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find increasing respect and loyalty from their followers, so the engaging power of
leadership takes on a new depth of meaning. The authenticity of the mutual com-
mitment builds trust and elevates performance (W. L. Gardner et al. 2005).
Forms of Leadership: Visionary and Ordinary,
Transactional, and Transforming
The examples that we have chosen to illustrate the power of story might lead
us to conclude that it is only leaders on the main stage of history—the Lincolns,
Kings, Gandhis, Roosevelts, Marshalls, and their peers—to whom the theory
applies. Howard Gardner refers to individuals of this stature as “visionary” or
“innovative” leaders, since they often renew familiar stories or see the world in
bold new ways. Yet “ordinary” leaders also draw on the motivating power of stories,
although their influence may not be as profound or their narratives as original.
These typologies, and the categories of transforming and transactional leader-
ship, are helpful for sorting out the different dimensions and dynamics of lead-
ership but are not easy to apply to concrete cases or individuals with precision
or consistency. At times the leadership of great presidents like Franklin Delano
Roosevelt appears innovative and even visionary, while at others he is much
more of a traditional backroom politician. Lincoln had an extraordinary moral
vision of the American union but was inconsistent in responding to the glaring
evil of slavery. So, one should be circumspect in applying unqualified labels to
individual leaders and the nature of the story, especially in professional organiza-
tions like universities. Loosening the hold of fixed categories also allows us to
consider the broader uses of story in the everyday work of organizations. As they
respond to a changing world and plan their futures, universities and colleges need
the resources provided by their narratives of identity for the work of strategy and
leadership, whether their stories are visionary or transactional, transformational
or ordinary.
NARRATIVES IN THE LEADERSHIP
OF COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
I have provided a number of glimpses into the ways that collegiate narratives
inform and orient the processes of leadership in colleges and universities and have
reviewed methods to disclose and to articulate institutional stories. We now can
turn to a more explicit discussion of the use of narratives in collegiate leadership
processes, especially related to strategy, and will return to the theme on a more
practical level in other sections of the book.
Legacy and Leadership
Whenever one finds college leaders wrestling with their strategic responsibili-
ties, the issues of change and legacy are often at the center of their concerns. Any