Causes and Consequences of Adaptive Leadership: A Model of Leaders’ Rapid Responses to Unexpected Events

This conceptual article seeks to understand individual and organizational factors that influence leaders’ ability to act quickly in response to unexpected events—crises or opportunities. It offers a model for analyzing leaders’ overly forceful or overly constrained responses and their outcomes. These factors are influenced by the strength of the unexpected stimulus moderated by characteristics that reflect leaders’ expectation of positive outcomes and organizational factors that empower leaders or impose barriers to change. Leaders’ capabilities and their organization’s capacity increase the likelihood that adaptive actions will produce positive outcomes. Also, adaptive experiences and outcomes affect leaders’ self-identity and reputation, which in turn influences the likelihood that leaders will be adaptive in the future. The discussion offers implications of the model for research and practice, particularly in learning and coaching for adaptive leadership.