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Leading Forward, Learning Backward:

   

 
    
   

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An Exploratory

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School Leader Strategic Action
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LEADING FORWARD, LEARNING BACKWARD: AN EXPLORATORY
STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF PRIOR LEARNING EXPERIENCE ON URBAN
SCHOOL LEADER STRATEGIC ACTION
By

Cheryl Lynn King

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Educational Administration

2001

ABSTRACT
LEADING FORWARD, LEARNING BACKWARD: AN EXPLORATORY
STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF PRIOR LEARNING EXPERIENCES ON
URBAN SCHOOL LEADER STRATEGIC ACTION
By

Cheryl Lynn King

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between school
leader learning experiences and their strategic behavior. The logic of this study rests
on the proposition that it is the interwoven set of prior learning experiences that most
signiﬁcantly inﬂuence the way that school leaders strategically think and act in their
approaches to school reform. In search of explanations for school leader behavior, a
few assumptions were central to achieving this purpose.

First, it was assumed that the nature and impact of leaders’ learning
experiences could be best understood by studying their accounts of these experiences
with particular attention given to their learning content, their learning context, and
their learning motivation. These data were placed in a developmental framework to
allow for the gradual building of each school leader’s repertoire Of learning
experiences over time and offered rich Opportunities for observing emerging patterns
and themes both individually and across the learning repertoires. Second, it was
further assumed that the family, school, and work contexts would be logical reference
points for understanding the impact of these learning experiences on leader

perceptions, interpretations, and behavior.

 

Social learning theory is logically related to the purpose and assumptions
guiding this study. It lends itself naturally to the concepts explored with its approach
to the explanation of human behavior from the standpoint of it being “a continuous
reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental determinants
(Bandura, 1977, p. 194).”

The process of the in-depth phenomenological interview was used in this
study and followed closely the methodology developed by Seidman (1983) and
Sullivan (1982). The process can be described generally as open but focused. Using
interviews as the primary source of data offered the advantage Of being able to obtain
large quantities of data in a relatively short period of time with Opportunities for
immediate follow-up and clarification as needed. Capturing the subjective views of
participants was extremely important for the purposes of this research thus
conﬁrming the choice Of in-depth interviewing as the primary research method
(Marshall & Rossman, 1995).

Findings supported the conclusion that the deep prior learning experiences Of
school leaders consistently served as filters for their perceptions and interpretations of
their strategic problems, factors contributing to the problems, and the subsequent

courses Of action they chose to take in addressing the problems.

Copyright by
CHERYL LYNN KING
2001

DEDICATION

I dedicate this effort to my mother, a woman who without question has played a
major role in my deep learning experiences about resilience, excellence, and above all
unwavering faith in the midst Of all storms. Your lessons by example have had a most
profound impact on shaping the person I am today. I thank you, my mother, my mentor,
my friend.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge individuals who, were it not for their support and
encouragement, this accomplishment may never have been realized.

First, sincere thanks go to Dr. Phillip Cusick, chairperson of my dissertation
committee. He cared enough to make a way out of no way and offered me a glimpse of
new and different possibilities for my life -—for that I will be eternally grateﬁil. He has
challenged me think in new and different ways about the value and signiﬁcance of
research and has nudged me closer to discovering my own intellectual identity.

Special thanks to Dr. Maenette Benham who consistently modeled a passion for
excellence that was motivating and challenged me to give my best. Her consistent
accessibility and responsiveness was reassuring and kept me going when things really got
rough.

To Dr. BetsAnn Smith, I am equally grateﬁil. Her conﬁdence in my ability to
complete this effort inspired me to continue. She took time to close the door and really
listen and offered invaluable support and encouragement throughout this endeavor.

Thanks go to the other members of my committee who have been generous in
giving their time and expertise to providing me with helpﬁil suggestions and prompt
feedback that has guided this work to completion.

Special thanks to my transcriber, Lenora Billings, who listened to hours Of tapes
and prepared over 400 pages of transcription. That she listened and heard the story and

found value in its being told were of special signiﬁcance to me.

vi

Personal gratitude to my family and friends who have sacriﬁced having their
needs met to encourage and support the accomplishment of my goal. Particular thanks go
to my husband, who listened, critiqued, drove me back and forth to campus in all types
of weather, took over all household responsibilities and most importantly constantly kept
me lifted in prayer. And of course my adult children, who believed in me and would not
let me give up.

Humble appreciation to my leader participants who Opened up their lives and
allowed me to learn from them. I am deeply humbled by your trust and conﬁdence in my
ability to tell your remarkable stories. I am forever changed as a result of the time I spent

with you.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”

Phillipians 4:13

Vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

CHAPTER I
OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

Introduction
Background
Conceptual Framework
Exploratory Questions
Study Signiﬁcance

CHAPTER II
RELATED LITERATURE AND RESEARCH

Introduction

Strategic Leader Behavior

Social Learning Theory

Cognitive Dimensions of Leadership

Leader Background Experiences As a Basis for Action
Chapter Summary

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY

Introduction

Theoretical Framework
Method of Data Collection
Sampling Techniques
Data Analysis

CHAPTER IV

Introduction
The Learning Portraits
Vivian
Jane
Dan
Catherine
Gabriela
Mildred
Analysis of Findings

viii

viii

ix

r—Ii—I
mmer—dr—t

16
17
20
21
35
47

51
51
51
53
55
58

6O
64
65
76
84
92
99
l 13
120

CHAPTER V

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
Introduction
Responses to Research Questions
Conclusions
Revisiting the Literature
Limitations of the Study
Implications for Future Research

APPENDICES
UCRIHS Application
UCRIHS Approval Letter
Participation Consent Form
Participation Conﬁrmation Letter
Interview Protocol

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ix

148
149
158
159
163
164

167
173
174
175
176

178

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

4.7

4.8

4.9

LIST OF TABLES

Most Frequent Categories Of Signiﬁcant Learning Experiences
Contexts for Signiﬁcant Learning Experiences

Motivations for Signiﬁcant Learning Experiences

Leader Perceptions Of Strategic Problems

Factors Contributing to Perceptions of Strategic Problem
Processes Used tO Analyze and Interpret Strategic Problem
Processes Used in Determining Appropriate Course of Action
Types Of Strategic Action Taken by School Leaders

Theoretical Framework

124

125

126

130

131

136

137

139

147

LIST OF FIGURES

Conceptual Framework

xi

CHAPTER I
Life is oﬁen lived forward, but understood backward. It is not until we are down the road
a bit that we can appreciate the terrain we have scaled and the learning deposits that

have been made along the way (0s Hillman, 2000).

OVERVIEW OF STUDY

Introduction

 

Human skills, appreciations, and reasoning in all their great variety, as well as
human hopes, aspirations, attitudes, and values, are generally recognized to depend for
their development largely on the experiences called learning (Gagné, 1971). In this
study, I was interested in exploring the learning experiences of urban school leaders. Of
particular interest to me, were the types of learning experiences school leaders had and
the degree to which these experiences appear to influence and shape their strategic
behavior.

I began with the premise that what one does is determined by what one has
learned to do. My primary aim was to pinpoint markers Of signiﬁcant inﬂuence in the
learning experiences of school leaders that may predispose them toward taking certain
courses of action. I looked for the patterns and themes that emerged across the leader
learning experiences in search Of links to their perceptions, interpretations, and strategies
for resolving issues as leaders within their organizations. In the ensuing background,
conceptual framework, and review Of related literature I present the assumptions that

served as the basic foundation for the inquiry.

Background

After almost two decades Of school reform research and implementation, among
the most prominent beliefs embedded in state and national agendas for improving schools
are: 1) the school, rather than the classroom, is the basic unit of reform; 2) administrative
leadership is essential for school improvement; and 3) top-down decisions and expertise
make a difference in school improvement (Edmonds, 1979; Cohen, 1982; Purkey &
Smith, 1983; Ralph & Fennessy, 1983; Shipps, 1987; Stedman, 1987: Levine & Lezotte,
1990; Firestone, 1991; Murphy, 1992; Ogawa, 1994).

At the beginning of this new century, school restructuring continues to frame the
context for school leadership. Across all parts Of the developed world schools continue
to be challenged, in the name of reform, to change their govemance structures, open
themselves to greater community inﬂuence, become more accountable, clarify their
standards for content and performance and introduce related changes in their approaches
to teaching and learning. The search continues for approaches to school leadership that
productively respond to the complexity Of the challenges schools face (Leithwood, Jantzi,
and Steinback, 1999).

School leaders approach the challenge of reform from many different starting
points and develop quite different responses to the formidable challenges facing their
organizations. The literature suggests that a considerable proportion of the variation in
leaders’ responses tO reform seems to depend in part on differences in their experience
backgrounds. The literature further suggests that experience backgrounds inﬂuence the
way that leaders process information when making strategic decisions (Finkelstein and

Hambrick, 1996; Leithwoood and Steinbach, 1998).

The distinguished organizational theorist James Thompson wrote Of the role Of
“the variable human” in inﬂuencing organizational action ( 1967, p.101). He suggests
that leaders vary in their experiences and that these differences cause leaders tO differ in
their awareness and interpretation of problems, their interpretations about causation, and
even their beliefs about what they are trying to accomplish.

So then, if schools are the basic unit of school reform, and if school leaders
indeed play a strategic role in the school reform process. and if, in fact, the strategic
actions of the school leader are inﬂuenced by their individual learning experiences, then
it naturally follows that if we want to understand why schools perform the way they do,
the leader of the school and his or her learning experiences must be a central part of any

explanatory theory (Leithwood et al., 1999).

At one point, organizational leaders were an integral part of major theories of
organization (Barnard 1938; Selznick, 1957; Chandler, 1962). In the ﬁeld Of strategy,
organizational leaders were once seen as central determiners Of the direction Of the
organization. For example, the Harvard model (Learned, Christensen, and Andrews,
1961; Andrews, 1971), which served as principal guide for business policy thinkers in the
19603 and 19703, emphasized the personal role of organizational leaders in shaping their
organizations.

Leaders in charge of company destinies do not look exclusively at what an

organization might dO and can do. They sometimes seem heavily inﬂuenced by
what they personally want to do (p. 104).

Strategy is a human construction. . .. (p. 107).

In the Harvard model, individuals leading organizations were seen as pivotal in
understanding what happens to the enterprise. But then the focus shifted by many in the
academic community to mechanistic models in which factors such as environment,
technology, and size became the dominating inﬂuences facing organizations. There were
imperatives facing organizations, not choices to be made.

The ecologists’ perspective followed in which the environment was the
determiner of organizational forms. Organizational variation was largely random,
accidental, or rooted in history, not willfully achieved (Hannan and Freeman, 1977;
Aldrich, 1979). In fact, these theorist saw organizations as generally dominated by
external and internal constraints, and not readily available to the inﬂuences of leadership.

Despite the long tradition of a managerial perspective, even the ﬁeld Of strategy

lost Sight of strategic leaders. To some extent, this movement was probably due to the

effort to demonstrate the analytical rigor Of the domain. The fuzziness and multi-
dimensional nature Of leader behavior was set aside.

The renewed interest in strategic leaders can be traced to John Child’s (1972)
inﬂuential article on “strategic choice.” Child wrote:

.. many available contributions to a theory of organizational structure do not
incorporate the direct source Of variation in formal structural arrangements,
namely the strategic decisions Of those who have the power of structural
initiation. . .(1972, p. 16)

In 1982, Kotter wrote The General Managers, in which he posited how
differences in leaders’ behaviors may be traceable to differences in their personal and
background characteristics. In 1984, Hambrick and Mason in a more formalized theory,
proposed that strategic leaders make strategic choices on the basis Of their cognitions and
values and that the organization becomes a reﬂection of its leader. In the same year,
Gupta and Govindarajan (1984) conducted a systematic study Of division leaders, ﬁnding
that their units performed well to the extent that the leaders’ experiences and personalities
aligned with the critical requirements Of the business. At the same time, several other
inﬂuential works on strategic leaders appeared (e. g., Donaldson and Lorsch, 1983;
Meindl, Ehrlich, and Dukerich, 1985; Miller, Kets deVries and Toulouse, 1982: Wagner,
Pfeffer, and O’Reilly, 1984).

Since then, hundreds Of academic and applied articles, books, and monographs on
strategic leaders and their organizations have been written. The ﬁelds of organization
theory and strategy have once again returned to a focus on strategic leaders and their
inﬂuence on the fate of their organizations. As we can see, convincing evidence exits in

the literature as well as everyday Observation supporting the fact that organizational

strategies are traceable to the leaders at the top of the organization — those who have the

responsibility for the organization’s overall performance. (Finklestein and Hambrick,
1996)

Conceptual Framework

 

Associating the learning backgrounds of school leaders to their strategic actions is
one potentially powerful way of advancing the debate on the effects Of leader background
experience on the health and vitality of organizations — speciﬁcally schools. In this
study, particular attention was paid to the kinds of learning experiences that leaders
described as having signiﬁcant inﬂuence on the way they lead. Although the formal
learning experiences Of school leaders was part Of this investigation, the researcher was
most interested in the broader set of learning experiences that leaders described as
playing an important role in shaping who they were and how they practiced (Useem and
Karabel, 1986; D'Areni, 1990).

Cyert and March (1963) argue that to some extent, all Of us exist in a web of our
own personal and professional experiences. We may try to be Open-minded, detached,
and thorough; but we are conﬁned greatly by what we already know and believe and by
what we have experienced. Particularly in complex situations, they contend that
decision-makers rely on the familiar Often drawing on approaches that have worked well
in the past. Further, Hitt and Tyler (1991) suggest that experiences serve to Shape values
and cognitive models in ways that may substantially affect decision making and behavior.
If this is true, then background factors, reﬂective Of a school leader’s learning
experiences, should be associated with the strategic decisions that they make.

The logic of this study rests on the proposition that it is the interwoven set Of

leader learning experiences that most signiﬁcantly inﬂuences the way that leaders

perceive and interpret information in problem solving. These perceptions and
interpretations in turn will result in leaders taking speciﬁc courses Of action tO bring
about reform in their schools. This interwoven set of learning experiences are referred to
here as the givens that the leader brings into an leadership situation (March and Simon,
1958) and are central to the conceptual framework for this study. The following model

suggests a way to portray this process:

Figure l

 

Learning _._> View of Strategic .49 Strategic Action

Experiences Situation
. Strategies
0 Context 0 Perceptions ' Techniques
I Process
0 Content 0 Interpretations
0 Process

0 Motivation

 

 

SOURCE: Adapted from Hambrik and Mason (1984)

 

 

 

In this model, the learning experiences Of the leader were viewed as dominant

 

inﬂuences in Shaping the way strategic problems were viewed thus inﬂuencing the
courses of action taken. The focus was on the context, content, processes, and
motivations for learning experiences described by school leaders. Perceptions and
interpretations were then explored to determine how the leader viewed their respective

strategic situations and the options available to them in resolving the problems described.

Finally, the speciﬁc strategic actions taken by the school leaders were explored in search
of links to perceptions and interpretations and their learning experiences.
Learning Experiences as Determinants of Leader Behavior

The literature suggests that learning experience — or any biasing background
experience, for that matter, has its greatest effect on problem-solving when the leader: 1)
faces an abundance of complex ambiguous information, and 2) has to deal with the
information under some urgency Of some other form of pressure. It is under these
conditions that leaders can be expected to scan, selectively perceive and interpret
strategic information in line with their previous experiences (Finkelstein and Hambrick,
1996). Another signiﬁcant body of research further suggests that the schooling Of top
leaders is reﬂected in the characteristics of their organizations (e.g., Smart and Pascarella,
1986; Byrne, 1984; Cherrington, Condie, and England, 1979; Schein, 1968; Altmeyer,
1966). Moreover, evidence consistently has indicated a positive link between the
education level of leaders and the amount of innovation in their organizations (Becker,
1970a; Becker, 1970b; Rogers and Shoemaker, 1971). Thus, the effects of leader
education levels on organizational innovation, change, and growth are widely
documented and appear to be robust and stable.

Many school leaders have spent the greater part of their careers in one primary
work area, such as teaching, for example. It is reasonable to expect that a leaders work
experiences provide a lens through which he or she views problems and solutions in
general (Dearbom and Simon, 1958). A correspondence between work experiences and
strategic decisions could occur as a result Of a leader being drawn to a particular mode of

thinking and acting that is typical for the particular professional area in which he or she

has been socialized and inculcated (Blau and McKinley, 1979; Mortimer and Lorence,
1979). In fact, even when individuals are Operating outside their areas of work
experience, there is evidence that they will still gravitate toward perceiving problems in
familiar terms, generating and preferring familiar solutions (March and Simon, 1958). It
was from a belief in the orienting and ﬁltering effects of previous work experiences that
Dearbom and Simon (1958) did their seminal study that ultimately led tO today’s
widespread interest in the effects Of leader background on decision making.

