Re: Leadership can be Taught? LO1614

Michael McMaster (Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk)
Mon, 12 Jun 1995 09:24:16 +0000

Replying to LO1550 --

Whoa Ivan. Do really mean to say that leadership can only be learned
if it is taught? Do you really mean that the way you represented it
is the only way it can be taught/learned?

Ivan says:

> I believe that there are at least two different areas of
> leadership that we must differentiate. When we talk about learning to be
> a leader, one first needs to learn some basic theories related to the area
> of leadership, facilitating collective action, etc. Then one must "see"
> those theories in action, and I think that the must effective way for this
> to happen is to some kind of mentor that shows the way initially, and then
> lets you fly solo! These two are could take place simultaneously too, or
> in the reverse order.

The last statement relieves the starkness a little. If it can be
done in reverse order as well as simultaneously, then maybe the first
doesn't need to be done at all. _Explicit_ theories of leadership
may not be required at all.

What I mean by leadership as an emergent phenomenon is the
combination of two things. One is that leadership didn't occur "in
the first place" by someone (or group) sitting down and saying
"Leadership is missing here. Let's invent it." I suggest it's far
more likely that behaviours emerged as called for by changing
circumstances and we have come to identify those as "leading". (Then
we made the fatal western error of labelling some people leaders and
some not.)

The other is that, using Heidegger's approach, we were born into -
and socialised into - a society where certain behaviours or ways of
being are called "leadership". The idea of leadership wouldn't occur
to us - and its form would not be understandable - unless we already
had models and guiding metaphors so that we all knew what it was.

So my statement about learning and teaching are contained in this
context. Within this context, Ivan, what you said points us to the
various ways that we might develop leadership capacities or
effectiveness for ourselves or others _before the situation calls it
forth_. This interpretation also allows that there are other ways to
develop leadership capacities including creating the conditions for
its occurrence and letting matters take their course - in controlled
or uncontrolled environments.

--
Michael McMaster
Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk