Focuses on the human side of leadership as the central feature regarding credibility in the public forums where leadership is really tested. This title demonstrates how the field has been lopsidedly dominated by science to the detriment of art.

This book stresses the human side of leadership as the central feature regarding credibility in the public forums where leadership is really tested. As such, leadership is an art because it involves performance as a form of public theater. No other text on this topic demonstrates so ably how the field has been lopsidedly dominated by science to the detriment of art. Leadership cannot be improved by simply defining it better; it has to be practiced. The real improvement of practice is rooted in the art, i.e., the application. This title features presentation of the idea that leadership is an art, the practice of leadership is not a science but an applied art. Content material is connected to self-discovery and learning how to be critically reflective via journal writing. It explains that connection to films as an excellent method to learn about leading in context. Each chapter has a glossary of critical terms and concepts which help the reader learn and understand important vocabulary.

Preface 1. The Leadership Challenge

Leaders and Leadership are Universal in the Human Experience

Pursuing Graduate Study to Become the "Complete Leader"

Leadership Is an Art Because It Involves a Purposive Construction of Self

The Importance of Individual Agency

Leadership Is an Acquired Set of Habits and Skills

Why Academic Study?

Is There a Difference Between Leadership and Management?

The Basis of Authority

The Use of Power and Sanctions

Follower Relations and Interactions

Role Legitimacy and Relationships

Creativity

The Necessary Alliance: Leadership and Management

Pursuing Learning Extensions of the Chapter

Writing in Your Personal Reflective Journal

A Review of Key Chapter Concepts

References 2. Archetypes of Leadership in the Human Experience

An Example of a Personal Leadership Journey

The Origins of Leadership

Leadership is Universal -But Leaders Are Contextual and Culturally Specific Actors

The American Monomyth in Action

Gender Barriers in Mythos and Religion

Pursuing Learning Extensions of the Chapter

Writing in Your Personal Reflective Journal

A Review of Key Chapter Concepts

References 3. Mental Prisms of Leadership

Discerning Contemporary Notions of Perception and Truth

How Do We Know What We Perceive Is True? Theories of Truth

Linguistic Difficulties with Theories of Truth

The Uses of Truth in Science

Pursuing "Truth" in Educational Leadership

Tracing the Influence of Herbert Simon and the Doctrine of Efficiency

A Final Commentary About Theories of Truth

Pursuing Leaning Extensions of the Chapter

Writing in Your Personal Reflective Journal

A Review of Key Chapter Concepts

References 4. Individual Human Agency and Principles of Action

The Apex of Decision-Making: The Oracle of Delphi

The Gardner Cognitive Model of Leadership

There's No Getting Around Who the Leader Is and What Is Important

The Antipodes of Moral Discourse

A Man of Unbending Principle Changes the Center of Gravity of a Nation

A Pragmatic Man of the People Saves the Nation

The Creation of a Moral Compass

A Moral Compass in Contentious Times: The Case of Ted Bell

The Case of the Wounded Leader

Pursuing Learning Extensions of the Chapter

Writing in Your Personal Reflective Journal

A Review of Key Chapter Concepts

References 5. Leadership as Artful Performance

Roles vs. Traits: Popular Misconceptions of Leadership

Determining Role Legitimacy as the Basis of Performance

Is Leadership Acting?

Real Life Drama in Chicago: A Portrait of Power Undone

How Followers Look to School Leaders for What They Need

A Portrait of Two Types of Story Tellers as Leaders

Pursuing Learning Extensions of the Chapter

Writing in Your Personal Reflective Journal

A Review of Key Chapter Concepts

References 6. Understanding the Landscape of Educational Leadership

Central Tenets of Modernism

The Pseudo Scientific Epoch: Educational Leadership and the Long Shadow of "Scientific Management"

The Early Scientific Epoch

The Behaviorism Epoch

The Epoch of Structuralism

The Feminist/Critical Theory Epoch

The Critical Race Theory Epoch

The Queer Theory Epoch

The Postmodern Epoch

Kitsch Management Texts and Educational Leadership

Pursuing Learning Extensions of the Chapter

Writing in Your Personal Reflective Journal

A Review of Key Chapter Concepts

References 7. Balancing Performance and Accountability

A Review of the Many Forms of Life Writing

Third Person Forms of Life Writing

First Person Life Writing Forms

Gauging the Possibilities of Life Writing to Understand Leadership

Confronting the Myopia of "the Field"

Servant Leadership: The Mind and the Heart as One

Pursuing Learning Extensions of the Chapter

Writing in Your Personal Reflective Journal

A Review of Key Chapter Concepts

References 8. Artful Performance and National Standards

The National Leadership Standards

Foucault's Concept of Apparatus

Problems with the Knowledge Base: Producing an Unequivocal Platform for the Normalizing Gaze and the Policing Function

Re-Tracing the Steps in the Developmental Process

Step One: Reductionism, Rationality and Core Technologies

Step Two: The Erasure of Context So One Size Fits All

Step Three: Stifling Research Dissent by the V.C.P (Vicious Circle Principle)

The Metaphors of Efficiency in the ISLLC Standards

The National Debate on Educational Leadership Preparation

Pursuing Learning Extensions of the Chapter

Writing in Your Personal Reflective Journal

A Review of Key Chapter Concepts

References Index About the Author