View Of Strategic Situation

 

Organizational problem solving clearly represent what psychologist Walter
Mischel (1977) calls a “weak situation,” one in which available stimuli are many,
complex, and ambiguous. Mischel contends that in such situations, the choices of leaders
vary widely and cannot be predicted by the stimuli themselves. Thus, leaders inject a
great deal Of themselves into such choices. Such a view is consistent with the logic Of the
Carnegie School of decision theory. According to Carnegie theorists, complex choices
are largely determined by behavioral factors, rather than by calculations of Optimal
actions (March and Simon, 1958; Cyert and March, 1963). In this View, multiple and
sometimes incompatible goals, a smorgasbord of Options, and varying aspiration levels
all serve to limit the extent to which complex decisions can be made. Instead, complex
decisions are a result Of human limits and biases. This is not to say that leaders are
capricious but simply that they act on the basis of what they have learned, what they
perceive, and what they want to do. And these can vary widely from leader to leader.

The literature suggests that in arriving at their own rendition Of a strategic

situation, or “construed reality” (Sutton, 1987), leaders distill and interpret available

information. Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) argue that this occurs through a three-stage
ﬁltering process — limited ﬁeld of vision, selective perception, and integpretation. This
framework was modiﬁed to explore the relationship between learning experiences and
the strategic actions of school leaders.

Field of Vision. The school leader’s network of contacts will be used as a
primary determinant of his or her ﬁeld of vision (Chattopadhyay, et al., 1995). Most
leaders have signiﬁcant networks through which they both receive and disseminate
information (Mintzberg, 1973; Kotter, 1982). However, these leader networks vary
widely and can create signiﬁcant differences in leaders’ ﬁelds of vision. For example, a
leader recruited from outside the organization will tend not to have the same internal
network as a leader promoted from within (Gabarro, 1987). A leader who is actively
involved in labor associations has a network different from a leader who is not
(Geletkanycz, 1994). And a school leader who serves on inter and/or intra-district
committees, community boards, and is actively involved in professional organizations has
an expanded ﬁeld of vision by virtue of those associations (Lorsch, 1989).

Selective Perception. Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) suggest that further
ﬁltering occurs because a leader selectively perceives the stimuli within his or her ﬁeld of
vision. For example, when reading a consultant’s report on technological trends in
education, the leader’s eyes may gaze on every page, but chances are, he or she will not
read or comprehend every word. For one thing, their grasp of and interest in
technological issues will affect how much of the report he or she “gets through.” But
other factors will matter as well: The leader’s general regard for the author(s) of the

report, whether the leader likes the editorial style and layout of the report, whether the

passages in the report are consistent with what he or she read elsewhere, and so on. The
same ﬁltering process may occur when the leader sits through a long meeting of
presentations or has a conversation with colleagues. Not all of the information within the
leader’s ﬁeld of vision will register equally: some will be vivid, meaningful, and
engaging; some will slide into the leader’s subconscious; and some will escape his or her
attention entirely.

Starbuck and Milliken (1988) refer to this as the process Of “noticing” and argue
that noticing is a complex function of what is familiar and unfamiliar to the leader. On
the one hand, people become relatively insensitive to familiar stimuli; on the other hand,
with experience, people are able to notice the slightest perturbation in familiar stimuli.
Not enough research has been done on leader “noticing” to be able to reconcile these
complex phenomena. However, it is clear that leaders appear to only see a portion of
what they are watching, and hear only a portion of what they are listening tO. This
process of selective perception will be explored in depth.

Interpretation. The third variable to be explored is the ﬁltering process used by
school leaders to interpret or attach meaning to information. Interpretation, either
directly or indirectly, has been the Object of most research on leader perception. Leaders
have been studied for whether they interpret certain stimuli as Opportunities or threats
(e.g., Dutton and Jackson, 1987); for how they categorize or group stimuli (e.g., Day and
Lord, 1992); for how they use available stimuli to draw conclusions or inferences (e.g.,
Milliken, 1990); and other interpretive processes. Starbuck and Milliken (1988) refer to
this stage as “sensemaking,” arguing that it has various aspects: “comprehending,

understanding, explaining, extrapolating, and predicting...”

ll

As an example of how leaders can attach their own interpretations to information,
Milliken (1990) found that college leaders varied widely in drawing implications from a
well-publicized and veriﬁable external trend, the imminent shrinking of the eighteen to
twenty-two-year-old population in the United States. Some leaders saw this trend as a
grave threat, others expressed little concern, and some even asserted that the trend would
not occur. (Experts rated the probability of occurrence at 100 per cent.) Beyond their
varying interpretations of the trend itself, the leaders differed even more widely in their
judgments about how their organizations should respond to the trend.

Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) suggest that this three-stage information
ﬁltering process is made analytically tractable by thinking ofit as a strictly sequential
process: ﬁeld of vision, selective perception, and interpretation. However, the three
stages, they contend may interact in non-sequential ways. For instance, if a leader
comprehends and is engaged by a very high proportion of the information coming from a
speciﬁc information source, he or she is even more likely to rely on that source in the
future. In such case, selective perception affects ﬁeld of vision. They suggest that other
iterative links in this ﬁltering process can be anticipated as well.

As a result of the ﬁltering process described, a leader’s ultimate perception of the
strategic situation. or “construed reality” (what Weick (1969) might term “enacted
environment”), may bear little correspondence to the objective “facts” (even those that
could be ascertained). And more important, one leader’s construed reality can be quite
different from another:

In the face ofthe ambiguity and massive bombardment of information that typiﬁes the

top management task, no two strategists will necessarily identify the same array of

 

options; if they were to pick the same major options, they almost certainly would not

implement them identically. (Hambrick, 1987,88).

Such a contention is useful, as far as it goes. However, fuller explanation and
prediction was sought.

Strategic Action

 

Again, the purpose of this study is to make the case that variations in leader
impact on the strategic direction of the organization can be explained by examining the
variations in their learning experiences. Research recently reviewed by Leithwood,
Begley, and Cousins (1990), has begun to generate the information required to explain
the substantial variation in school leader’s impact on reform in their organizations. One
obvious explanation offered by the research describing differences in leader contributions
to school reform efforts focuses on speciﬁc differences in the strategic action taken by the
leaders (Hall et al., 1984; Blumberg and Greenﬁeld, 1980; Saley, McPherson, and Baehr,
1978; Leithwood and Montgomery, 1986; Hoy and Brown, 1986; BlblaséDedrick, and
Strathe, 1986; Brady, 1985). For the purposes of this study, the Speciﬁc nature and focus
of the leader’s strategic action were explored in search of links to the prior learning
experiences described.

Exploratory Questions

 

Initial exploratory questions guiding this inquiry were focused on the learning
experiences and problem solving processes of school leaders’ as they relate to speciﬁc
strategic school reform. The questions were designed to direct the inquiry and to generate

possible hypotheses for future study.

13

The following questions represent the three primary areas of the conceptual
framework and were used to explore school leader: 1) learning experiences; 2) views of
strategic situations, and 3) the nature and focus of leader strategic action.

Learning Experiences: What are the dominant learning experiences of the leader?

0 How does the leader describe his or her prior work experience in a learning context?
0 How does the leader describe his or her family experiences in a learning context?

0 How does the leader describe his or her social experience in a learning context?

0 How do school leaders describe their formal education experience in the context of

learning?

View of Strategic Situation: How are these experiences reﬂected in the leader’s view of
strategic situations facing the organizations?

 

o How are strategic situations described? Perceived? Interpreted?

o What resources does the leader rely on for help in understanding the nature and scope
of the problem?

0 How are others included in the process?

0 How is information used to determine the appropriate course of action?

0 What previous experience has the leader had with the same or similar problem?

Strategic Action: What do leaders do to address the strategic problem?

0 What is the nature and focus of the strategic action taken?

0 What resources does the leader rely on for help in the actual development and
implementation of strategic solutions?

0 How are solutions implemented?

Study Signiﬁcance

 

This study offered the potential for important and unique insights into the genesis
and development of effective school leader behavior. Understanding the content, context,
and motivation for learning that results in speciﬁc leader perceptions and interpretations
of their strategic situations and ultimately the strategic action that they take, has the
potential for offering insight into how mindsets are inﬂuenced and ultimately changed.
This has signiﬁcant implications for leader preparation programs.

In addition, this study is important because it has a theoretical, predictive and
explanatory focus. In seeking to explain how learning experience can be used to explain
variance in school leader behavior; an attempt is made to move research in this area
toward a promising and intriguing line of inquiry that breaks away from more traditional
methods. “Until this basic phenomena can be understood and explained, prescription is
premature” (Finkelstein and Hambrick, 1996, p. 10).

A ﬁnal point, regarding the signiﬁcance of this study, is that it has the potential
for offering practical beneﬁt to those who are responsible for evaluating, selecting,
motivating, and developing school leaders by providing a foundation upon which they
might further develop their perspectives and tools. Cognitive perspectives remind us that
what a leader does depends on what they know to do, and what they know to do depends
on what they have learned. As VanLehn (1990) explains: “The ultimate explanation for
the form and content of the human expert’s knowledge is the leaming processes that they
went through in obtaining it” (p. 529). Thus the best theory of effective leadership is a
theory of learning. This study offered potential for advancing a theory of learning as it

relates to school leadership.

15

CHAPTER II

RELATED LITERATURE AND RESEARCH

Introduction

 

Given that the researcher’s purpose was to better understand the relationship
between prior learning experiences of an organizational leader and their subsequent
strategic behavior, four bodies of research constituted the basic framework for the
literature review: strategic leadership. social learning theory, leader cognition, and leader
experience background. These bodies of literature were considered in an integrative
manner by investigating the following questions: What are the content and foci of
contemporary research? What are the major research questions and theoretical
perspectives? How have design choices changed over time? What can be learned from
an analysis of this work? And ﬁnally, what does this analysis suggest as to the
plausibility of the proposed study? In search of answers to these questions, the most
noted works were identiﬁed and reviewed to see how the topics have been studied and
how they are evolving. The ultimate goal of this process was to understand both the
contributions and the limitations of what has been done and to support the need for this
research.

The review began with a critical examination of the research on strategic
leadership. It is followed by a concise overview of recent theoretical and experimental
advances in the ﬁeld of social learning theory, as an appropriate and effective foundation
for this review. Because of the massive and rapid growth of the relevant literature on
social learning theory, a detailed review would exceed the scope of this study. However,

the theoretical approach to the explanation of leader behavior as a continuous reciprocal

l6

interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental determinants supports the
initial premise of this study and will therefore was given attention here (Bandura,1977).

Third, in an effort to better understand how leaders’ minds work, empirical
studies that explore the “cognitive dimensions” of leadership were examined (Gardner,
1995). Next, the review focused on studies that examined the effects of background
experiences as determiners of leader behavior. Studies that have looked at work
experience, formal education, and values as explanations for leader behavior were be
examined.

Finally, the chapter concludes with a summary of the key points from each section
of the review and relates these points to the study.

Strategic Leader Behavior

 

Much of the research on strategic leadership has concentrated on the CEO,
reﬂecting the prevailing traditional focus on the single leader. This indicates that while a
general manager focus is the purported hallmark of work on strategic leadership, in
reality scholars have devoted considerably more effort to studying corporate-level leaders
than unit level leaders.

One of the recurring themes in the literature on strategic leadership is that a wide
set of theoretical perspectives may be relevant to understanding characteristics,
behaviors, and effects of leaders on their organizations. The most commonly used
theoretical perspective was upper echelons theory, which has the advantage of allowing
straightforward tests of leader effects and has been instrumental in persuading researchers
to focus on leadership teams, not just single leaders. Agency theory has also proved to be

a prominent theoretical perspective for scholars of strategic leadership. Work by

17

Eisenhardt (1989a) and Walsh and Seward (1990), in particular have made this theory
accessible for strategic leadership researchers. Less often employed was the “traditional
leadership” perspective, perhaps a reﬂection of skepticism about “great man” conceptions
of CEOS.

The wide array of different theoretical perspectives found, indicates that strategic
leadership is a broad domain that can be studied in numerous ways. It also indicates that
“this ﬁeld of study is a long way from developing any paradigmatic focus, something that
might bring more coherent knowledge generation” (Pfeffer, 1993). Scholars Of strategic
leadership continue to employ a variety of different theoretical perspectives, however
signiﬁcant changes in the relative importance of these theories is apparent over the last
ﬁfteen years. Agency theory and, to a lesser extent, managerial hegemony theory have
emerged as major theoretical perspectives in the study of strategic leadership. There also
appears to be a renewed emphasis on upper-echelons ideas in the early 19905 and an
obvious decline in work on managerial ﬁt and strategy process.

In the studies reviewed. very few empirical works were able to establish strict
causality between leader behavior and organizational performance using formal statistical
methods. Leadership scholars tend to focus on the effects of leaders and their behaviors.
It is apparent from the literature that much more understanding of the determinants of
leader characteristics and behaviors is needed in order to get at the root forces for change
or intervention (F inklestein and Hambrick, 1996).

Finally, many works do not explicitly state the assumptions that underlie their

view of leadership work. It was important for me to be able to uncover these underlying

18

perspectives in order to better understand the point of view authors adopt in a study and,
by implication, the complexity and even sophistication of the collective body of research.

Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) argue that leaders operate under considerable
ambiguity, complexity, and information overload (Mintzberg, 1973; Kotter, 1982), with
decision-making often involving political and social factors as well as economic ones.
Top works on strategic leadership reﬂect these assumptions on the nature of leadership
work and are classiﬁed by Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) as follows:

Strategic Rationality: The general management task is to identify techno-
economic opportunities and problems, systematically search for and weigh

alternatives, and make choices that maximize ﬁrm performance.

Bounded Rationality: Organizations and individuals within them have bounded
rationality. The management task is to accommodate these limitations or develop

ways to minimize them (improved information ﬂows, stafﬁng, etc.).

Political: The general management task is to maintain the organizational
coalition by acquiring, using, allocating, and channeling power (both internally

and externally).

Symbolic: The general management task is to maintain the organizational
coalition by creating and manipulating symbols (for both internal and external

consumption).

Garbage Can: Because organizations are “garbage cans” into which problems,
solutions, and people are thrown together, the general management task is either
1) futile, 2) a matter of dealing with chaos, or 3) not amenable to coherent

description and analysis.

19

Hambrick (1986), in his earlier study of top works on strategic leadership between
1980 and 1985, used a similar classiﬁcation scheme and so Offers a point of comparison.
The literature suggests that researchers most often held underlying assumptions that
match the bounded rationality framework for deﬁning managerial work. Closely
following is the political model.

Social Learning Theory

 

Over the years, the various behavior theories have contributed much to our
understanding of how behavior is learned and modiﬁed by direct experience (Bandura,
1977). Social learning theory acknowledges that human thought. affect, and behavior can
be signiﬁcantly inﬂuenced by observation. as well as by direct experience, and has
fostered the development of observational paradigms for studying the power of socially
mediated experience. Changes in theoretical perspectives have added new paradigms to
the standard methods of research. The literature reﬂects a renewal of emphasis on
symbolic functions that has expanded the range of techniques for analyzing thought and
the mechanisms by which thought determines action (Bandura, 1977).

The capacity to use symbols provides humans with a powerful means of dealing

with their environment. Through verbal and imagined symbols people process

and preserve experiences in representational forms that serve as guides for ﬁIture
behavior (p. 13).

Arguing that complex behaviors are formed through the integration of many

“I

activities of differing origins, Bandura (1977) states that ‘. ..it is more fruitful to analyze
the determinants of behavioral processes than to categorize them as leamed or innate or
to try to apportion relative weights to these factors” (p. 17).

Bandura (1977) emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling the

behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. He states: "Learning would be

20

exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the
effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior
is learned Observationally through modeling: from Observing others one forms an idea of
how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves
as a guide for action." (p.22). Because it encompasses attention, memory and motivation,
social learning theory spans both cognitive and behavioral frameworks.

In the next section of this chapter, I focus on how the literature treats the subject
of leader cognition as a determiner of leader behavior.

Cognitive Dimensions of Leadership

 

One of the most rapidly growing branches of leadership research is the study of
the cognitive dimensions of leadership. This research can be divided into two somewhat
distinct strands. The earliest and still the dominant body of work concerns how leaders
solve problems and arrive at decisions. Although such inquiry may appear to be a
throwback to the behavioral paradigm that characterized leadership study after World
War 11, these cognitive studies take greater account ofcontextual inﬂuences on cognition
and thus, are of interest to this researcher.

The second strand is represented by Howard Gardner's (1995) and F inklestein and
Hambrick’s (1996) interest in the mind of the leader and Speciﬁcally how ideas develop
and inﬂuence thinking. In Leading Minds, Gardener argues for the acknowledgement of
the central role played by the leader and while he uses insights drawn from other
approaches (traits, personality, etc.) he concerns himself speciﬁcally with cognition,
which he deﬁnes as the mental structures activated in leaders and followers. Gardener

contends that leader cognition “constitutes the missing link to the puzzle” (p.17).

