The Phenomenon of Leadership 15
- Change oriented and conflict resolving
- Motivating and influential
When we reach the campus, we shall find again the familiar leadership themes
of reciprocity and responsiveness to the needs and values of participants, now
arrayed in the colorful and complicated regalia of collegial governance. The
process of academic decision making rests on academic values and professional
norms that have powerful ethical force. Yet leadership in colleges and universi-
ties is typically problematic and unsure of itself both in theory and in practice.
Structural conflict is a given of the decision-making system, often frustrating the
tasks of leadership. Thus, these preliminary ideas about leadership will be put to
the test as we investigate the possibilities of strategic leadership.
LEARNING LEADERSHIP
One of the persistent questions about reciprocal leadership concerns the rela-
tionship between the characteristics of individual leaders and the process of lead-
ership. We have spoken repeatedly of leadership, but little of leaders. Yet at one
pole of the relationship are those we call leaders. What can we say about leaders
as part of the leadership equation? Though not simply defined by fixed traits or
the possession of formal authority, leaders nonetheless logically must have some
set of attributes and qualities that give meaning to the term. The characteristics
and skills of leaders may vary widely with context and circumstance, but it is still
impossible to avoid some generalizations about them. We need to focus on these
factors in order to give precision to a formal method of strategic leadership. An
answer must finally be given to the questions, Who will use the process? What
skills will they require? How will they learn them?
In this context, a number of questions regularly present themselves concerning
the genetic, psychological, experiential, and educational formation of leaders.
Are they born or made? Can leadership be taught, or, put more precisely, how is
it learned? In serious studies, the answer to these questions is always equivocal,
always both yes and no (Bass 1990; K. E. Clark and M. B. Clark 1990, 1994;
J. Gardner 1990; Kouzes and Posner 1990; Padilla 2005). The ambiguity comes
from the fact that, as we have seen, leadership involves a wide variety of forms of
intelligence, knowledge, skills, practices, commitments, and personal characteris-
tics. The talent for leadership is widely but not equally distributed in the species.
While much can be taught and learned about both the nature and the practice of
leadership, some of its crucial components—consider courage and resilience—are
largely beyond the influence of formal education.
Needless to say, those issues relating to the different dimensions of leadership,
and how and whether it can be taught and learned, touch on a series of complex
and difficult questions. Relying on the work of Bass, Hollander, and others, John
Gardner (1990) has synthesized a list of attributes of leadership that includes gen-
eral competencies, skills, and qualities that are shaped in practice by context and