The Leadership Lectures: Dan Fisher and Steve Garcia

About the Lecture

"The End of Leadership As We Know It: Leading in Complexity and Volatility"

Contemporary leaders understand that the ways of doing things that worked so well for so long are no longer cutting it. Leadership frameworks and organizational strategies that used to deliver results are constantly being upended and disrupted by a world that no longer offers us stable ground or waits around for leaders to catch up. So, what’s a leader to do when the old tools no longer do the trick?

In their recent book, The End of Leadership as We Know It: What It Takes to Lead in Today's Volatile and Complex World, (Wiley 2023), Dr. Steve Garcia and Dr. Dan Fisher explore the most common errors leaders make when trying to tackle disruption, and propose a set of concrete strategies for avoiding those mistakes.

In this Leadership Lecture, they will describe what it is to rethink the essence of leadership during times of flux and change; how to deal with unpredictable situations by addressing the massive blind spots generated by the traditional approach to leadership; and how to unleash the creativity and full potential of employees by giving up on the idea of control as a positive characteristic of leadership.

About The Speakers

Steve Garcia and Dan Fisher help leaders around the world transform themselves and their organizations. In The End of Leadership as We Know It, they combine their expertise in business and psychology to explain what leaders must stop and start doing to lead in a fast, complex business world. Through powerful stories and practical examples, you’ll travel the leadership landscape and learn both “why” leaders must change and how to do it.

• Dr. Dan Fisher

  Dan Fisher is co-founder and a managing partner at Contemporary Leadership Advisors (CLA), and co-founder and board member of the Institute for Contemporary Leadership. He previously co-managed the leadership and organizational effectiveness practice at AlixPartners. He works as a trusted leadership advisor to CEOs and their teams, helping them to ensure they have the right players with the right habits and alignment on the right priorities. Prior to working exclusively with senior corporate leaders and their teams, Dan was a clinically trained trauma and forensic psychologist. He gained invaluable lifelong perspective from working as an attending psychologist on New York Hospital’s Burn Unit and in the New York City Court System.

  He holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of California Santa Barbara, a BS in Psychology from University of California San Diego, and completed his post-doctoral studies at Cornell Medical College. More importantly he is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. When he’s not working, he spends time with his family in Maplewood, New Jersey, enjoying their gourmet cooking and reading his wife’s screenplays.
• Dr. Steve Garcia

  Steve Garcia is co-founder and a managing partner at Contemporary Leadership Advisors (CLA) where he helps clients build and lead adaptive organizations in fast-changing environments. He also co-founded and serves on the board of the Institute for Contemporary Leadership, which hosts forums of executives talking about their challenges, what’s working and what’s not. Before that, he helped run the leadership and organizational effectiveness practice at AlixPartners, and has built predictive people analytics applications. Before moving into consulting and coaching, he directed product marketing for Nortel Networks’ digital switching, optical Ethernet, and voice-over-IP portfolios, and worked for the U.S. Congress’ Office of Technology Assessment.

  He holds an MBA from The University of Virginia and an Ed.D. in Adult Learning from North Carolina State University, where he focused on how organizations’ informal networks affect learning, change and innovation. When he’s not working, he spends time with his family in Millburn, New Jersey, catching up on pop culture, and falling down mountains on his bike.