21

Gardener’s analysis proceeds in two separate streams. First, he reviews the
features of human development that make possible the phenomena of leadership. Next,
he considers the nature of the story making that leaders are engaged in and goes on to
delineate the major kinds of stories that leaders have worked with over the years. He
then applies this framework by further delineating the nature of leadership into ﬁve
domains: classic scholarship, institutional (with interlocking constituencies such as
schools, universities, and foundations), classic institutional (such as military, corporate
business, churches), marginalized groups (such as women, minorities), and national
(leaders of nations). He uses case studies as well as more general considerations of
leadership processes associated with each kind of domain.

In conducting the study, Gardner (1995) relied heavily on published biographies
of the individuals in each case, as well as the general histories of the period.
Autobiographical accounts were particularly valuable, according to Gardner, as well as
other mediums in which the individuals told their own stories in their own words.
Gardener describes his method as one that began with some general ideas about
leadership — in particular, with the notion that stories were important for all leaders and
that leaders who wanted to inﬂuence wide audiences would ﬁnd themselves drawn to the
articulation of simple stories.

Gardener also monitored for other factors including, the kinds of families the
individual leader came from, the cognitive strengths exhibited by the leaders, the role
played by other supportive individuals to the leader, and the length of time it takes to
develop and disseminate novel ideas. Gardner acknowledges that other factors not

initially identiﬁed as important emerged during the course of the investigation. Included

22

among those worthy of consideration were: travel during youth, the ability to challenge
ﬁgures in authority, an early focus on moral and spiritual issues, and the way that public
ﬁgures apportion their time.

Gardener confronts the phenomenon of leadership from a cognitively oriented
perspective by analyzing the stories of the selected leaders using such questions as: What
are the ideas of the leader? How have they developed? How are they communicated,
understood, and misunderstood? How do they interact with other stories? He distances
himself somewhat from mainstream cognitive research, particularly information-
processing studies that reduce cognitive operations to discrete steps leading from input to
output (Gardner, 1995).

In contrast, the next section, will discuss more traditional lines of inquiry from the
literature that are associated with the study of leader cognition.

Cognitive Models. At the heart of the literature on leader cognition is the concept that
every manager is endowed (or burdened) with a cognitive model that determines whether
and how new stimuli will be noticed, interpreted, and acted upon. These cognitive models
have been variously referred to as cognitive maps (Axelrod, 1976; Weick and Bougon,
1986), world views (Starbuck and Hedberg, 1977; Mason and Mitroff, 1981),
"mindscapes" (Maruyama, 1982).

Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) suggest three chief elements of a leader’s cognitive
map that emerge from the literature. Ranging from the most basic to the most complex
and interwoven, they are: l) cognitive content; 2) cognitive structure; and 3) cognitive
style. They acknowledge that these elements of cognition affect each other, even

determine each other, and so the dividing lines among them are not precise. Still, they

23

 

 

allow a useful conceptual disentangling of some complex phenomena and for that reason
will be discussed further here.
Cognitive Content. At the most basic level, Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) describe
a leader’s cognitive map as consisting of the things he or she knows, assumes, and
believes. A leader's cognitive content, stemming from personal and professional
experiences, can include recollection of vivid events, such as an economic depression, a
business bankruptcy or a dishonest customer. It can include familiarity with management
tools or concepts, such as a sophisticated ﬁnancial statement analysis. Cognitive content
can include simple ﬁrst-hand knowledge about other people, what they know, and how to
reach them. For instance, a leader who is on a ﬁrst-name basis with the Governor or
knows a variety of inﬂuential government ofﬁcials has cognitive content that others may
not have. Of course, cognitive content also consists of simple facts, data, and perceptions.

March and Simon (195 8) described the cognitive givens a leader brings to an
administrative situation as consisting of his or her knowledge or assumptions about future
events, alternatives, and consequences attached to alternatives. However, Finkelstein and
Hambrick (1996) suggest that a leader’s cognitive content extends well beyond what was
envisioned by March and Simon. They contend that what a leader knows--or does not
know--forms the basis by which new information is noticed and interpreted. They argue
that a leader’s existing knowledge provides a platform from which additional knowledge
is sought, comprehended, and interpreted.

Cognitive content is a very basic way of considering what is in a leader's mind and
implies no particular priorities or complex associations, however, researchers of

managerial cognition have paid relatively little attention to it. F inkelstein and Hambrick

24

(1996) believe that this is a mistake, “because basic cognitive content is at the core of
more sophisticated conceptions of managerial thinking, researchers have focused instead
on the more elaborate and analytically intriguing areas of cognitive structure and
cognitive style” (p.59).

Cognitive Structure. If cognitive content is the basic raw material for leader
knowledge, then cognitive structure is how the content is arranged or connected in the
leader's mind. The term "causal map" is widely used among cognition theorists
(Axelrod,1 976; Huff, 1990).

Isenberg (1984) referred to "terrain structures," or all individual's conceptions of
where things —organizationa1 resources, customers, competitors, sub-units, and so on —
are located, either relative to each other or to some set of dimensions. A leader may
cognitively differentiate between entities, considering them very dissimilar, or mentally
juxtapose entities, in a belief that they are similar or even of a kind. As an illustration,
Isenberg (1984) asked senior leaders in three companies to rate the overall similarity of
all pair-wise combinations of the sub-units of their organizations. He then used
multidimensional scaling (MDS) to reveal each executive's mental map of his or her
organization. Findings indicated that the CEO considered the primary fabrication and
mining operations as very similar to each other but very different from the leader
committees, the overall corporation, and the corporate staff. The public affairs
committee was seen by the CEO as quite distinct from any other part of the company.

Isenberg did not attempt to relate these CEOS‘ cognitive maps to the CEOs'
backgrounds or to organizational characteristics, such as power distribution, strategy,

succession patterns, and so on. However, the suggestion that these and numerous other

25

 

research avenues could be pursued through the use of such cognitive mapping of
organizational characteristics is certainly implied (Huff 1990).

Another stream of research has focused on leaders' mental maps of their competitors.
For instance. Gripsrud and Gronhaug (1985) found that the managers of retailing ﬁrms
typically perceived only a small portion of all the other stores in their markets to be their
competitors. The managers tended to see stores that were larger and geographically close
to them as competitors and ignored other stores, some of which were actually direct
rivals. Similarly, Reger and Huff (1993) examined how managers cognitively
distinguished strategic groups in the Chicago banking market. They found that most
managers agreed on the categorization of many of the banks but differed widely in their
assignment of others. The authors did not speculate about the determinants of each
manager’s own conception of the competitive arena, but their study clearly indicates that
competitor identiﬁcation and assessment is open to varying interpretations. If strategic
choices hinge on competitive dynamics (Porter, 1980; Chen and MacMillan, 1992) and if
leaders arrive at their own highly personalized assessments of competitors (Zahra and
Chaples, 1993), then an understanding of how those assessments are derived would be of
major practical signiﬁcance.

In addition to simple associations, a leader’s cognitive structure also consists of a
varied set of inferences, guiding the person from one observation to another. A leader
could draw interpersonal inferences: “If emotional, infer friendliness; if blunt, infer
trustworthiness” (Isenberg, 1981). The leader can draw inferences about things in the
organization: “Marketing managers tend to produce over-optimistic forecasts”; “middle

managers are more resistant to change than any other group in the organization.” And, of

26

course, leaders carry a host of inferences about external factors: “The Japanese never

an u
3

actually say no small advertising agencies are more creative than large ones.”

Beyond inferences are a leader’s beliefs about causality. For instance, a leader might
have strong beliefs about employee stock ownership enhancing productivity or about
increased R&D spending enhancing innovation. In a classic article, Hall (1976) used
patterns of resource allocation at the Saturday Evening Post to infer the causal maps of
top leaders during that magazine’s death spiral. More recently, Narayanan and Fahey
(1990) used content analysis of annual reports and trade journal articles to extract the
causal maps of leaders at Admiral Corporation over the last ﬁfteen years of the television
manufacturer’s life. For instance, the authors used available data to construct the
Admiral executives’ causal map for the years 1964 to 1966. According to the schematic,
the leaders seemed preoccupied with the effects of the macro-environment on the
company’s performance but did not perceive much connection between their more
proximate environment — their competitors, customers, imports, and so on — and what
was happening to their ﬁrm.

By this point, it should be clear that a leader’s cognitive structure is a highly
personalized interpretation of reality, not necessarily aligning with objective conditions.
Moreover, one’s cognitive structure can become self-fulﬁlling and self-reinforcing. As
Weick (1983) points out, in some cases, elements of leaders’ cognitive structures are so
well established and unshakable that contrary data are overlooked or, if noticed, severely
discounted.

Evidence that leaders’ cognitive structures will be reﬂected in their strategic

choices is not abundant but has been observed in some studies. Fiol (1989) used textual

27

analysis of CEO’s letters to shareholders to investigate whether revealed beliefs about the
strength of the organizational boundaries were related to the company’s joint venture
activity. In the ten chemical companies studied, she found that companies led by leaders
who indicated a perception of strong internal boundaries (demarcations between sub-units
and hierarchical layers) and weak external boundaries (imaginary dividing lines between
the organizations and their environments) engaged in the most joint ventures.

Day and Lord (1992) found that the cognitive structures of leaders in machine
tool companies were related to their organizations’ strategies. In particular, leaders who
drew the ﬁnest distinctions between different types of strategic problems (in an
experimental setting) were those whose ﬁrms had the widest arrays of product or service
offerings. Whether these cognitively complex leaders had chosen complex business
strategies or their cognitions had been inﬂuenced by their strategies cannot be determined
from the data.

Allowing more conﬁdence about causality, Thomas, Clark, and Gioia (1993)
found in their study of a large sample of hospitals that the CEO’s labeling of strategic
issues as controllable (in a survey questionnaire) was positively related to subsequent
product or service changes actually made by the hospital. Thus, the leaders engaged in
innovation and expansion endeavors to the extent that their cognitive structures contained
the belief that managerial actions could surmount, seize, or exploit strategic issues faced
by their hospitals.

Finally, Priem (1994) had thirty-three CEOs of manufacturing ﬁrms complete a
judgement task that required them to reveal their beliefs (or cognitive structures) about

the optimal alignments among strategy, structure, and environment. Then comparing

28

these beliefs to the classic contingency prescriptions in the organizational literature,
Priem found that ﬁrms whose CEOs had beliefs that closely adhered to customary
prescriptions outperformed those ﬁrms whose CEOs had beliefs that differed from the
normative ideals. This study is important for its careful, direct assessment of managerial
judgment and its demonstrated explicit links to organizational policies and performance.
This and the other studies noted provide consistent, but still sparse, indication that
executives’ knowledge structures affect their strategic choices.

Cognitive Style. Cognitive style refers to how a person's mind works — how he or
she gathers and processes information. Barnard (1938, p. 302) was among the ﬁrst to
address different types of leader thought processes, saying that "mental processes consist
of two groups which I shall call ‘non-logical’ and ‘logical’.” By "logical," Barnard meant
conscious thought that can be expressed in words or symbols — often called "reasoning."
By "non-logical", he meant intuition, instinct, or tacit judgment. In Bamard's view, an
effective leader has an abundance of both types of cognitive capabilities and can draw on
either mode as the situation requires.

Leaders may differ widely in their cognitive styles and sometimes lack the
"multidexterity" that Barnard envisioned. For instance, Mintzberg asked: “Why is it that
some of the most creative thinkers cannot comprehend a balance sheet, and that some
accountants have no sense of product development” (Mintzberg, 1976, p.49)?

Mintzberg’s answer, based on a wealth of research in psychology and medicine, was
that managers may differ in their cognitive styles due to biological factors, particularly in
the relative strength or dominance of the two hemispheres of the brain. He contended

that individuals with dominant left hemispheres -- the locus of logic, linear thinking, and

29

intellectual order — make good planners. Conversely those with dominant right
hemispheres - the source of holistic information processing, imagination, and visual
imagery — may make good managers.

Another conceptual approach to considering cognitive style (and not unrelated to the
hemispheric model) draws from the work of Carl Jung, one of psychology’s classic
theorists (summarized in Taggart and Robey, 1981; Myers, 1982; Hurst, Rush, and
White, 1989). Jung’s theory identiﬁes two dimensions of cognitive style: perception
(gathering information) and judgment (processing information). Perception occurs by
either sensation (physical stimuli taken in by the ﬁve senses) or intuition (discerning
patterns, gaps, or relationships among stimuli). Judgment, or information processing and
evaluation, occurs either through thinking (linking ideas using logic and notions of cause
and effect) or feeling (basing evaluation on personal and/or group values). Jung’s theory
pairs each mode of perception with a mode of judgment yielding four basic cognitive
styles. Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) draw from several researchers’ protrayals of the
four types of cognitive style. However they go further in attaching labels to describe the
archetypical manager in each cell: administrator, strategist, coach, and visionary.

For instance, the “administrator” type tends to be fact—oriented, impersonal, practical,
and orderly: This person engages in a great deal of scanning, placing heavy reliance on
written, formal information sources. His or her cognitive structure tends to correspond to
empirical reality, comprehending what is, but not what will be or what might be. The
“coach” types tend to be fact-oriented also, however, they are personal, friendly, and
spontaneous. This person also engages in a great deal of scanning but heavily relies on

oral informal media. His or her cognitive structure, like the “administrator” type,

30

corresponds to empirical reality. Visionary types tend to be possibility oriented,
personal, enthusiastic, and insightful. This person engages in little scanning and relies
primarily on oral, informal media. Their cognitive structure is idiosyncratic with little
correspondence to empirical reality. The “strategist” type tends to be possibilities-
oriented, impersonal, ingenious, and integrative. They do little scanning, rely primarily
on written, formal media, and their cognitive structure is idiosyncratic with little
correspondence to empirical reality.

Some of the most interesting research on Jungian types, as applied to top leaders, has
been done by Nutt (1986a). In one study (Nutt, 1986a), executives were asked to indicate
their readiness to accept several brieﬂy described capital investment proposals. Those
leaders with an administrator proﬁle adopted the fewest proposals, showing a general
aversion to action and also rating the proposals as highly risky; often noting the
sketchiness or incompleteness of the project descriptions. Leaders, with a coaching style,
were most inclined to adopt the projects and rated them as relatively low risk. The other
two types, the visionary and strategy leaders, were in between the extremes.

In a later project, Nutt (1993) incorporated the idea that some leaders have ﬂexible,
decision-making styles, not always adhering to only one Jungian type. In turn, he found
that leaders with multiple orientations, when faced with several hypothetical capital
investment proposals that varied in how they were described, were willing to adopt more
of them (and rated them less risky) than were leaders with only a single Jungian
orientation.

Nutt’s work is among the relatively little empirical research that has been done on

cognitive styles of top leaders. However, it is reasonable to conclude from related

research that leaders may differ signiﬁcantly in how they obtain and process information,
greatly affecting their interpretive processes and ultimately inﬂuencing their strategic
choices.

Another way of viewing cognitive style, that is described in the literature, is
through the construct called “cognitive complexity,” or the individual’s ability to draw
mental distinctions among objects (Schneir, 1979). Long used in organizational behavior
research, cognitive complexity has been incorporated in some recent research on leaders.
Hitt and Tyler (1991) found that cognitive complexity was not associated with leaders’
decision models in the evaluation of acquisition candidates. However, Wally and Baum
(1994) did ﬁnd that a factor comprised of cognitive complexity and amount of education
was strongly positively related to the pace at which leaders evaluated acquisition
candidates.

In sum, this literature strongly suggests that all three facets of leader cognition
discussed — cognitive content, structure, and style — play important roles in triggering and
shaping the leader’s attention to new information. The current growth in interest in
managerial cognition appears to be highly warranted and should lead to important new
insights as to how strategic choices are formed (F inklestein and Hambrick, 1996).
Cognitive problem-solving and decision-making. One of the leading exponents of
mainstream cognitive studies of leadership is Kenneth Leithwood of the Ontario Institute
for Studies in Education. In a piece advocating "cognitive perspectives on school
leadership," Leithwood (1995) observed that such perspectives conceptualize leaders as

"problem-ﬁnders and problem-solvers with varying levels of expertise" (p. 118).

32

Much of the early writing related to cognitive dimensions of leadership
acknowledged the role of values in problem solving and decision making, but the focus
always remained squarely on the leader (Bamard,l938; Simon, 1976). In other words,
concern centered on the leader's values rather than on their origins. Because many
leaders Operate in complex environments characterized by competing problems, the
selection of particular problems on which to concentrate becomes an opportunity to
investigate the inﬂuences on leaders' choices. Peterson (1986) makes the connection
between problem selection and values: "Selecting the particular arena or domain in which
to identify the technical problem to solve requires an implicit or explicit set of values and
beliefs about what is most important" (pp. 89-90).

