Week 7: Contextual Aspects of Leadership, part 2

As I was thinking about this week, I realized that the semester is almost half over. How does that happen so quickly? I sometimes feel that it has just started. Oh, well. Two weeks until spring break! :)

Now, on to this week's readings. The majority of the readings focused on women in leadership roles, specifically African American and Latina women. There was another article looking at the leadership in American Indian societies. It is interesting to see how leadership concepts are seen through the multiple lenses of individuals. African American women not only struggle due to their gender, but also their race. It was interesting to read in a couple of chapters that women and persons of color are held to a higher standard regarding leadership roles then white men. If a white male president make a mistake, it seems like it is no big deal; he will probably be hired for another presidential position. However, if a female made a similar mistake, forgiveness does not to be an option.

This notion makes me think about the president of the Southern Illinois University system. There was a claim that he plagiarized his dissertation. He stayed in office during the investigation and continued working. If this happened to an white female, who she be welcomed to stay in the role while it was investigate?

Another topic that makes me ponder on future research interests is how women are treated differently then men. There were comments about how women cannot wear the same outfit during the same month or there will be gossip; however, men typically have 4 suits and they wear them essentially on a weekly basis and no one says anything about them. Why does this view still exist? When will women been seen as humans who are capable of making mistakes. It could be argued that white men should be held at a higher standard IF they are seen as more qualified than African Americans or women.

Something to ponder . . .

Week 6: Contextual Aspects of Leadership (Part 1)

This week's readings seems to range from cross-cultural themes to what makes a "bad" leader. The readings covered narcisstic leaders, contrarian leaders, and change agents in higher education. The chapter by Steven Sample (The Contrarian's Guide to University Leadership) provided several statements that stimulated thought. Sample shared his 70/30 Formula for Top Leadership: 30% of the time should "be spent of really substative matter and no more than 70% on reacting to or presiding over trivial, or ephemeral routine matters" (p. 187). Samples follows that up with by stating that if leaders are not careful that 30% can slowly dwindle to 20%, then 10% and 5%. Before a leader realizes it, 100% of the time is spent of the trivial or routine matters. I can definitely see this. In my previous position, my supervisor continually encouraged me to set time aside to do "big picture" thinking for my position. However, I seemed to always fill my time with the routine items . . . I always seemed to find something that needed to be done. I understand now how critical it is to carve this time into your schedule in order to not be bogged down by the trivial matter.

Sample also discussed the importance of surrounding yourself with good people and let them make the decisions. Not only does this provide them with the opportunity to develop decision making skills, but it allows the top leader to provide support and encouragement. I would support this concept. I would hope that I am able to do this when I am in a director of housing role.

Maccoby's chapter focused on narcissitic leaders. Most people would see the negative aspect ov narcissitic--being too involved with yourself. However, Maccoby discussed the importance of productive narcissists. There are positives and negative aspects to be aware of, but many of the senior level leaders have a large part of a narcissistic personality. Maccoby shared Freud's three types of personalities: erotic, obsessive, and narcissistic. Additionally, he shared that parts of all three can be seen is most of us. Probably like most people, I tried to see myself in the descriptions of these personalities.

The erotic personality focuses on loving . . . loving and being loved are the most important. The obsessive personality focuses on creating order and self-reliant. Narcissistic personality are independent and want to be admired, not necessarily loved. I can honestly say that I see parts of each of these personalities in me. I crave order and the ability to be self-reliant. Furthermore, I can also see the need to be loved and to love others. I truly value relationships, especially with staff members. Lastly, I do like to be admired and can be seen as independent. With all of that said, I would probably argue that the narcissistic personality type is the smallest for me. I wonder what that means for future leadership roles. Maccoby shared that the strengths of a narcissistic leader are: great vision and scores of followers. I cannot say that I have a score of followers, but I do have the ability to have great visions for my organization. Maccoby also shares the weaknesses of narcissistic leaders: sensitive to criticism, poor listeners, lack of empathy, distaste for mentoring, and an intense desire to compete. I would say that I don't have many of these weaknesses, so maybe it is a good thing that the narcissistic personality is the smallest part.

Some things to ponder . . .

Week 5: Morality and Ethical Leadership

Morality and ethics and leadership. In his book, Leadership by Design, Bogue stated that if administrators are not expected to use judgment or make exceptions then those positions can be replaced by computers. I found myself chuckling at this statement. This is really at the root of what identifies a leader. Badaracco introduced the defining moments of a leader. It made me think about the defining moments in my leadership development. The moments that came to mind were those that involved a wrong decision on my part. Granted, no one died or was injured, but I had a stern discussion with my supervisor at the time. I know that I learned from those moments and will not make those mistakes again, but there will be other mistakes. I cannot shy away from those mistakes. This is one of the characteristics of a leader--the courage to keep moving forward.

