Leaders need to be forceful--to assert themselves and their capabilities and to push others to perform. Leaders also need to be enabling--to tap into and bring out the capabilities of others. The problem is that many executives see forceful leadership and enabling leadership as mutually exclusive, or strongly prefer one or the other, and therefore lack the versatility to be truly effective. This publication explains how executives can overcome the emotional barriers to expanding their skill sets in one direction or the other.

Robert E. Kaplan is founding partner of Kaplan DeVries Inc., a foremost consulting and research firm that specializes in assessment for selection and development. Robert B. Kaiser is president of Kaiser Leadership Solutions and a thought leader with over 150 publications and presentations to his credit.