In Expert Problem Solving, Leithwood and Steinbach (1995) review their efforts
to understand how expert educational leaders problem solve. Admitting that Leithwood's
(1995) original studies ignored values, they add, "It was not until we began frequently
tripping over them in our data that we began to realize their central importance"
(Leithwood & Steinbach, 1995, p.172). Considering both direct and indirect inﬂuences
of values on problem solving, the researchers found that expert educational leaders were
"much clearer about their values, and, as a consequence, could and did use them as
substitutes for more problem-speciﬁc knowledge, which would have helped them but
which they lacked" (p. 174).

Recently, Leithwood and Steinbach (1995) have expanded their inquiries to
include not only the values espoused and used by educational leaders but the sources of
these values. One recent dissertation by Raun (Leithwood & Steinbach, 1995, pp. 188-

192), for instance, investigated inﬂuences on the personal and professional values of

U.)
DJ

 

Canadian superintendents. Although a variety of inﬂuences were identiﬁed, "the work
setting was the most powerful force in the development of values-in-use" (p. 192). Work
such as Raun's suggests that the normative structure of the organization may constitute an
important source of organization leaders' values.

Ever since March and Simon's (1958) explication of bounded rationality; scholars
have been interested in cognitive limits and biases in strategic decision-making. Recently,
interest in managerial cognition has grown explosively with books (Srivastava and
Associates,1983; Sims and Gioia, 1986; Huff, 1990), extensive reviews (Walsh, 1995),
special issues of major journals (e.g., Organizational Science, August, 1994), and a new
cognition interest group in the large scholarly society, the Academy of Management, all
attesting to intellectual activity in this important domain.

In recapping the review to this point, we have examined the literature on strategic
leadership and found that while studies have been unable to establish strict causality
between leader behavior and organizational performance using statistical measures, it
does suggest that movement toward this goal may rest in studies that explore the
determinants of leader behavior. Next, we considered social learning theory as a
plausible theoretical framework for this study. We then reviewed work that focused on
leader cognition through the lenses of Gardner (1995), Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996),
and Leithwood, et al., 1995). The next section of this review will focus on research that
speciﬁcally addresses leader background experiences as a basis for leader strategic

action.

Leader Background Experiences as a Basis for Leader Action

 

Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) contend that, to some extent, all of us —
including leaders —— exist in a web of our own personal and professional experiences. We
may try to be open-minded, detached, and thorough; but we are conﬁned greatly by what
we already know and believe, by what we have already experienced. Particularly in
complex situations, leaders rely on the familiar, often drawing on approaches that have
worked well in the past (Cyert and March, 1963). Experiences serve to shape values and
cognitive models in ways that may substantially affect decision-making and behavior
(Hitt and Tyler, 1991). If so, then background factors, reﬂective of a leader’s
experiences, should be associated with strategic choices.

The past ten years have witnessed an explosion of research on the relationships
between leader background characteristics and organizational outcomes. The vast
majority of this research has pursued the general logic that observable experiences of
leaders shape their coalitions and values and hence are reﬂected in their strategic choices.
A smaller stream of research has posited the reverse causality--that certain strategic
conditions give rise to particular types of leader characteristics, due to intentional or
emergent alignment of leader qualities with strategic requirements. A third research focus
has been essentially a hybrid of the other two, pursuing the idea that different strategic
conditions favor different types of leader qualities and that the organization will perform
well to the extent that its leaders have those characteristics. Research on leader
background characteristics, typically focusing on demographic characteristics, has
yielded numerous signiﬁcant ﬁndings; some of these results, as will be discussed below,

recur in multiple studies. Thus, using observable leader experiences in organizational

research appears to be a promising line of inquiry.

Various leader experiences have been examined for their associations with
organizational outcomes, such as strategy and performance. However, three sets of
leader background characteristics account for the vast majority of inquiries: leader tenure,
functional background (teaching, marketing, ﬁnance, and so on), and formal education.
This section will review and integrate the studies that have examined these three sets of
leader characteristics. For each, three types of observed associations will be discussed.
The ﬁrst is the link to leader cognitive models and interpretations and perceptions. Such a
review helps to establish the most fundamental implications of leader experiences relative
to this study. However, because most studies of leader experiences have treated these
factors as a "black box," there is relatively little to report here. Second, the links to
organizational strategy and conduct will be summarized. This is where most upper-
echelons research has focused, in line with the general concept that leaders’ experiences
are reﬂected in their strategic choices. The third set of results includes those examining
the links between leader characteristics and organizational performance. In some cases,
these are direct; more often, they are contingent, with the association between
characteristics and performance depending on speciﬁc contextual conditions.

Functional Background

 

Consultants and academics long have exhorted companies to expose their managers
to multiple functions, both because it would enhance their breadth of perspective in their
current assignments and because such a policy would yield broader-gauged top-level
leaders (Ouchi and Jaeger, 1978; Raskas and Hambrick, 1992). To be sure, some top

leaders have signiﬁcant experiences in multiple functions. However. many have spent

the greater part of their careers in one primary functional area such as curriculum,
business, ﬁnance, or human resources.

It is reasonable to expect that a leader's functional experiences provide a lens through
which he or she sees organizational problems and solutions in general (Dearbom and
Simon, 1958). A correspondence between functional experiences and strategic choices
could occur through at least three mechanisms. First. individuals may be drawn to
ﬁnancial areas that suit their personalities or aptitude (e.g.. Schein, 1968). At the start of
their careers, individuals in different functions already have different cognitive models.
Second, with the passage of time and the accumulation of successes in a functional area,
an individual becomes more and more socialized and inculcated with the mode of
thinking and acting that is typical for that professional area (Blau and McKinley, 1979;
Mortimer and Lorence, 1979). And third, even when individuals are operating outside
their functional areas, say in eventual general management positions, they still gravitate
toward perceiving problems in familiar temis, generating and preferring familiar
solutions (March and Simon 1958). In fact, it was from a beliefin the orienting and
ﬁltering effects of functional experiences that Dearbom and Simon (1958) did their
seminal study that ultimately led to today's widespread interest in the effects of leader
backgrounds on decision making.

Dearbom and Simon (1958) argued that exposure to the goals and reinforcements of a
particular functional area will cause managers to attend to certain information in a
complex situation and, in turn, to interpret that information in terms that suit their
functional expertise. To test these ideas, Dearbom and Simon had twenty-three middle

managers from a single company read a ten thousand—word business case that presented a

large number of facts with virtually no structure or interpretation. The managers were
then asked to identify the major problem facing the company. As the researchers
expected, the managers tended to gravitate to interpretations that mirrored their functional
backgrounds. For example, sales leaders mentioned more sales-related problems than did
leaders from other functional areas. However, a careful reading of the results in an
appendix leads one to conclude that Dearbom and Simon's ﬁndings are only suggestive,
not deﬁnitive. There were not wholesale differences between functions, although some
evidence of functional bias in interpreting business problems was observed.

Almost thirty years later, Walsh (1986) conducted an elaborate replication and
extension of Dearbom and Simon’s study. He had 121 participants enrolled in an leader
MBA program do two tasks: 1) read a thousand-word business case and identify the
major problems faced by the company, and 2) sort cards with business terms into piles to
reveal underlying cognitive structures. Walsh (1986) hypothesized that the participants'
handling of these tasks would reﬂect their functional backgrounds, but this was not at all.
borne out. No discernible functional biases were revealed in either of these information-
processing endeavors.

Why did Dearbom and Simon ﬁnd functional biases (albeit limited nature) and Walsh
observe none? Possible explanations for the differences in ﬁndings could be attributed to
the fact that in the mid-19505, there was not a pervasive concept of general management
in America. All but a few companies had one general manager, the CEO. There were
relatively few MBA programs, a handful of popular business magazines, very few leader
seminars, and certainly no best-selling books on managing. By the mid-19805, all

managers in business were bombarded with information and insights beyond their

 

 

primary professional area. Most major companies had numerous general management
and quasi-general management positions. Leader seminars abounded, books by Peters
and Waterman (1982) and Iacocca (1984) had led a series of best-sellers on general
management that pulled many business people beyond their parochial zones. In short, by
the 19805, managers may have been genuinely less conﬁned by their functional
backgrounds than were their predecessors in the 19505.

It is also noteworthy that Dearbom and Simon's subjects were participants in a short
company-training program, whereas Walsh's subjects were enrolled in a two-year leader
MBA program.

The third point of reconciliation, seemingly minor, may be the one of greatest
theoretical signiﬁcance. Consider the fact that the case Walsh had his subjects read was
one-thousand words long (three pages) and he gave them twenty-ﬁve minutes to study it.
This would not seem to be an instance of information overload in which the manager
would have to engage in mental shortcuts or fall back on the familiar. Rather, the manag-
er could be very thorough and deliberate, quite readily assessing all available
information. In comparison, Dearbom and Simon's case was ten thousand words long,
and the chances of complete mastery of the material and surrnounting of cognitive biases
seem far lower.

Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) suggest that functional background--or any biasing
experience--has its greatest effect on interpretation and choice when the manager 1) faces
an abundance of complex, ambiguous information and 2) has to deal with the information
under urgency or other forms of pressure. When these conditions exist, leaders can be

expected to scan, selectively perceive, and interpret strategic stimuli in line with their

 

functional experiences. They argue that the actual strategic situations faced by top
leaders typically contain a great deal of ambiguity, information overload, and urgency
and that under these conditions, leaders will manifest functional biases (as well as other
types of dispositions) in their choices.

Gupta and Govindarajan (1984) measured the overall number of years general
managers had spent in the speciﬁc functional area of marketing and sales, ﬁnding it to be
positively related to the managers’ tolerance for ambiguity. This is in line with common
conceptions of marketing and sales managers having to deal with more uncontrollable
factors than do managers in other, more internally oriented functional areas, such as
operations or accounting.

However, Gupta and Govindarajan found no association between functional
background and the manager's risk-taking propensity. Earlier, Vroom and Pahl (1971)
had observed the same lack of association. And, more recent, Hitt and Tyler (1991), using
elaborate cluster analysis of leaders' functional experiences, also found no strong
relationships between any of the clusters and a survey measure of risk propensity. Thus,
the implications of functional experiences may be limited to fewer psychological
constructs than might logically be anticipated. Dearbom and Simon (1958) and Walsh
(1986) indicate that even the most direct implications of functional experience are
complex and depend on various moderating forces.

Inquiries into the effects of leader functional background on organizational
proﬁles have centered on two classes of organizational strategy. The ﬁrst is the
company's competitive strategy in its major line of business, or its business strategy. The

second is the company's diversiﬁcation proﬁle, or its corporate strategy. In each of these

40

streams, some recurring and intuitively reasonable patterns emerge.

Competitive strategies can take many forms, but the typologies of Miles and Snow
(1978) and Porter (1980) have been instrumental in identifying some major classes of
strategic proﬁles. Research on leader functional backgrounds and business strategy have
particularly applied the Miles and Snow typology. In their study of major tobacco
companies, Chaganti and Sambharya (1987) found that the top leader ranks of the
company they examined (Philip Morris) differed from those of the (RI. Reynolds) and
(American Brands) companies. Speciﬁcally, Phillip Morris had proportionately more
leaders with marketing and R&D backgrounds and fewer with ﬁnance backgrounds.
Thomas, Litschert and Ramaswamy (1991) examined the functional backgrounds of the
CEOs of computer companies and found similar results. Of the marketing, sales, and
R&D companies studied, 77 percent of their CEOs had experience primarily in “output-
oriented” these primary functions as compared to only 10 percent of the CEOs in the
companies primarily concerned with manufacturing, accounting, ﬁnance, and
administration.

Beyond the descriptive tendency for leaders to pursue competitive strategies in line
with their own functional capabilities and dispositions is the possibility that they are wise
to do so. There may be performance advantages in having a ﬁt between leader functional
expertise and strategy. The little bit of available evidence supports this idea. For instance,
Thomas, Litschert, and Ramaswamy found that the best-performing companies had CEOs
with compatible functional backgrounds and, most noteworthy of all, ﬁrms tended to
perform less well when they had CEOs that did not ﬁt their strategy.

At least two other studies have found perfomiance advantages stemming from an

41

 

 

alignment of leader functional background and competitive strategy. Gupta and
Govindarajan (1984) found that business units pursuing aggressive market share
strategies performed better to the extent that their general managers had experience in
marketing and sales. There was no such association in businesses in which operational
and ﬁnancial competencies are presumably more valuable.

Barbosa (1985) found further evidence that business innovation is enhanced by
certain functional capabilities among top leader. In a large-scale study of the forest
products industry, he found that the conversion of product innovations efforts (R&D
spending and stafﬁng levels) into actual product innovations (patents, sales from new
products, and so on) was strongly related to the degree of marketing experience among
the company's top leaders. He concluded that a marketing orientation among top leaders,
confers more of a customer-based, creative, expansionist capability in the ﬁrm, which
serves to enhance the yield from innovation efforts.

The second major research stream dealing with leader functional backgrounds and
strategy has focused particularly on the company's diversiﬁcation strategy. The chief line
of argument has been that companies without operational connections among their
business units (at the extreme, mere holding companies) would be likely to have top
leaders with ﬁnancial, legal, and administrative backgrounds. While companies with
more substantive interdependencies would be led by leaders with experience in more
"core" functions, such as marketing and sales, R&D, and operations. Song (1982) found
support for this idea, observing that ﬁrms that were diversifying primarily through
acquisitions were relatively likely to have CEOs with ﬁnancial and legal backgrounds.

While companies diversifying through internal, organic extensions were more likely to

42

 

have CEOs with core function experience in operations, R&D, and marketing and sales.

Michel and Hambrick (1992) extended these arguing that top leaders would have core
function experiences in direct proportion to the amount of strategic interdependence
existing among their major lines of business. Building upon Rumelt's (1974) framework,
they posited that four categories of diversiﬁed ﬁrms lie on a continuum ranging from
very low to very high strategic interdependence: unrelated, related in a loosely linked
way, related in a tightly constrained way, and vertically integrated. They found, in line
with their hypothesis, that the proportions of senior leaders with primarily core function
experience were as follows: unrelated, 18%; related-linked 27%; related-constrained
35%; vertically integrated, 44%. This pattern was highly statistically signiﬁcant.

Hayes and Abemathv (1981), in their inﬂuential article, "Managing Our Way to
Economic Decline," were among the ﬁrst to raise the idea that functional capabilities of
senior leaders would signiﬁcantly affect the health of companies. They envisioned a
universal effect that leaders with experience in core functions will produce superior
returns. So far, the most direct tests of this supposition, provide no support for it. “As
yet, we know of no evidence of a generally advantageous functional proﬁle for top
leaders (F inkelstein and Hambrick, 1996, p.99). Instead, the external environment and
the company's chosen strategy create a context in which certain functional orientations
may have distinct but conditional beneﬁts.

Formal Education

 

A signiﬁcant body of research suggests that the schooling of senior managers is
reﬂected in the characteristics of their organizations. A substantial literature in

developmental psychology and higher education exists regarding the effects of education

 

 

on individual values and cognitions, as well as on the types of individuals who self-select
themselves into certain educational experiences (e.g., Smart and Pascarella, 1986; Byrne,
I984; Cherrington, Condie, and England, 1979; Schein, 1968; Altmeyer, 1966). However,
very little research has examined association, speciﬁcally between education and leader
psychological constructs. In a survey study of 106 CEOs, Wally and Baum (1994) found
a very strong correlation between amount of formal education and a measure of cognitive
complexity, or the ability to discern patterns and distinguish among objects. Hitt and
Tyler (1991) found a weaker but still positive link. Further in line with the premise that
formal education reﬂects an individual's cognitive ability, particularly open-mindedness,
researchers have found that education is associated with receptivity to innovation
(Becker, 1970a; Becker, 1970b; Rogers and Shoemaker, 1971). Moreover, evidence
consistently has indicated a positive link between the education level of leaders and the
amount of innovation in their organizations.

Kimberly and Evanisko (1981) were among the ﬁrst to document this pattern,
ﬁnding that the amount of formal education of hospital chief administrators was
positively associated with the adoption of both technological and administrative
innovations in hospitals. Similar positive associations between leader education levels
and organization innovation have been observed in samples of commercial banks (Bantel
and Jackson, 1989), forest product companies (Barbosa, 1985), and computer companies
(Thomas, Litschert, and Ramaswamy, 1991). Relatedly, Norburn and Birlev (1988)
found that amount of education of top leaders was positively associated with company
growth in three of ﬁve industries studied. Finally, Wiersema and Bantel (1992) found

that education levels of top leaders were positively associated with strategic portfolio

44

 

 

changes in a large sample of diversiﬁed ﬁrms. Thus, the effects of leader education levels
on organizational innovation, change, and growth are widely documented.