The facilitators for the class provided a couple of questions for journaling:

1. Can you think of a situation where an educational leader you know or you yourself had to struggle with an ethical issue? What moral and ethical tensions were involved in making the "right" decision at that point in time? How do you feel about it now? in retrospect, was it the best decision made? If not, how could it be managed better?


2. Badaracco talks about "defining moments" and facing at least two "right" choices. When you face such situations, how do you decide what to do? Who do you talk to? What do you consider?

I remember dealing with a sexual assault which occurred in my building while a hall director. The person who assaulted the student was a "guest" but was not signed in, nor was he stopped by the front desk clerks. Granted, the building was not very secure . . . the main stairwell was easily accessible as well as the side doors (due to propping and residents allowing anyone to come in), but that does not mean that the desk clerks were absolved of not checking IDs of all individuals. My senior RA was responsible for the management of the front desk. We saw the situation from different perspectives. I understood where my senior RA was coming from and why she did not support the decision that needed to made--firing the desk clerks working at that specific time. Was this the best decision? I probably would have made the same decision, but it is difficult to make the decision when my senior RA did not support it. How do you move forward after this type of decision? I probably could have managed it better regarding the conversation with my senior RA and with the desk clerks. I do not remember if I met with the desk clerks or not. I hope I did.

I briefly mentioned Badaracco's defining moments at the beginning of this post. When I think about the times I've been in those situations, I know the decisions were difficult. I can always see the situation from both sides. When faced with these situations, I try to talk with my supervisor and get another perspective. If not my supervisor, then one of my colleagues in a similar position (Assistant Director). I think about the end result and what should come from the situation. In other words, is there an opportunity for an "educational" moment? Can we proceed with the educational aspect or does it need to be more punitive. I also think my gut provides a lot of the guidance.

I am now thinking about how I will handle these "defining moments" as the senior member of the department. I don't know how viable it will be to discuss these moments with my supervisor (i.e. VP of Student Affairs). I envision that I will need to discuss it with my core leadership team and colleagues at the same level.

Week 4: Leader Cognition and Development

Wow! This week's readings really made me think about myself, my own leadership development, and how I work as a leader. What makes us become the leader we are? Does are gender play a role it it? That seems to be a big question in the realm of leadership readings.

One of our readings (Amey), shared a study in which Women's Ways of Knowing was used in relation to leadership: separate, connected, and constructed. From the paper, I kept thinking that an effective leader needs a little bit of both (separate and connected). In other words, they need to focus on the nuts and bolts of being a leader, but a large part of that is the relationships. If the relationships are not culitvated, then what can a leader really accompish? It connects with the previous week's readings on followership.

Several of the readings discussed the importance of our childhood plays in our leadership identity. I've thought about this for me quite a bite lately. I wonder what in my childhood led me to want to be seen as a leader. I did an autoethnography in my qualitative research methodology class last semester. In it, I explained that I ran for class treasurer every year in high school but was never elected. What led me to want to do this? Was it my desire to be accepted in high school and being a class officer would help? Or was it that I wanted to simply be seen as a leader? I am the fourth of five children; my oldest sister is 9 years older than me and my younger brother is 3 years younger. I'm sure this make up played a large part in my identity development. However, I cannot pinpoint how.

In class, we were asked to identify the leader roles our family members held. This was difficult for me because nothing stuck out to me. I can't think of any time my brothers or sisters held a leader role (formal or informal). As for my parents, I thought of some things, most of it was connected with our church. Which can be seen as servant leadership. As for my grandparents, I have no clue what roles they played since my grandfathers passed before I was born and my grandmothers were essentially retired by the time I could remember interactions. So, I can't say that I had strong examples that led my desire to be seen as a leader.

Someone in class mentioned their grandparents and how parents saw similarities. This made me wonder about me and my grandparents. Do my parents see as resemblances? I need to ask them about this next time I see them.

One of the books we are reading is Leading with Soul. I initially read this while working at BGSU as a professional development. I remember that is resonated with me and I did quite a bit of highlighting. Now, I'm reading it again and still believe that it resonates with me. I would say that it can help a person in any difficult part of their lives. I wished I read it again in 2008 when I was going through a difficult time personally. It may have helped me work through it and become a stronger person.

I enjoy that the book does not necessarily give straight answers but allows the reader to reflect and analyze herself. It identified the difference between the "soul" and the "spirit". I need to think more about these as they connect with me.

Okay--more to come.