Just got back from a 2 week training at the Harvard Institute of Higher Education's Management Development Program. Lots of excellent material. One of the most helpful things was a book called "Reframing Organizations" by Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal. Part of their premise is that effective leaders use four frames or lenses when analyzing situations or issues: a political frame, a symbolic frame, a structural/organizational frame, and a human resource/relationships frame. I've been thinking about social work as a profession--we are so good at the human resource frame, and can be good at the symbolic and structural frames...but are we comfortable with the political frame? Are we comfortable thinking about strategy and limited resources and power and competing? It's a useful frame, especially if coupled with and guided by our code of ethics...hmmm....something to chew on.