There has been a marked, steady tendency toward increased education levels of
leaders over the past thirty or forty years, and young leaders tend to be more highly
educated than their older and predecessors. However, at least three of the studies cited
above have used multivariate analysis, while controlling for age and they still ﬁnd
signiﬁcant effects stemming from education (Barbosa, 1985; Bantel and Jackson, 1989;
Wiersema and Bantel 1992). Another possible confounding factor — the inevitable
correlation between the amount of innovation in an industry and the amount of education
—— can similarly be set aside because almost all studies cited have controlled for industry
effects. Hence, the association between the level of education of senior leaders and the
amount of innovation and change in their organizations appears to be robust and stable.

The effects of education level on organizational performance, however, are not as
widely observed or clear-cut. Of course, one can conceive of growth as a performance
indicator, in which case leader education levels seem to have an effect (N orburn and
Bitlev 1988). However, effects on proﬁtability and shareholder returns have barely been
examined. Again, the contingency model tested by Thomas, Litschert, and Ramaswamy
(1991) is instructive. They found that ﬁrms did less well to the extent that their CEOs
had proﬁles differing from the "ideal" for their type. Thus, “some competitive and
marketplace conditions call for more formal education--and concomitant open-
mindedness, information processing abilities, and cognitive ﬂexibility -— than do other
settings” (F inkelstein and Hambrick, 1996, p. 102).

In addition to examining the organizational implications of the amount of education

45

.11

of leaders, some limited research has focused on particular curricula or ﬁelds of study.
The two chief premises of this line of inquiry are that: 1) individuals with certain
dispositions, aptitudes, and cognitive styles tend to pursue certain compatible educational
curricula, and 2) educational curricula differ in the inﬂuences they exert on individuals
(Hitt and Tyler, 1991). As might be expected, there particularly had been an interest in
investigating the organizational implications of having senior leaders with formal
education in business administration, particularly, MBA programs. Still, just a few such
studies have been conducted, with inconclusive results.

Three studies are brieﬂy summarized here followed by a proposed possible reconciling
theme. Kimberly and Evanisko, (1981), in addition to examining overall amount of
education, also explored whether hospital administrators educated speciﬁcally in
administration would be associated with organizational innovation. They found no such
relationship: leaders educated formally in ﬁelds of administration were associated with
no more or less innovation than those with formal education in other ﬁelds. (As noted
above, formal education, in general, was positively associated with innovation.) Grimm
and Smith (1991 ), on the other hand, did ﬁnd that US. railroads that changed their
strategies after deregulation were more likely to have MBAs among their senior leaders
than were the railroads that did not change their strategies. Finally, in a study of high
technology ﬁrms, Hambrick, Black, and F redrickson (1992) found companies led by
CEOs with MBA degrees were more proﬁtable than those without such CEOS.

These ﬁndings can be reconciled by a line of argument set forth by Hambrick and
Mason:

The analytic techniques learned in an MBA program are geared primarily to
avoiding high losses or mistakes . . . business schools are not particularly well

46

inclined to develop innovative or risk-taking tendencies . . . people who are drawn
to business schools tend to be organizers and rationalizers" (1984, p.201).

In short, it is anticipated that executives' formal education in business is associated
with strategies responsive to clear-cut trends in the environment but relatively conformist,
tightly controlled, and yielding moderate performance levels.

Focusing on the leaders who have graduated from advanced degree programs, and
comparing their strategic actions and performance to those who have not, is one
potentially powerful way of advancing this debate. Attention to the overall amount of
education and even the educational institutions of leaders (Useem and Karabel, 1986;
D'Areni, 1990) may yield important insights into the origins of leader behavior.

Chapter Summary
In summarizing this chapter and discussing the implications for the study, several
key themes of interest emerged from each section that supported the pursuit of this line of
inquiry. A summary of major ﬁndings for each section of the review including
implications for this study follows:

Strategic Leadership

 

First, leadership scholars tend to focus on the effects of leaders and their
behaviors, it is apparent from the literature that much more understanding of the
determinants of leader characteristics and behaviors is needed in order to get at the root
forces for change or intervention. Second, in examining the literature on strategic
leadership we found that studies have been unable to establish strict causality between
leader behavior and organizational performance using statistical measures. Third, a
recurring theme in the literature on strategic leadership is that a wide set of theoretical

perspectives may be relevant to understanding characteristics, behaviors, and effects of

47

 

 

.1

leaders on their organizations. Fourth, the wide array of different theoretical perspectives
found, indicates that strategic leadership is a broad domain that can be studied in
numerous ways. It also indicates that “this ﬁeld of study is a long way from developing
any paradigmatic focus, something that might bring more coherent knowledge
generation” (Pfeffer, 1993).

Social Learning Theory

 

First, based on the premise that human thought, affect, and behavior can be
signiﬁcantly inﬂuenced by observation and direct experience suggests that social learning
theory could be an appropriate and effective perspective for pursuing the proposed line of
inquiry. Second, although studies have fostered the development of observational
paradigms for studying the power of the socially mediated experience, evidence that
social learning theory has been used in the speciﬁc study of leader behavior was not
found by this researcher. Third, there is broad support from the literature for using social
learning theory as a plausible theoretical framework for this study given its initial
premise that complex behaviors are formed through the integration of many activities of
differing origins, Bandura (1977) suggests that it is more beneﬁcial to analyze the
determinants of speciﬁc behavioral processes than to categorize them as learned or
innate.

Leader Cognition

 

In summarizing the section on leader cognition several important themes emerge.
First, is the acknowledgment of the central role played by the leader in an organization.
Second, leader cognition represents the missing link in efforts to explain and

understanding leader behavior. Third, the literature suggests that the elements of

48

 

 

cognition range from the most basic to the most complex and interwoven. They affect
each other, even determine each other, and so the dividing lines among them are not
precise. Still, they allow a useful conceptual disentangling of some complex phenomena
and for that reason are important considerations in guiding this study. Fourth, evidence
that leaders’ cognitive structures will be reﬂected in their strategic choices is not
abundant but has been observed in some studies. While there is relatively little empirical
research that has been done on the cognitive styles of top leaders, it is reasonable to
conclude from related research that leaders may differ signiﬁcantly in how they obtain
and process information, greatly affecting their interpretive processes and ultimately
inﬂuencing their strategic choices. In sum, this literature strongly suggests that leader
cognition plays an important role in triggering and shaping leader behavior.

The ﬁnal section of the review focused on leader background experience as a basis
for studying leader behavior. Again, the literature overwhelming supported the
reasonable expectation that a leader's functional experiences and formal education
provide legitimate lenses through which organizational problems and solutions in general
can be viewed (Dearbom and Simon, 195 8). However, studies focusing on the leader
learning experiences have focused on the more quantiﬁable aspects of learning such as
functional background, and formal education. Evidence of work that has focused on
exploring the speciﬁc context, content, processes, and motivations of the learning
experiences of leader’s have been limited and this researcher ﬁnds no evidence that this
line of inquiry has been pursued as it relates to school leaders. For that reason, the

researcher found justiﬁcation for this particular inquiry.

49

Given that the researcher’s purpose was to explore the relationship between
learning experience and leader strategic behavior, these four bodies of research: strategic
leadership, social learning theory, leader cognition, and leader experience background

constituted a solid framework of support.

50

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
Introduction

This chapter begins with a discussion of the methodology used and the theory
guiding that methodology. Next, the method of data collection and the sampling strategy
are presented followed by a description of the process used in analyzing the data and
formulating conclusions. A narrative of actual ﬁeld procedures used is provided and the
chapter ends with a brief summary.

Theoretical Framework

 

The purpose in this study was to describe and explain the relationships between
the learning experiences and the strategic actions of six urban school leaders. A few
assumptions were central to achieving this purpose. First, it was assumed that the nature
and impact of leaders’ learning experiences could be best understood by studying the
accounts of these experiences as they relate to the content of the learning content, the
learning context, and the learning motivation in a developmental framework. This would
allow for the gradual building of an individual’s learning repertoire of experiences over
the course of time and offer rich opportunities for observing patterns and themes that
emerge.

Second, it was assumed that the family, school, and work would be the logical
reference points for understanding the impact of these learning experiences on leader
perceptions, interpretations, and behavior.

And third, this study was concerned primarily with meaning — how leaders make

sense of their learning experiences and attribute their learning to their strategic behavior.

51

Social learning theory is logically related to the purpose and assumptions guiding
this study. It lends itself naturally to the concepts explored in this study with its approach
to the explanation of human behavior in terms of “a continuous reciprocal interaction
between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental determinants (Bandura, 1977, p. 194).”

Theories that have attempted to incorporate both personal and environmental
determinants usually depict behavior as resulting from the joint inﬂuence of these two
factors. In studying the determinants of leader behavior within this paradigm, the
responses of individuals are analyzed under varying situational conditions. The data are
then analyzed to determine how much of the variation in behavior is due to personal
characteristics, how much to situational conditions, and how much to their joint effects.

Bandura (1977) suggests that because one can obtain almost any pattern of results
depending upon the types of persons, behavior, and situations selected, efforts to gauge
the relative importance of these factors, have not been especially informative. For
example, in deciding which strategies to employ from many alternatives in addressing
school reform, if there are few constraints on the leader in selecting appropriate options,
one could expect that personal preferences would emerge as the predominant
determinants. In contrast, if leaders are restricted in their choices of options by internal
and/or external constraints, resources, etc.; their resulting behaviors can be expected to
be remarkably similar however uniquely varied they might be in their cognitive and
behavioral make-up. Bandura (1977, p. 175) contends that

...behavior partly determines which of the many potential environmental
inﬂuences will come into play and what forms they will take; environmental inﬂuences,
in turn, partly determine which behavioral repertoires are developed and activated. In

this two-way inﬂuence process, the environment is inﬂuenceable, as is the behavior it
regulates.

52

 

 

Further, as the term social learning suggests it is an ideal theory for explaining the

 

relationships between cognition, behavior, and environment that are advanced in this
study.

Method of Data Collection

 

The process of inquiry was inductive in that the researcher built abstractions,
concepts, hypotheses, and theories from the details found in the data collected. This
interest and focus was on capturing the perceptions and interpretations through face-to-
face interaction with the participants in the study. As the primary instrument for data
collection and analysis, I went to the natural settings of the participants to collect data for
the study. Because the study was exploratory in nature it remained at the theory building
level of inquiry, thus a qualitative method using in depth interviewing techniques was
determined to be the appropriate method for study of the problem (Morse, 1991).

The process of the in-depth phenomenological interview was used in this study
and followed closely the methodology developed by Seidman (1983) and Sullivan
(1982). The process can be described generally as open but focused. Using interviews as
the primary source of data offered me the advantage of being able to obtain large
quantities of data in a relatively short period of time with opportunities for immediate
follow-up and clariﬁcation as needed. Capturing the subjective views of participants was
extremely important for the purposes of this research thus conﬁrming the choice of in-
depth interviewing as the primary research method (Marchall & Rossman, 1995). The
structure and protocol for all tape-recorded interviews was based on strategy, technique,
and tactic (Gorden, 1969, 1980, 1987). The audiotape was treated as the primary

document and the transcription was treated as the secondary document.

 

The interview strategy focused on the selection of participants, the mode and
frequency of contacts, and recording method. In identifying the study sample, I initially
contacted eight urban school leaders that I knew professionally whose learning
backgrounds I was interested in exploring based on my own observations of the
differences in their individual leader styles and their varied responses to the challenges of
reform in their respective organizations. During this preliminary conversation, the
purpose and nature of the research study was explained in detail and prospective
participants were asked to consider participation. Following this initial conversation and
verbal indication of willingness to consider participation, a detailed letter providing a
detailed explanation was mailed to each prospective participant along with a participant
consent form and a self addressed, stamped envelope.

Upon receiving signed consent forms, this initial sample of eight urban school
leaders was asked to provide an audiotaped, autobiographical chronology of their lifelong
learning experiences from their early childhood to the present. They were asked to
reﬂect, in particular, on those learning experiences that they perceived as having a
signiﬁcant inﬂuence in shaping them as leaders. Five of the eight participants returned
tape-recorded autobiographical narratives that were prepared independently using the
guide provided. One participant withdrew from the study for health reasons, and two
prepared tapes as part of a preliminary interview session in which I was present.

After listening to each tape-recorded autobiographical chronology, six
participants were selected based on the varied and diverse learning experiences of
particular interest to the researcher and the focus of the study. I then proceeded with a

series of face-to-face interviews with each participant over a six-week period of time. The

54

 

 

 

interview techniques used relied on “grand tour” questions to establish the context of the
interviews with speciﬁc attention given to guiding the scope of responses by reviewing
notes and referencing transcripts from previous sessions for continual veriﬁcation of
accuracy and interpretation of responses. Each participant was interviewed at least two
times in follow up to the initial two hour autobiographical session. Each interview was
approximately two to three hours in length. All interviews were audio-taped using a
small inconspicuous tape recorder without a microphone. Interviews were spaced at least
2 days apart to allow time for reﬂection. and if possible, no longer than a week apart.
Interviews were held in a place mutually agreeable upon and were generally conducted in
the homes or at the participant’s place of work. The autobiographical narratives and the
interviews provided the primary database for the study.

Sampling Techniques

 

This study attempted to describe and explain the signiﬁcant learning experiences
of school leaders and theorize about the relationships between those experiences and the
strategic action leaders take in addressing strategic issues within their respective
organizations. According to Glaser and Strauss (1967) the basic criterion governing the
selection of participants in studies designed for the purposes of discovering theory is their
theoretical relevance for furthering the development of emerging categories.

While no claim is made for generating a formal theory about the effects of
learning experience on strategic action, the explanation concluded may provide the
foundation for such a theory. The explanation emerged and was generated as information

was collected. This process required aa sampling technique consistent with its emergent

55

 

 

 

and generative nature. Glaser and Strauss’ method of theoretical sampling met the study
criteria and was used for the study.

The criterion for selecting the participants in the study sample was that they were
in fact urban school leaders whose learning experiences and strategic behavior, I wished
to understand. As the study progressed and began to generate explanations, each addition
to the sample served to revise and/or extend the explanations. So the sample was built as
categories emerged and relationships were sought.

Eight (8) school leaders were initially considered for participation in the study. I
identiﬁed an initial sample of eight urban school leaders and asked them to provide an
autobiographical, audiotaped narrative of their lifelong learning experiences. They were
asked to reﬂect, in particular, on those learning experiences that they viewed as having
had a signiﬁcant inﬂuence in shaping them as leaders from their early childhood to the
present. One participant withdrew from the study and for all but two of the remaining
participants, autobiographical narratives were prepared independently by each subject
and the researcher was not present. After listening to each tape-recorded
autobiographical narrative, six participants were selected based on the varied and diverse
learning experiencesof particular interest to the researcher and the focus of the study. I
then proceeded with a series of face-to-face interviews with each participant over a six-
week period of time. The autobiographical narratives and the interviews provided the
primary database for the study.

All but one participants had more than ﬁve years of experience in their current
leadership position, and all had more than ﬁve years of experience in leadership positions

overall. Current leadership positions represented in the sample included two high school

56

 

principals, one elementary school principal, one superintendent, one associate
superintendent, and one executive director of curriculum and instruction. All but one of
the selected participants were female. However, it is important to note that
autobiographies were solicited from both male and female leaders and gender was not a
criterion in the ﬁnal selection of participants for the study. Participants ranged in age
from mid-forty to age sixty with the median age being ﬁfty-three. The formal education
of participants ranged from the master’s to doctorate level. One of the participants was
African American, one was of Native American descent, and four were White.

All but one participants had more than ﬁve years of experience in their current
leadership position, and all had more than ﬁve years of experience in leadership positions
overall. Current leadership positions represented in the sample included two high school
principals, one elementary school principal, one superintendent, one associate
superintendent, and one executive director of curriculum and instruction. All but one of
the selected participants were female. However, it is important to note that
autobiographies were solicited from both male and female leaders and gender was not a
criterion in the ﬁnal selection of participants for the study. Participants ranged in age
from mid-forty to age sixty with the mean age being ﬁfty-three. The formal education of
participants ranged from the master’s to doctorate level. One of the participants was
African American, one was of Native American descent, and four were White.

Interviews were conducted in both the homes and work places of the six selected
participants. All of the participants lived and worked in urban school districts located
within a 200 - mile radius of each other and all were located in the same mid-west state.

All of the selected participants either currently serve in, or were recently (less than one

57

 

 

year) retired from leadership positions in urban school districts.

Study participants were leaders in urban school districts ranging in size from
5,400 to 25,133 students. Each school district serves students and families from very
diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Three of the study participants were
school principals from the same urban school district. The other three participants held
central ofﬁce positions in three different urban school districts. All participants were
leaders in school districts governed by accountability measures and funding resources
from the same state.

