Dean Williams (2015). Leadership for a Fractured World: How to Cross Boundaries, Build Bridges, and Lead Change

Abstract

Dean Williams’ 2015 book Leadership for a Fractured World is not a book about police leadership. Williams, coming from the Harvard Kennedy School, is an advocate for the adaptive leadership approach, constructed around the themes of increasing complexity, an absence of certainty, and the potential of conflict. The tag line for the book—How to cross boundaries, build bridges and lead change—provides more insight into the content of the book. The book made me think deeply about how boundaries exist in regards to policing. Within police organizations, boundaries are usually created around geography—the local area command manages a number of police stations formed around the concept of a shared locational identity. Boundaries are also created around non-geographical domains, frequently through a mixture of crime types and the specialized skills required in response. These include fraud, homicide, property crime squads, etc. Then there are the more technically specialized divisions including special operations, dogs, and aviation support. Transport usually requires unique boundaries including marine, air, and rail, with a large focus in Australia on road safety. Providing some unity to these horizontal boundaries are the commonality of uniform and profession. But here too are more boundaries, this time comprising rank operating vertically to control information, decisions, and action.