124 Strategic Leadership
were first articulated, brought to national awareness, and championed by Eleanor
Roosevelt as she lived the story that she told (H. Gardner 1995). A summary of
Gardner’s thesis captures well the significance of story in leadership:
Using the linguistic as well as nonlinguistic resources at their disposal, leaders
attempt to communicate, and to convince others, of a particular view, a clear
vision of life. The term story is the best way to convey the point. I argue that
the story is a basic human cognitive form; the artful creation and articula-
tion of stories constitutes a fundamental part of the leader’s vocation. Stories
speak to both parts of the human mind—its reason and emotion. And I sug-
gest, further, that it is stories of identity—narratives that help individuals
think about and feel who they are, where they come from, and where they
are headed—that constitute the single most powerful weapon in the leader’s
literary arsenal. (1995, 42–43)The Embodiment of Stories
The power of story should not tempt us to conclude that it wholly explains the
role of the leader. In particular, leaders must live, or, as Gardner says, embody,
their story as well as tell it if it is to be effective as a vessel of leadership. Thus,
storytelling as a discipline of thought is supported by an even more rigorous dis-
cipline of personal commitment. As Gardner puts it, “It is a stroke of leadership
genius when stories and embodiments appear to fuse—when... [in the words of
Yeats] one cannot tell the dancer from the dance” (1995, 37). Mahatma Gan-
dhi and Martin Luther King preached the power of nonviolent resistance based
on deep ethical and spiritual principles and stood firm against the blows that
resistance to power unleashed. General George C. Marshall believed in integrity
as a military virtue and put his own career on the line by always speaking the
truth to those in power, including President Roosevelt. Robert Maynard Hutchins
believed deeply in the power of rational thought and the study of the great books
and debated passionately and worked endlessly to instill his ideas at the University
of Chicago and elsewhere. By embodying the values he claimed, he permanently
shaped the curricular debate at the university. Followers are deeply suspicious if
leaders fail to show in their lives the values they articulate; the “walk” must always
accompany the “talk.” If it does not, then judgments of hypocrisy or deceitfulness
quickly surface, destroying the leader’s credibility and influence for all but a few
diehards.
I believe that the leader’s embodiment of the story brings to light another
dimension of leadership that is not always in evidence. We usually attend to the
power of the story to motivate followers and neglect its strong influence on the
leader. Embodiment empowers leaders as well as followers. It taps into deep levels
of intrinsic motivation because it reaches the leader’s values and personal identity.
As the story is clarified, understood, and embraced by the leader, it becomes a
source of energy that drives commitment and creates self-confidence. As lead-
ers deepen their self-awareness and convey their commitment to the story, they