DATA ANALYSIS

Primary strategies used to ensure reliable data analysis included the careful
transcription of interviews and the use of consistent techniques for the purpose of
identifying categories, themes, and relationships. These strategies will be discussed in
this section.

The analytic process included proﬁling, identifying themes, marking transcript
margins, collecting and ﬁling theme material so that it could be easily retrieved. The
process of analysis began with the ﬁrst ﬁeld experience and built gradually as the
material was collected (Loﬂand, 1971).

Leader Narratives

 

The interviews (in transcript form) that were complete (not missing signiﬁcant
material), compelling in the storytelling and meaning-making, were selected for
“narratives.” A narrative, as developed by Seidman (1983), is composed from the
transcript of an interview series. The words of the interviewer are omitted and the

participant’s story stands alone. The words are entirely those of the participant unless it

58

 

is necessary, for reasons of clarity, to add a word or phrase, which will then appear in
brackets. The major steps included:

1) Each transcript was read individually. Sections, words, or phrases that should not
be omitted from the ﬁnal story were underlined.
2) The manuscript was then retyped, reducing it to one-half of the original transcript.

3) The ﬁnal version of the proﬁle was then draft.

4) The ﬁnal draft was again reviewed checking for clarity, omissions, sense, and
strength.
5) Final version of proﬁle was completed and reviewed by each participant for

accuracy and interpretation.

I then constructed a scaffold for unknown conclusions, I see this analytic and
interpretive process as a combination of the meaning that the participant makes of his or
her experience and the meaning that I, as researcher, ﬁnd in the words of the participant,
seen through assisting lenses of other observers and writers in related inquiries. The ﬁnal
form of the analysis and presentation of results was heavily reliant on the words of the
participant interviewees (proﬁles) and in part the interpretation of the thematic material
that emerged from the collection of transcripts during the ongoing process (Johnson,
1975; Loﬂand, 1971; Rubin, 1979; Seidman, 1983).

Speciﬁc ﬁndings are presented in chapter four followed by a summary of general
ﬁndings and conclusions in chapter ﬁve. Commentary on the limitations of the study

method as well as implications for further research are also included in chapter ﬁve.

59

 

 

 

Chapter IV
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

Introduction
“I suggest, that it is stories of identity - narratives that help individuals think about and feel who

they are, where they come from, and where they are headed — that constitute the single most
powerful weapon in the leader’s arsenal.” (Gardner, 1995)

How do leaders learn to do what they do? This is the driving question that lies at the heart of
this inquiry. Although research suggests that some aspects of leader behavior may be genetically
based, it also suggests that many others are not; and that regardless, genes do not determine
behavior but inﬂuence it, leaving a strong role for individual motivation as well as for
environmental impact (Higgins, 1994; Gardner, 1975).

Leader behavior is a multifaceted phenomenon that is inﬂuenced by both natural and learned
factors, my sustained interest has always been directed toward the factors that can be learned and
developed. I interviewed six urban school leaders in search of information about what they
identify as signiﬁcant learning experiences over the course of their lives. I further inquired as to
the reasons these experiences were signiﬁcant for them and the circumstances involved in the
learning. I then ask participants to describe their current strategic situation as leaders in urban
school settings. I was particularly interested in learning about the issues they face and the
resources they use in their individual attempts to address these issues. Next, I compared what
they actually do to what they said they learned to do and look for relationships between the two.
For the purposes of this exploratory study, I suspended all judgment as to the effectiveness of
their learning or the particular strategies and behaviors they describe. My focus was on the
inﬂuence of learning in determining leader behavior.

Because my analysis is placed in a developmental framework, for which there is

no precedent in this population, I have taken a more phenomenological approach to this

60

 

 

study. Methodological research suggests that when little is known about a particular
phenomenon, it is important to explore it in a relatively open manner in order to isolate
relevant variables for future study and analysis (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Semi-
structured interviews allowed me the opportunity to collect consistent data while offering
my study participants greater freedom and latitude to contribute unanticipated perceptions
and attitudes. My intended audience includes academicians, educational leaders, and
particularly those interested in methods for cultivating strong educational leaders.

The personal narratives are included in this section as background and are
presented with the intention of letting the voices of the actual participants be heard. The
detailed descriptions of their individual experiences offer further support for the ﬁndings,
conclusions, and implications of the study. It is hoped that this study will shed new light
on key factors that contribute to meaningful learning experiences from the perspective of
the leader learner. It is further hoped that the study will reveal important clues as to
plausible links between leaders’ strategic practice and their signiﬁcant prior learning
experiences.

What was the purpose of the study? My purpose in this study was to examine the
relationships between the signiﬁcant learning experiences and the strategic practices of
six urban school leaders. More speciﬁcally, by examining the content, context, and
processes of their individual learning experiences, I seek to better understand and offer
plausible explanations as to the origins of their views and subsequent approaches to the
strategic issues they face within their respective urban school environments.

What will you ﬁnd here? The ﬁrst section of this chapter provides a description of

the setting and process used in collecting the data. In the next section, I present the

61

 

 

learning portraits of seven urban school leaders in some detail, weaving in the more
prominent themes as they surface for further exploration later in the chapter. The next
section of this chapter presents the individual and aggregate ﬁndings that emerge from
both the individual and collective set of portraits and is followed by a discussion of those
ﬁndings. Section three presents data and ﬁndings relative to leaders’ views of their
strategic problems and the subsequent actions they take in resolving them. The chapter
ends with a complete summary of the ﬁndings.

The Experience

What was it like to conduct these interviews? I liken the experience of conducting
these interviews to that of a guest choir director stepping up to the podium to face a group
of accomplished singers that have all eagerly assembled to sing together for the very ﬁrst
time with no opportunity to practice the songs before the program. With some invested
but generic guidance and a few waves of my novice hands, the individual singers
suddenly swell into a coherent choir, each with its own distinctive voice but ﬁrmly
connected to an articulate whole. While there are variations within the tones of their
voices, a single coherent melody is undeniably heard. I attempt to offer you a rendering
of that remarkable concert performance. It is my hope that, though you may not be
familiar with the tempo of the arrangement, you will quickly recognize the melodies and
the lyrics and, more importantly, that you will, while listening to the music, hear distant
echoes from the origins of the composition.

The Study Sample

I identiﬁed an initial sample of eight urban school leaders and asked them to

provide an autobiographical, audiotaped narrative of their lifelong learning experiences.

They were asked to reﬂect, in particular, on those learning experiences that they viewed

62

 

 

as having had a signiﬁcant inﬂuence in shaping them as leaders from their early
childhood to the present. One participant withdrew from the study and for all but two of
the remaining participants, autobiographical narratives were prepared independently by
each subject and the researcher was not present. After listening to each tape-recorded
autobiographical narrative, six participants were selected based on the varied and diverse
learning experiences of particular interest to the researcher and the focus of the study. I
then proceeded with a series of face-to-face interviews with each participant over a six-
week period of time. The autobiographical narratives and the interviews provided the
primary database for the study.

All but one participants had more than ﬁve years of experience in their current leadership
position, and all had more than ﬁve years of experience in leadership positions overall. Current
leadership positions represented in the sample included two high school principals, one
elementary school principal, one superintendent, one associate superintendent, and one executive
director of curriculum and instruction. All but one of the selected participants were female.
However, it is important to note that autobiographies were solicited from both male and female
leaders and gender was not a criterion in the ﬁnal selection of participants for the study.
Participants ranged in age from mid-forty to age sixty with the median age being ﬁfty-three. The
formal education of participants ranged from the master’s to doctorate level. One of the

participants was African American, one was of Native American descent, and four were White.

The Setting

Interviews were conducted in both the homes and work places of the six selected participants.
All of the participants lived and worked in urban centers located within a 200 - mile radius of
each other and all were located in the same mid-west state. All of the selected participants either
currently serve in, or are recently (less than one year) retired from, leadership positions in urban

school districts.

63

 

Study participants were leaders in urban school districts ranging in size from
5,400 to 25,133 students. Each school district serves students and families from very
diverse ethnic and’socio-economic backgrounds. Three of the study participants were
school principals from the same urban school district. The other three participants held
central ofﬁce positions in three different urban school districts. All participants were
leaders in school districts governed by accountability measures and ﬁnding resources
from the same state.

The Leader Learning Portraits

In an effort to convey the rich description and diverse learning backgrounds of the
urban school leaders involved in this study, I will introduce them to you individually.
Their stories are engaging and while they do not fully represent the mosaic of all possible
learning experiences, just as no life captures any single pattern, their stories do express
the essential elements explored in this study and will be developed more fully later in the
chapter.

Although these portraits are thoroughly disguised to protect the right to privacy,
each participant communicated to the researcher an appreciation for the opportunity to
reﬂect on their personal experience and all were very willing to share the intimate details
of their backgrounds in order to fully beneﬁt from the process. Thus, after all the
identifying data had been altered signiﬁcantly, the vignettes were then reviewed by each
participant to ensure their essential factual and interpretive accuracy. The content
remains carefully unchanged. I honor their open and honest accounts and through their
portraits and subsequent quotes throughout this chapter, I hope to show that the learning

experiences of their respective pasts are, indeed, linked to their current leader behavior.

64

 

In seeking to understand the learning experiences that have shaped the sample
participants as leaders, let me begin by sharing their individual portraits. I want to direct
the reader’s attention to the speciﬁc types of lessons learned, the settings and conditions
in which they were learned, and the techniques and methods used to learn. Each portrait
is developed chronologically so that we can see their learning repertoires building
progressively over time.

Vivian: Sturdy Pillar

Vivian can be characterized as the sturdy pillar in any crisis; she is composed,
focused and empathic. On many occasions, the district requests her presence as an
unofficial goodwill ambassador in crisis situations — a position earned during her long
tenure in this setting. More often, she assumes this role spontaneously, simply because
she values extending herself beyond her own spiritual skin.

Vivian credits her parents as being the most inﬂuential ﬁgures in her early
learning experience and though their formal education was limited, she has come to
realize and appreciate their wisdom and the role that their early lessons have played in
shaping her leader behavior.

Some things happened to me in my home that thoroughly impacted my learning

and who I am today. I was born in 1939 in a small place, very small, about 3000
people. My parents were very good parents. In fact, at the time I really did not
realize how wise they were. Although they did not have formal education to speak of
-- Daddy [only had a] third grade education and my mother, who was educated, had
[only] a ninth grade education. Education was so important in my family. I was

number eight of nine children who lived. There were thirteen children who were
born, but they did not [all] live. So I was number eight. . . one brother after me.

Vivian describes her father as a hard working man who worked in
the sawmill and was a devoted family man. They lived in a segregated southern town

that was clearly divided by the Mason-Dixie line, and though her family was living in a

65

 

 

time of blatant racial discrimination, she is quick to stress that these were not issues that
were focused on in their home. She recalls that while her Daddy could not read and they
had only two books in the home -- the Bible and a church hymn book -- he would tell
them stories.

[I remember] going to school in the ﬁrst grade and not having any prior
experience with books, just the stories that my father told — and oh, he was a story
teller. He told stories and we heard these stories over and over again.

Vivian talks about her parents and their inﬂuence over her with reverence and
great respect. She credits early lessons about being independent, resilient, and self-
sufﬁcient to her father, in particular.

Daddy’s point was that every tub had to stand on its own bottom no matter
what your limitations are, no matter whether you’re male or female... you don’t use
discrimination or what you don’t have [as an excuse]. In fact, I really thought that we
were well off, I really did not know we were that poor. 1 later saw other families and
all of the books, but I still did not recognize that we were poor, because nobody
talked about being poor. Daddy and Mamma never talked about it. People from his
[Daddy’s] job came, and he taught them; he taught them how to do their job. In fact
they wanted to make him a foreman and he would not accept it. He said that he did
not want the headaches but I would imagine that very few people knew that he
couldn’t read. . . that was his real reason. He knew he taught people on the job
mentored. They would come by -- people wanting jobs -- they came by to see
[Daddy] if they wanted a job at the Mill, because he could get them a job and he
would teach them [how to do it] sitting on the front porch. So, that’s both black and
white, so our home was a place where people came to learn.

Over the course of the interviews, Vivian grapples with the emerging paradoxes
in her accounts of her early learning experiences with insight, humor and perspective.

She describes being raised as privileged though by all economic standards, they were
poor. She describes her schools as safe places that she loved to be because she was

treated as special, though in reality she was educated in a segregated school system where

supplies and textbooks were outdated, hand-me—downs from the white schools.

66

 

 

So when they [white schools] got new books, we [black schools] received their
used books. There were even names in books and some of these families we
recognized. That really did not [matter] — I didn’t notice it a lot, I didn’t pay attention
to that a lot...

My father and mother taught me that I could do anything, circumstances must not
get in the way of what I can achieve. If I didn’t do it well [the ﬁrst time], I had to do
it again. They did not tolerate anything but your best. That was their deﬁnition of
success.

Evidence of Vivian’s lessons in overcoming obstacles in her life continue to

unfold as she talks about the experience of gradually losing her eyesight at the end of ﬁrst

grade. She talks about not being able to attend school for an entire year and going from

one specialist to another. She was restricted to indoor play because of the negative effect

of the sunlight on her eyes. Again, her account of this obstacle is met with a spirit of

resilience and she credits the manner in which her condition was handled by her parents

as the reason it did not become a barrier to her continued achievement.

. . going blind and being out of school for a whole year my second grade year, and
having to deal with that situation helped me tremendously. Because what they
[parents] were teaching me was not to focus on your problem, look at solutions. So,
being blind, nobody told me [I was handicapped], we made the adjustments. It was
then that I learned to use my mind. I escaped through imagination and my thought
processes. I learned that how you think about something will determine how you see
it or how long you stay in it. I really didn’t think that it was a bad situation because
nobody told me it was, you know, nobody said that this is bad and you poor thing,
you can’t play outside. In fact, [it is because of] that experience, quite frankly, that I
have such keen hearing now. I developed an excellent memory. I developed an
excellent memory I really learned to use that as a tool.

Continuing along the path of signiﬁcant lessons learned, Vivian’s attention shifts

to other signiﬁcant learning experiences. As the story unfolds, speciﬁc themes related to

power, authority, negotiating conﬂict, and loyalty emerge quickly as the topics that

dominate the conversation. Vivian begins by talking about early lessons on power that

were signiﬁcant inﬂuences in building her foundation for later learning on the topic.

67

 

[My parents taught me that] you don’t do anything that affects [your good name].
That’s what will get you places — your name, your good name. And so therefore [I
learned to] cherish [my] name. That was when I learned the lesson of how important
[a good name was]. I saw the power and inﬂuence in a good name. [That comes
from] paying your bills regularly. And in this little town, you see, because of his
[Daddy’s] reputation, ... [protecting] the Johnson name was so critical. You didn’t
do anything that [would hurt your name] because your name is power. The name,
who you are and what you stand for is the power. You don’t have to position yourself
to get to know the right people. If you keep your good name and do your job, then
that other stuff is going to come. I believe that. I believe that to this day.

Again, early lessons about the importance of reputation and the power of a good

name are the underlying themes that have shaped Vivian’s views on power. As she later

shares speciﬁc experiences learned as an adult, there is again evidence that suggests that

those earlier lessons from home are still prominent themes embedded in her views on

integrity, power, and authority.

I know I always believed that one should respect leadership and authority -- any
person in a leadership position. That was ingrained. One ought to respect that you
have [to negotiate] getting what you want. This is something that I always knew. If
you had a difference of opinion, if I did not believe that the direction [we were going
was right] or if what I had been told to do differed from my own personal beliefs, I
ought always to go to the source. You know, go to the person and state my objection
— but never embarrass a person, never in an open forum. If I disagree with that
individual, I have to go to them privately. I believe that if a person is presented with
the facts, if the person is presented with another way in that one-to-one interaction, it
allows them to save face in the group. I believe that one can get one’s voice heard,
but there’s a way in which you do that. People are reasonable, but it’s how you
approach them.

Early Work Experience

In listening to Vivian’s account of early childhood experiences that shaped her

view of life and how it was to be negotiated, it becomes clear that until about age nine the

primary inﬂuences have been her parents and the place for learning these lessons was

deﬁnitely her home. While her parents continue to be a dominant inﬂuence, the next

phase of her learning experience expands to include early work experience outside of the

68

 

 

 

home. It is here that her relationship network expands and in some cases becomes a
competing inﬂuence with what she has learned to this point.

At age nine, Vivian went to work for a white family in her town. Her eyesight,
while still impaired, had stabilized and though still legally blind, she did have sight and
functioned as though the impairment did not exist. She describes her experiences with
the two families she worked for from age nine until she graduated from high school.
These experiences were, in many cases, quite different from each other and also in stark
contrast to Vivian’s own family experience. As she began to speak about them in detail,
evidence of competing inﬂuences began to surface with regard to her understanding of
poverty, privilege, race, and class. Vivian also observed family dynamics and
relationships that were different than what she had been accustomed to at home.

