Ronald Heifetz, M.D.
Founder, Center for Public Leadership; King Hussein Bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership, Kennedy School of Government
The crises of our time generate enormous adaptive challenges for our families, organizations, communities, and societies. The need for leadership that can mobilize people to meet these challenges and improve life is critical.
In this foundational course from Harvard Kennedy School, I explored strategies for leading in a changing world where adaptive pressures continue to challenge all of us. The course provided new ways to approach complex organizational systems and take thoughtful action on the work we all face ahead.
Taught by Dr. Ronald Heifetz, founder of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School, this course offered a diagnostic-and-action framework that distinguishes between technical problems and adaptive challenges—a distinction that fundamentally changed how I approach leadership challenges in my professional life.
"Leadership is disappointing your own people at a rate they can absorb."
— Ronald Heifetz
This course fundamentally changed how I approach challenges at the Ministry of Housing (PUPR). The distinction between technical and adaptive work is particularly relevant for government systems like SIBARU—some issues require better technology (technical), while others require changing stakeholder behaviors and expectations (adaptive).
