116 Strategic Leadership
- Larger meanings: the ways that the story represents and embodies the larger
purposes and values of education in the search for knowledge, in human trans-
formation, and in service to society, sharing thereby in the larger narratives of
the purposes of education
One important source for stories of identity is the voices of the campus and of
key constituencies. Telling the story depends first on listening for it and hearing
it in the narratives of others. When the time is right, the leader begins to tell the
story as she has systematized, interpreted, and perhaps transformed it, reflect-
ing all the while what has been learned from listening. In the process, she will
discover how much people appreciate hearing the story, even when they know
it well. They find it energizing to hear it told in a new way, many times hearing
elements of it they knew but could never quite state. The listeners feel affirmed
because it is their story, one in which they have participated and to which they
have contributed.
One of the ways to listen carefully is with the help of a formal process. The fol-
lowing set of questions (O’Toole 1981, 129–30, used by permission of the author)
provides one example of a way to open a dialogue about identity. It has a light touch
but can yield helpful insights to be explored in greater depth in other contexts.
QUESTIONNAIRE
PORTRAIT OF A COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY
- Age
Apart from the actual chronological age of the college, how would you
characterize the institution?
____ (1) An infant ____ (6) A young adult
____ (2) A toddler ____ (7) An adult
____ (3) Prepubescent ____ (8) Middle aged
____ (4) An adolescent ____ (9) Old
____ (5) A suspended adolescent ___ (10) Senile- Health
Apart from the financial health of the organization, how would you
characterize the state of health here?
____ (1) Robust ____ (6) Intermittently feverish
____ (2) Sound ____ (7) Declining
____ (3) Better than can be expected,
given institution’s age____ (8) Infirm