ABSTRACT
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of in-print books on leadership, many of them excellent. Most design professionals haven't read any of them, indicating they don't see the relevance of others' experience to their practice leadership, they don't see leadership as a practice issue, or both. Leadership is a practice quality issue. Every observer of professional design practice worth reading has something to say on the topic, almost all of it worth thinking about. Leadership is deemed a quality issue in ISO 9001, where leaders are referred to as "top management". Leaders are asked to show commitment to quality management. Most of the great gurus of quality are unified in their views that quality of leadership is squarely on the path toward service and product quality. Dr. W. Edwards Deming, in particular, lays responsibility for low productivity and low product quality squarely at the feet of management.
