In Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing, HBS professor Joseph Badaracco takes an unconventional look at leaders and leadership. Rather than focusing on those men and women whose bold acts of courage and insight have led to widespread public acknowledgment and praise, he examines what he calls "quiet leadership." "I have observed that the most effective leaders are rarely public heroes," says Badaracco, who has written extensively about leadership and ethics. "They do what is right; for their organizations, for the people around them, and for themselves- inconspicuously and without casualties."

Badaracco believes that what drives society are millions of small yet consequential decisions that individuals make on a daily basis. He presents a series of situations describing quiet leaders at work and derives practical lessons from their efforts. Each of the book's eight chapters - whose titles include "Craft a Compromise," "Don't Kid Yourself," "Buy a Little Time," and "Bend the Rules" - is gleaned from the quiet leaders Badaracco studied. The book is full of practical advice, but Badaracco cautions that "although the guidelines can be stated simply, using them well is tricky." Accordingly, he provides short case studies to illustrate some of the many thorny issues a quiet leader might face, how a new CEO deals with a sexual harassment case, the personnel issues facing a bank president, and an Army captain's ethical dilemma regarding an inspection, for instance.

"Preparation, caution, care, and attention to detail are usually the best approach to everyday challenges," writes Badaracco. "What usually matters are careful, thoughtful, small, practical efforts by people working far from the limelight. In short," he concludes, "quiet leadership is what moves and changes the world."

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