done and even how to do it.
Nonetheless, they are unable to lead change effectively. Explaining the sources of this paradox and offering a practical way to resolve it are the purposes of this book. To vary degrees, Rushmoreans listen to others, encourage dissenting opinion among their closest advisers, grant ample authority to their subordinates, and lead by example rather than by power, manipulation, or coercion. Granted, history produces very few Washingtons, Jeffersons, Lincolns, and Roosevelts. Nonetheless, according to O Toole, there is much of value to learned from them by those who struggle with an unprecedented leadership challenge to create internal strategic unity within a chaotic external environment.