"This book will challenge, enlighten, and transform. The authors invite us to re-examine our core values as educational leaders, reconsider our priorities, and place the humanity of children at the center of our work." -Nancy Skerritt, Assistant Superintendent,Tahoma School District, Maple Valley, WA "By their analysis, Lumby and English expose the power of language to shape meaning. By their skill, they illustrate the power of language to engage and enrich. Their work is an important contribution to how we understand and practice leadership in all fields." -Steven R. Thompson, Coordinator, School Leadership Program, Miami University An imaginative approach to rethinking and revitalizing your leadership practice! Research has shown that metaphors inspire leaders to reflect on their mind-sets, behaviors, practices, and approaches, leading to new perspectives on their roles. Using such thought-provoking and unexpected metaphors as "leadership as war" and "leadership as lunacy," the authors draw readers through historical perspectives and cognitive possibilities that inspire, resolve, confuse, and provoke reflection on the state of leadership in education. This book examines the current discourse on educational leadership models, behaviors, and roles, and helps school and district leaders: Understand the power of metaphor and how metaphors have been used to define leadership Develop a deeper connection to their roles and their approaches Initiate change in themselves and in others By inspiring creative thinking and critical reflection, Leadership as Lunacy helps leaders achieve personal and professional growth and invigorate their professional relationships!
Jacky Lumby (Ph.D. University of Leicester) is Professor of Education and Head of the School of Education at the University of Southampton, UK. She has taught and led in a range of educational settings, including secondary/high schools, community and further/technical education. She has also worked for a Training and Enterprise Council, with a regional responsibility for developing leaders across the public and private sectors. She has researched and published widely on educational policy, leadership and management in schools and colleges, in the UK and internationally. Her work on leadership encompasses a range of perspectives, including diversity issues, comparative and international perspectives and leading upper secondary education. She has co-edited International handbook on the preparation and development of school leaders (2008). Her most recent book is, with Marianne Coleman, Leadership and Diversity: Challenging Theory and Practice in Education (2007). She is co- editor of the journal International Studies in Educational Administration and a member of the Council of the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society. Fenwick W. English (Ph.D.) is the R. Wendell Eaves Senior Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a position he has held since 2001. As a scholar/practitioner he has held positions as a school principal and superintendent of schools in California and New York and as a department chair, dean, and vice-chancellor of academic affairs at universities in Ohio and Indiana. He is the former President of the University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA) and of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA). His research has been reported in national and international academic forums. He edited the 2006 SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration, the 2009 SAGE Library of Educational Thought and Practice: Educational Leadership and Administration; and the 2011 SAGE Handbook of Educational Leadership (2nd Ed.). In 2013, he received the Living Legend Award from NCPEA for his lifetime contribution to the field of educational leadership.
Preface About the Authors 1. The Presence and Power of Metaphors Not Just Words From Gilgamesh to Obama: Metaphors Communicate and Connect How Metaphors Work Why a Book About Metaphors for Educational Leaders? Structure Toward a New Kind of Wisdom 2. Leadership as Machine Running the Factory Leaders Running the Machine Evaluating the Machine On Being a Machine The Machine Metaphor 3. Leadership as Accounting The Relentless Pursuit of Rationality and Waste Educational Hyperrationalization The Cheating Culture: Corrosion of the Means/Ends Accountability Continuum The Accounting Metaphor: A Chimera Wrapped Up as an Ideology 4. Leadership as War Preparing for a Board Meeting The Ambivalence of War Metaphors Military Admonitions, Educational Situations, and Contradictions The Way of the Warrior Is Death: Education Is Life 5. Leadership as Sport Sports: Language and Action The Little ?Closed-System? World of an Athletic Team The Problem of the Charismatic Coach as a Model for the CEO Understanding the Nature of Power The Sports Metaphor: An Impossible Dream 6. Leadership as Theater The School as Stage: What Lies Beneath? The School as Staged: Long Run or Repertory? The School as Staged: Acting Leadership The School as Ritual Performance School as Theater 7. Leadership as Religion The Concept of the External Supreme Being Towards Perfection: The Idea of Progress Manifestations of Religion in Management and Educational Leadership The Presence of ?Managementspeak? and Religious Rituals in School Practices Warring Metaphors The Power of Religious Metaphors: The Universal Versus The Dogmatic and Partisan Experience Learning How to Lead Outside the Command and Control Model 8. Leadership as Lunacy Lunacy as a Form of Toxicity Leaders as Lunatics The Lunatic Psyche Symptoms, Signs and Pathologies The Lunacy Metaphor 9. Metaphors of Leadership The Uses of Metaphors Grand Narratives Positive Metaphors So, Where to Now? References Index
"Lumby and English have exposed the power of language to shape meaning, engage, and enrich. Their work is an important contribution to how we understand and practice leadership in all fields." -- Steven R. Thompson, Coordinator, School Leadership Program "This book will challenge, enlighten and transform. Ultimately, the authors invite us to re-examine our core values and place the humanity of children at the center of our work." -- Nancy Skerritt, Assistant Superintendent "Authors Jacky Lumby and Fenwick English look at educational leadership through the lens of language and how metaphors have sometimes limited and stymied the true meaning of education and what educational leaders can and should be working to achieve." -- Lydia Cross, Director, Graduate Academic Services Center * NACADA Journal *
