Diana McLain Smith, the Chief Executive Partner at New Profit Inc., and a former Monitor partner, has published a new book, Elephant in the Room: How Relationships Make or Break the Success of Leaders and Organizations.

In the book, the author draws on her own research and stories from the historical record “to show how relationships can either drive phenomenal success or produce stunning failures.” She cites failures such as the dysfunctional relationships between the political parties in Washington, D.C., and the losses at Disney after the relationship between Michael Ovitz and Michael Eisner broke down. And she draws lessons from the strength of President Abraham Lincoln’s “team of rivals” and Warren Buffet’s lucrative alliance with Berkshire Hathaway colleague Charlie Munger.

In describing the book, the author notes: “By revealing the hidden patterns that underlie all relationships, The Elephant in the Room gives leaders the tools they need to handle their most important relationships with far greater intelligence, so they can harness their power and put them work in the service of growth.”

Diana McLain Smith, a partner at Monitor for ten years, joined New Profit, Monitor's strategic partner, as Chief Executive Partner in 2010. For 30 years, Diana has advised leaders and studied firms that are changing the way people work, think, and live. In her research, Diana observes leaders and organizations over a period of years and studies her own efforts to transform their leadership and their firms. By reflecting on both her successes and failures, she has come to understand what it takes for leaders to build in themselves and embed in their organizations the ability to innovate, learn, and grow.  In addition to her most recent book, she is the author of Divide or Conquer: How Great Teams Turn Conflict into a Strength, and the co-author (with Chris Argyris and Robert Putnam) of Action Science, a seminal text on intervention theory and research.