...when I was nine years old, I started to go to work for a doctor in the town. The
father was a doctor and [they] had kids and one of the girls was about my age. You
know they had these things. I believe that they showed that other other life. But I
worked for them and played with their kids. In fact, they took me on my ﬁrst trip.
[Working in their home] was also my ﬁrst introduction to a lot of books. I was just
amazed at all these books — these fairy tales. They had a room. I know it looked
large — it was probably not that large. They had books. I didn’t realize that people
had bookshelves in their homes — you know with books. I would go to work at nine
o’clock to play with these little white kids and then after 1 fed them their lunch, I had
to put them to bed, and then I had my lunch. We didn’t sit down at the same table to
eat lunch. But while they were asleep, if I had no other chores, then I read. I read

these books. That was my ﬁrst introduction to Grimm’s Fairy Tales. I escaped
[through books].

This juxtaposition of experiences encountered with her work family and those of
her own family began to challenge Vivian’s earlier notions about poverty and privilege.
New opportunities afforded by her work families became anchoring experiences for her
conceptions of a different way of life.

. . . and I used to say that when I have a home I am going to have books, so many
books. I was so impressed with their built-in bookcase that when I got out of college

I had to have a bookcase. I made it.

69

After her older sister moved away, she recommended Vivian to replace her in her
job with the Alexander family. Vivian describes lessons learned, while working for this
family, as also being of strong inﬂuence in shaping her learning about adult manipulation
of children, information power, trust, building support networks for resources and the
importance of compassion.

I was twelve or thirteen years old when I began to work for the president of the
school board [family]. My job was to clean up for them after school, you know, wash
dishes, vacuum, dust, all of those things. She did her own washing and did her own
cooking, but those [other] things I did.

When I got ready to go to work for the school board president, my father told me
something that impressed me, it stood out then, and it stands out today. He said,
“When you go to work, he’s going to use you to get information . . .” think about it —
a person with a third grade education who didn’t work for the school system. He
said, “He’s going to use you to get information about your school, your principal, and
your teachers. He’s going to use you for that. Do not tell him anything. You tell him
the good. [Tell him] that you like your principal, that you like your teachers, and they
are good teachers. And then he’s going to ask you what went on in the community.
You know, who did what, [trying] to get information. You tell the truth, and here is
the truth, but you don’t allow him to [use you for information].”

Though Vivian heeded the advice from her father and principal to be on guard
against being manipulated for information by Mr. Alexander, she speaks with a certain
affection and appreciation about the time they spent together in conversation. Vivian
fondly recalls some of the times spent with the Alexander family and acknowledges the
times that they went out of their way to make her feel special. She attributes a lot of her
learning during that time to associations with them.

I learned so much in that family. Because of the amount of time [they spent with

me]. But I think [they appreciated] having some young person that they could talk to
- a young person who was not being ﬂippant, that they could talk to and share some
things.

Vivian grew up, then, learning early lessons about relationships, hard work,

accepting responsibility and independence. Finding herself in the work world at the

70

 

 

tender age of nine, she learned early how to create a climate of safety, warmth, and
acceptance for herself by being helpful, listening carefully, and being attentive to the
needs of others. Evidence of the powerful inﬂuence that these early lessons had in
shaping Vivian’s identity, lie in the fact that these same learning themes reappear over
and over in follow-up interview sessions.

Vivian shares freely with little inhibition the memories of lessons learned
offering vivid details. During the second visit, she referenced notes that she had jotted
down of things she wanted to share that she had thought about since our last session and
again expressed how much she was enjoying this experience. It was almost as though
she had given herself the gift of time and permission to seriously reﬂect on ‘from whenst
she came ’ for the very ﬁrst time.
School Experiences

Vivian’s story moves forward on the momentum of several key dynamics. She
has learned to adequately compensate for her own physical limitations. She has
developed practical and useful skills that are valued by others. She recognizes the value
in focusing on and apprOpriately responding to the needs of others with care and
compassion. She is learning to hold herself and others closely accountable for their
motives and the consequences of their actions. She now goes forward with a strong sense
of the possibilities that the future holds for her and takes responsibility and accountability
for her own success in school and in choosing a career path.

I loved school. That was a good place to be. People cared about you. They knew

who I was. I felt safe, I felt protected, and nobody embarrassed me. I wanted to be a
teacher. I always wanted to be a teacher. There was a point in my life when I wanted

to be an actress . . . an actress. But the teaching, the teaching of Sunday school, the
teaching of Bible, all of those things — they were always there.

71

 

 

The teacher that inﬂuenced me greatly -- she [later became] the high school
principal, but then she was my English teacher. She taught [me] to love literature and
poetry and oh, we studied Shakespeare, we communicated with pen pals from
England, we had plays where we acted out this stuff, really. I was amazed when I
went to college how strong I was in Literature. That was a strength because of the
passion that I had for books, and for reading. They [my teachers] were conscious of
my unique limitations [impaired vision]. That’s the advantage in knowing your
students. You know what they can do and all you have to do is give them a cushion,
or under gird them so that you can get to them. Had they not done that [for me], then
I would not have been able to [make it]. Surely I was not going to say, “I can’t see.”
I’m not going to say that. [It was my English teacher] who later asked me what my
plans were [after high school]. And, so when I told her that I wasn’t sure, she said,
“Well, I’m going to send you to college.” She [English teacher] planted that seed.

As Vivian describes her school experiences, learning themes that emerge from her story are
related to achieving results, improving performance, and expanding her perspectives as well as
her options for the future. While speciﬁc recollection of signiﬁcant learning experiences during
her college years was sketchy, Vivian does describe classes with a particular elderly professor
with humor and animation. In talking about a particular lecture that she remembered on how to
be a successﬁrl school administrator she begins to dramatize parts of the lecture and assumes the

voice tone and posture of the professor as she shares the story.

[He used to tell us] “You’ve have to talk to people. You must talk to people, and
you have to talk to all people, even those people whose opinions are going to be
different [from yours].” In fact, I make a point of talking to people who are positive
people and talking to the negative people. I mean, you know what you’re going to
get. And from all these, you’re going to come up with the truth. It’s not going to be
what you thought necessarily. You have to talk to people; you have to engage in
conversation, I mean, real conversation [with people] to get a [broader] point of view.
Know what’s going on in your school. Get out of the office and talk to the janitors,
the secretaries, everyone.

Vivian became very animated as she talked about her experiences with this
particular professor. She acknowledges that of all the things that she learned about being
a successful school administrator in college, his lessons on the importance of paying
attention to relationships with people were the most valuable, practical, easy to

implement, and paid immediate dividends. She describes these lessons as “seeds that

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were planted,” that took root, and continue to be key factors in deﬁning her leadership
style.
Professional Work Experience

In this section, we have an opportunity to see Vivian move into a leadership role in her school
district. Particular attention will be given here to the relational, political, philosophical, and
technical learning experiences that she describes as she assumes her new responsibilities as an
assistant principal for a large, urban high school.

During Vivian’s very ﬁrst year on the job, she ﬁnds herself in the middle of a situation where
learning intensiﬁes as a result of the immediate and high stakes consequences involved. Here, she
describes being placed in a situation without the technical skills need to do the job effectively and
the results of that experience.

My ﬁrst year on the job I was placed in a position of having to evaluate a teacher
alone. You would never assign an inexperienced administrator to do this kind of
thing with no guidance or direction. There was conﬂict like you would not believe.
Here I’m green as grass. I didn’t understand issues... I looked at the contract and I
looked at the language and looked at what you have to do and I [began to] work with
[the teacher]. Now here is a novice . . . a beginner . . . one who has no training. So,
number one, you never would put a person who is inexperienced to do this kind of
thing. [My goal] was to help him. [My boss’ goal [was] to get rid of him. Conﬂict
like you would not believe.

As we will see next, Vivian became well-schooled with this experience and
develops speciﬁc strategies to avoid repeat occurrences. At ﬁrst, she seemed reluctant to
acknowledge consciously establishing information networks with people that could
provide her with help. For some reason, she seemed uncomfortable with that kind of
motivation. But as she continued to think about her communication networks, she
appears to become more at ease with the idea of it being an acceptable and ethical

strategy. She has learned how to develop strategic relationships with colleagues that are

trustworthy, and that she can rely on to help her when she needs it.

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Over the next several years, Vivian developed her ability to listen to the concerns
of others and build bridges between groups of people -- particularly those with often
opposing viewpoints. She continued to expand her network of strategic relationships
with others in order to ﬁll in the gaps in her experience background. Vivian’s
“reputation” and “good” name became known throughout the district and it was not long
before she was appointed to the position of high school principal. As the ﬁrst female in
the district, to serve in that capacity, Vivian was assigned to one of the toughest high
schools in the district. She recalls her early efforts to make strategic connections with
those she felt could be of signiﬁcant help to her in facing the challenges of her new
position. She describes, in detail, just how she went about establishing credible
information connections as she prepares to assume the of a high school principal.

I would go to those in [similar] positions and say, “Now, I want you to teach me. I

want you to tell me everything that you know and that includes everything . . .
meetings . . . about where people sit . . . and what’s behind, what’s behind the
meeting. I know that things go on before a meeting takes place. And what happens
after a meeting. I want you to teach me that.” I went to each one of them, each
principal. I was aware that I was the new kid on the block and I was the only female.
I wanted to establish a link with them and I knew one of the ways in which you do it,
was to seek their help. People do want to help. I mean, if you tap in and let people

tell you what they know, you establish a relationship, you know, you establish a
connection there. I knew that.

Vivian communicates conﬁdence not only in her abilities to build relationships
with the “right” people - by seeking their help and support early — but also, in her
perceptions about who the “right” people are to approach. She acknowledges the
political and technical gaps in her own experience background and quickly seeks to ﬁll
the voids with advice from others.

As Vivian talks about her reasons for establishing relationships with particular

individuals, she talks about how she observes from a distance to determine a person’s

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motivation, character, and trustworthiness as initial criteria for network consideration.
Her perceptions about who to approach and for what reasons, as well as the details of
how connections are to be made, should be familiar to the reader from some of the earlier
learning experiences Vivian has shared. She continues to talk, in detail, about initial
efforts to establish the “right” relationships.

[After I visited the principals and the politician], I went to my boss [principal
supervisor] and I told him what I had learned from the others up to that point. I asked
what was important to him. I learned [from him] that loyalty was so very critical, it
was a very critical piece — loyalty to mission, loyalty to the organization, and loyalty
to the boss. I told him all the things that he had taught me [so far] such as being
very accurate. It used to annoy me when he would call and tell me to be sure that
when you’re talking to people, be sure that you write the information down. He
really wanted you to write it down - and then he would have me read it back to him.
At ﬁrst that was insulting [to me], but I soon learned how correct he was. He was
accurate about everything — it was his way.

Shortly after her appointment, Vivian expanded her relationship network to also
include the Superintendent of the school district and recalls their ﬁrst conversations.

...when I got the position, I knew it was time that I talked [with the
Superintendent]. In fact, we had two or three conversations, but it was important for
me to hear his expectations, [to determine if] they were realistic. It was important for
me to hear the way he was thinking and he needed to hear me say that I didn’t see
myself as being superwoman. The high school was [thought to be at that time] the
worse place to be. No one said anything good about the school I mean no one.
Well, that energized me even more. That made me want to do it more.

Summary

To summarize, this biographical portrait of Vivian provides compelling evidence that
suggests that Vivian’s learning experiences from the past continue to propel her forward on three
distinct fronts — relational, political, and philosophical. She has developed a marked capacity for
establishing and sustaining strong, reciprocal relationships with people. She has carefully honed
her skills of observing and reading the motivations of people. She has leamed to value
information as power and has become quite skilled at accessing and providing information that

she perceives as valuable in helping her to accomplish her goals. She also demonstrates a strong

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and uncompromising sense of loyalty to authority ﬁgures. She has learned to rely on her strong
faith and her moral sense of right and wrong and she consistently operates within those

perimeters when making decisions.

Jane: Bridge Builder
The metaphor of “bridge builder” has been used in the leadership literature to describe certain
types of leaders (Jung, 1974; Pitcher, 1996). They are typically identiﬁed as those who through
continuous, incremental, methodical processes formulate strategies that build upon each other
reaching toward a goal and continuously adapting to the demands of an uncertain environment
(Mintzberg, 1987).

Jane can be characterized as a bridge builder. Her learning experiences reveal an
unquenchable thirst for the methodical accumulation of knowledge and skills that she
uses to perfect, reﬁne, shape, and solidify her actions toward a strategic end goal. The
following narrative illustrates the set of learning experiences that Jane attributes to being

inﬂuential in shaping her leader behavior.

Home/Famin

Born in 1942 as the oldest of four girls, Jane’s early childhood experiences are
described by her as stable and nurturing. Her dad, who was a mechanical engineer by
profession, was most gifted in his natural teaching abilities. He used these gifts to kindle
a passion for learning in Jane that has never been quenched.

My father was just a natural teacher. He created learning environments all the
time. We may have been the only family in [our town] that had as a part of our
dinner table a blackboard and chalk, a dictionary, and a two-volume set of the
encyclopedias. They were part of our dinner and whenever in our conversation we
asked a question or wanted to know something, my father would draw the thing on
the chalkboard or we’d look it up [in the books]. It was always a game -- it was fun.
We had lots of lively conversation around our dinner table. We were always learning,
always discovering. My father was not one to tell us the answer. He was one to
create a situation in which we would learn the answer by discovering it. He would

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extend our learning through some kind of practical experience. He was a person who
loved to ﬁnd out how things worked, and he passed that interest along to us. I can
remember his patience, his incredible patience in sitting with us helping us learn our
math multiplication tables, or chemistry formulas or whatever it was we were
struggling with [at the time]. He would devise some sort of game or some sort of
interesting fun way for us to learn about it.

Jane learned early to not only love learning, but, that when she excelled at it, it
brought great joy to those she loved and wanted to please. This desire to please seemed
to ﬁiel her efforts to not only do well but to thrive on being in the top ranks of
achievement in all of her endeavors.

With my father particularly, I think there was an expectation that I would do well
in school. But he was particularly moved --to tears, in fact — whenever I would bring
home a good report card. This went for all of my sisters. But he would be very much
moved by the fact that we brought home good report cards. I’m sure that this might
have been one of my motivations — deep, dark, you know, now that I think about it as
an adult and look back — that I wanted to please my father. Part of doing that was
getting good grades. So, as I perceived it, that was something that I continued to do.
Somewhere along the line, the theme here is that I discovered at some point that I
have the ability to bring out deep emotions in other pe0ple. Through my Writing,
through my words, through listening, through connecting with people in some way. . .
and that is something that I thrived on, I think, and used to my advantage.

While part of Jane’s motivation to achieve is attributed to a desire to please herself
and others, she acknowledges that learning was not necessarily a breeze for her and that
she worked hard to achieve at a high level of performance. She notes that she was
encouraged and motivated by interesting ways her father and teachers devised to keep her
interested -- that were ﬁrn, often illustrative, and very personal.

Probably some of the most wonderful memories that I have are of my dad helping
us with homework sitting at the dining room table. I have a lot of memories of him
designing that sort of a game to keep my interest and setting up [some sort] of
challenge for me. He did a lot of that. He was so good at designing different ways of

interpreting things so that it would be understandable to us — ﬁnding a totally
different analogy.

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Now, Jane’s mother was a teacher of the hearing impaired, by profession.
Although she worked for several years prior to her children being born, she chose to stay
home after Jane was born and returned to work only after the youngest of the four girls
entered school. Jane recalls her mother being a woman of considerable strength and
courage with a resilient spirit that certainly inﬂuenced Jane in many ways. She had
overcome a lot in her life and pursued with determination a different and better way for
her four girls. When describing lesson that she learned about power and authority, Jane
often credits her mother as being the early teacher on such topics and refers to her mom
as the power broker in the family.

I had a strong female to [teach me] how the world works. She was the power
ﬁgure in the house; that does not mean that my dad was a wimp, at all, but she was
the power broker; and anything [that went on] had to ﬁlter through her. If there was
anything that we needed to talk to my dad about —and it’s not like he wasn’t
approachable — it’s just that that’s how our family worked —— [we] go through mother.
Oh, I don’t think [it was an expectation of my Dad’s] it’s just the way our family
worked. It was my mother’s way and I think my mother was the one who kind of
determined how things worked. I think that [experience with mom as family power-
broker] has probably inﬂuenced my relationship[s] with powerful women [and men].
My mom was the power broker.

Jane offers another story as an illustration of her mom’s strong will and determination
and the inﬂuence that it had on Jane at a very young age.

