ABSTRACT
We think there are four advantages to the approach this book takes to understanding leadership. First, we have provided an information processing perspective and shown that it can be applied at multiple levels of analysis. The four alternative information processing models described in chapter 2 help in understanding both individual-and organizational-level information processing. Second, it links perceptions and performance and in so doing resolves the “paradox” of executive leadership and offers insights into the difficulties women
and minority members may experience in achieving leadership roles. Third, our coverage of executive leadership and organizational performance integrates leadership with current thinking on organizational evolution, power, executive decision-making processes, culture, and change. Fourth, we show how both stability and change can relate to organizational performance, albeit at different time periods. Each of these advantages is briefly discussed below.