My mother was driving someplace in our old 1940 Chevy. I was in the car with
her sitting in the front seat and the bridge was only wide enough for one car to cross
at a time. The custom was that as you approached the bridge, if you [got there] ﬁrst,
you crossed, and someone else coming had to wait. Well, my mother was on the
bridge and a bus came from the other direction and got on the bridge. My mother
would not back down from this bus. The bus driver was not going to back up; he told
mother that the bus could not be moved backwards, and she would have to back up.
She just got back in her car and just sat there and waited and waited and waited until
he backed up. I, of course, was horriﬁed that my mother was facing off against this
bus, this huge bus -- and the bus, of course, couldn’t back up. I heard the bus driver
say so, and then my mother out-waited him because she was in the right and she knew
it. She was stubborn enough to know that she just wasn’t going to back up and she
was going to make him back up. The impression that left on me -- of my mother

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being able to make a bus back up -- was just so powerﬁil for a little girl to have. I
somehow -— and this might be over-exaggerating it a bit — but I know how powerful
that felt at the time and how terrifying it was for me. I realized later that if you’re in
the right, you can make a big thing -- like a bus -— turn around.

To this point, we see strong parental inﬂuences in Jane’s learning about stability,
nurturing relationships, instruction, achievement, and power. Although there is reference
to some of the inﬂuence coming from relationships outside of the home, the primary
teachers are undeniably her father and her mother. She shares another example of their
inﬂuence as it relates to learning about anger and conﬂict that she feels played a
signiﬁcant role in shaping her attitudes situations of conﬂict as an adult.

[When there was conﬂict at home], it would be worked out. My mother would
turn into being very cold. I think this is probably important: my mother would not
talk for long periods of time, and we didn’t know . . . of course as a child you [think]
that you’ve caused it . . .my sisters and I . . . whatever it was, we had caused it. If we
had only been a little better at whatever it was that we felt that we had not done, she
wouldn’t be that way.

Jane talks about being placed in roles of leadership and responsibility -- many times before
she saw herself as ready for them — or even recognized them as leadership roles. She also recalls
that these were not roles she herself chose but rather they were chosen for her sometimes as a
result of simply being the eldest sibling. She describes how she negotiated one such experience

in vivid detail as an indication of the impact that it had on her.

I think a lot of times I have been put in leadership positions long before I even
thought of myself as a leader -- just situations that occur in families. I was the oldest
child, so that just automatically puts you in situations where you have responsibilities
that others don’t have and expectations placed on you that are not necessarily those of
your own choosing.

As you can expect, Jane rose to the challenge and by age twelve, was taking on the more
mature responsibilities of child-care outside of the home. Her responsibilities included cooking
and cleaning, in addition to caring for the children every Saturday from late morning until often
early hours of the next morning. She describes it as a position of responsibility that she took

quite seriously and for which she earned twenty-ﬁve cents and hour. It is interesting to note that

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while Jane assumed the responsibilities of housework and cooking for other families but because
of her increasing involvement in school and extracurricular activities, she was not expected to do
them at home.

Positions of responsibility and leadership continue to ﬁnd Jane and as she enters junior
college she continues to pursue her interest in journalism. As editor of the college paper, she ﬁnds
herself in the middle of a controversy that would be a test of her courage in standing up for what
she believed to be ‘right.” Interestingly enough, she associates this experience with what she
learned from her mom that day in the car, on the bridge, with the bus.

I later became editor of the newspaper in junior college. I remember there being
some sort of a commotion between the Board of Trustees and the Administration. I
don’t remember the nature of the commotion at the time but the newspaper staff was
forbidden to publish on this topic. This is my one rebellious act in college. Rather
than publish the story that they wanted us to publish; I chose to publish a paper with a
blank space and a simple explanation as to why the editorial that I had written and
intended [for the space] was not allowed to be published. That caused such a furor
around the campus that it brought quite a bit of attention to the College newspaper
staff I know that there was some heat, probably the advisor who was very supportive
of me, took most of it. I didn’t feel too much of it. I just knew that it was a very
daring . . . it might have been my incident of staring down the bus [from her earlier
story]. It was scary to do but it was the right thing to do and I didn’t feel that I was in
the wrong place at all.

Jane’s learning experiences continue to unfold as she talks in more detail about her

college experience. She completed two years at the junior college in her home town
before transferring to the “big ten” state university. She describes being unprepared for
the shock of the heightened competition and more rigorous course work. Jane openly
acknowledges that it was a miserable experience for her and attributes most of that
feeling to the fact that she did not adjust well to not being at “the top of the heap.”
The University turned out to be really, really hard and quite a shock. Even though
I had been on the top of the pile in my schooling [to this point], I was suddenly not
anymore on the top of the pile, but getting C’s and 8’5 [1 found myself] in
competition with some kids who were very, very well prepared. So, I was pretty
miserable. The pressure of not excelling like I was used to excelling caused me some

tension headaches, which were a problem for me, and I came [home] many weekends.
My headaches were really just, I’m sure, because I was not on the top of the heap. So,

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that was pretty much a miserable time. I really had not had a lot of experiences —
maybe up to that point—with defeat.

As we think back to Jane’s earlier conversations about wanting to excel and
working hard to make sure she did. She ﬁnds herself in a situation now where regardless
to how hard she works, the competition is just too steep. It makes her physically ill and
she seeks refuge in the comforts of familiar surroundings with friends and family quite
frequently on weekends. She acknowledges that she has plays it pretty safe and does not
go after anything that she does not have a strong chance of being successﬁrl. As I
listened to her and watched her grapple with this issue of defeat, it was almost as if, in her
reﬂecting, she was realizing this about herself for the ﬁrst time, during the interview.

Evidence of Jane’s strength begins to surface. She is learning to draw some lines
and establish clear boundaries in relationships the are not reciprocal and feel perfectly
justified in doing so. Unlike the more people pleasing behaviors of earlier times, Jane is
no longer willing to be in relationships that are as she calls them “uneven.”

As Jane begins to talk about how her career as a teacher evolved, further evidence of her
beginning to recognize her own strengths and weaknesses continues to reveal itself. She describes
a fairly consistent pattern of receiving new opportunities to try something different, opportunities
to learn something new, digging in, working hard, mastering the challenge and moving on to the
next opportunity -- and the cycle repeats itself. She capitalizes and thrives on each new
experience by learning it thoroughly and methodically over time. She continues to add more and
more knowledge and skill to her repertoire and with each new opportunity her motivation to excel
is ﬁieled and her conﬁdence level strengthened.

I sort of drifted into being an English teacher. It was a matter of eliminating
things that I didn’t want to be that led me to be what I did become. And I loved kids,
so it was just a natural. I loved trying new things. There was always an opportunity
to take on a role -- that I hadn’t had before and that was fun. I loved every
opportunity that I had. I learned everything I could about each [new opportunity]. So,

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doors were opened for me, new opportunities were there; I stepped into them and I
had a great time doing it. The roles kept expanding. I did discover that a lot of the
things that I was good at and the things that I enjoyed were possible in teaching. I
could touch other people, I could affect change in people, I could be in charge of
things — I like that, I could be creative, I could do a lot of things that I enjoyed, I
could read, I could write, I could encourage that in other people.

Jane continues to be involved in learning experiences of her choosing that
continue to enhance and expand her technical background. She methodically builds her
learning repertoire and concurrently assumes more and more leadership responsibility.
She becomes interested in administration as a result of her participation in a leader
training program designed for prospective leaders. Though she admits applying out of
interest in the learning experiences being offered rather than her interest in becoming an
administrator, the experience changed her views on administration.

I was not interested [in administrative work], but the opportunities that they were
offering in terms of wonderful speakers, and the topics [they would cover] sounded
very interesting. All new things that I could learn and while I was not necessarily
interested in being an administrator, I would like to learn about what the program was
about. I applied and was chosen, and participated in the program and [was exposed
to] the most exciting [and] stimulating ideas. It changed my thinking about whether

I’d like to be an administrator. The work was very stimulating and exciting and I
found that my thinking changed.

Again, Jane’s appetite for technical learning as a means of perfecting her and
expanding her skills and perspectives is apparent. She is given apprentice opportunities in
leader roles that are tailored to her particular areas of expertise and continues to be
groomed. After completing her doctoral program, Jane is offered an administrative
position under the direct leadership of her mentor.

I was given an opportunity to put my leadership skills [to work] with plenty of
coaxing, nudging, and mentoring by one of my mentors. I would kind of oversee the
gifted program, running the meetings, and things like that. And so that opportunity
had been ongoing and when I ﬁnished my doctorate, ﬁnished the dissertation, and all,

there was [a position] waiting for me. She [mentor] kind of created a spot: it was just
right for me; I loved working with her. It was a good ﬁt.

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Jane recalls another inﬂuential mentor from her teaching days and acknowledges

his inﬂuence in her relational learning experiences.

I have to give a great deal of credit to [another mentor]. He was my principal for
many years. He was an absolutely outstanding man -- very, very collaborative -- long
before the word collaborative was even in the dictionary, he was exemplifying
collaborative leadership. I learned about that from him. He was a very kind, very
upbeat, positive, encouraging, growth sort of man. He had the position, but he didn’t

exercise it [his power] like that; he cultivated relationships even with the most
difficult people.

Summary

Jane’s signiﬁcant early learning experiences — childhood through college -- are
iterative and fairly balanced across technical, relational, philosophical, and political
content lines. Home, family, and friends are the primary contexts for these early learning
experiences.

Adult learning experiences as a teacher fall into the categories of relational, technical,
and philosophical content. Later adult experiences — as she moves into various leadership
roles as a teacher -- expand to include some influential political content however, these
political learning experiences are random and situation speciﬁc at this point. The primary
context for these learning experiences is the work environment -- through actual work
experiences and professional development opportunities.

As Jane is drawn toward administrative aspirations, her learning experiences
reﬂect strong technical content that is learned in the context of formal, academic
schooling. Relational, political, and relational content remain primarily in the work
environment, however, as Jane’s networks expand to include work that takes her outside

of her primary work environment, so do her contexts for these types of learning content.

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Processes relied on for learning content that was relational and/or political were
primarily observational, dialogue, experimentation and discovery based. Processes used
for technical learning were primarily reading, listening, writing, and applying. Dialogue,
observation, and reading were the primary processes used for philosophical learning.

The primary motivations for learning were initially fueled by a desire to please
parents and teachers and be competitive among friends and classmates. However,
personal motivation, fueled by a thirst for knowledge and a competitive spirit, soon
became the driving forces for Jane’s learning experiences. Career advancement and

credentials, although by-products, are not viewed as primary motivating factors.

Dan: Philosphical Reformer
Dan describes himself as a reﬂective practitioner in some ways an idealist who was
drawn to the profession out of some sort of missionary zeal. His professional career
spans some thirty years and most of those years have been spent on the cutting edge of
educational reform. He has dedicated the majority of his professional career to exploring
ways to better serve the disenfranchised student. This becomes an obvious theme
throughout his narrative proﬁle.

I always felt that there was some purpose that I had -- some reason I was in the job. [I]
have been guided by that [sense of purpose] over the years. I think that’s a key ingredient for
an educational leader. You have to have a strong center of values. .. and they need to be...
continually nurtured. I think that’s what keeps us on the cutting edge where we need to be
with young people. I’ve been fortunate to be with people who have been able to gently prod,
and sometimes maybe less gently keep me moving.

Home/Famill
To say that Dan comes from a long line of professional educators on both sides of his family

is an understatement. He was born in 1943 in a small town as the second of four children. His

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parents were both teachers. His father and one of his uncles were school superintendents. His
mother was an English and Drama teacher -- though she left her profession for awhile to raise her
family. Three of the four children, including Dan, are all in education with the exception of one
brother, who has a Masters of Divinity and currently runs a large food bank operation for all of
southwest [state]. Family discussions were a regular part of Dan’s early learning experience. He
leamed early to respect different points of view and thrived on the lively exchanges of ideas and
beliefs among his relatives. Dan talks at length about the inﬂuence that living in this family of
strong willed, opinionated educators had in shaping his political ideologies and subsequently his
philosophy regarding educational leadership.

We certainly have a mixture of philosophies - from very conservative, to quite
radical. My older sister’s husband was a very strong AFT person. And of course, my
uncle as an teacher union Executive Director. My father, was probably the most
liberal of his brothers, except for the one who worked for the teacher’s union. Two
[were] very conservative -- Goldwater Republicans -- and the other two were liberal
Democrats. So, family discussions were always very interesting. I think one of the
things that I learned from that experience, growing up in the family where discussions
were sometimes . . . we clearly understood people had different points of view, but
there was a great deal of respect and love for each other. I think that was one of my
early lessons in life is that you can certainly disagree with people without being
disagreeable. We were taught to listen carefully to each other, and give each other
respect. We certainly have disagreed, all of us, on a number of different things over
the years, but have learned to have a great deal of respect for each other.

Growing up in a family where there was a great deal of nurturing from both of his
parents, Dan talks about the particular inﬂuence of his mother in encouraging them to
discover their own individual gifts and their own way of making a contribution to the
world. Dan was raised in a very religious family of Methodists going back several
generations. He speaks, particularly, about his mother’s belief that the church needed to
be active in bettering all people’s lives and her very active political life as having a strong

inﬂuence on him.

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Some of our tradition of radical political thought, I think comes from my mother
who voted for the Socialist candidate for President her ﬁrst time up, followed by my
tradition of voting for Eldridge Cleaver my ﬁrst year, and my daughter’s voting for
Ralph Nader this year. So I think there’s a long tradition of that kind of sense of
activism. But particularly from my mother’s point of view then as it passed to me, it
was based on deep religious faith.

Another important inﬂuence, as I listened to Dan’s story, was the position that his father
held in the community as the superintendent of schools. He talks about the impact of that position
on the rest of the family.

We moved in 1949 when my father took the position as Superintendent of
Schools in what was then a rural area. Being [part of] a small, sort of isolated
community, although close to [larger city] had a great deal of inﬂuence on me. It was
one where everybody knew your parents, knew who you were. There were
expectations based on that. It was clear that my father was highly revered in the
community. Therefore, [we] always felt growing up that we had to be [and] were
always careful about who we were, and making sure that we did the right thing, and
that we brought good favor to the family, and maintained the family name. That was
somewhat of a pressure, although, again, I don’t think I found it as much so as
perhaps a couple of my siblings.

Coupled with the strong religious and political inﬂuences of his family, in his
years growing up at home, was the recurring theme of caring for and nurturing others.
My grandmother had cancer and stayed with us through the last couple of years
until she passed away. My mother took care of her. It was an interesting experience

and certainly a grth experience that taught me, I think, about caring and a sense of
nurturing for everyone.

School Experience

Dan talks about the stability and consistency of attending the same school from
ﬁrst through twelfth grade and what that taught him about the advantages of small school
and class sizes when it comes to caring and nurturing young people. He describes two
experiences that really stand out for him as being particularly signiﬁcant learning
experiences during his high school years on the issue of prejudice.

Two issues occurred during my high school years and the world certainly came
crashing in and made us aware of issues outside of the more provincial issues of our

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smaller community. The ﬁrst was in 1959. It was my ﬁrst understanding of the
hatred of racism. My sister’s graduating class had selected, as their commencement
speaker, [name], who had just returned from Africa and was teaching at the
University. He was an excellent speaker of Afi'ican-American descent. When it
became known that he was going to be the Commencement speaker, it caused a real
stir [in the community]. My father, as superintendent, had suggested him as one of a
number of candidates and the class thought that was good. At one point, there were
threats to his life if he spoke, and protests at the Board of Education meeting. I
remember a lot of pressure on the family. I remember how disappointed my father
was -- I think really ready to resign, the night that the Board of Education rescinded
the invitation to [name] to come and speak at that graduation. It was certainly a time
of great tension, but certainly one of great learning. It taught me, again, the
importance of standing up for what you believe and your values and being well
centered.

Another sort of traumatic experience [happened] just prior to my senior year in
high school. The coach, who was very well loved and respected, was arrested and
charged with molesting one of the students. He was eventually convicted and sent to
jail. It took me a long time to really understand that. All of us had such a loyalty to
our coach, that we really did not believe that [this had occurred. It was several years
before I ever came to believe that it really happened. I began to understand that
peOple, who were far from being perfect, ran our system. That was another, I guess,
important learning lesson.

Relationships, politics, and certame strong philosophical perspectives emerge as the
dominant content themes in Dan’s story to this point. The primary contexts for these learning
experiences are his home, the school and his small community. First hand experience as either a
participant or an inside observer in these experiences, serves as the primary method for his
learning. This unique vantage point affords Dan the opportunity to think about, question, argue
and resolve conﬂicts in ethics, values, and viewpoints. He begins, early in his life, to develop and
expand his own personal perspectives on real world issues under the nurturing guidance of his
family. He learns early lessons, from the experiences of those closest to him, about risk taking
and courage under ﬁre. Dan’s story continues to unfold as he goes to college where he continues

to build upon the foundation that has been laid to this point.

Of course there was a lot in the early 60’s where we were becoming aware of a lot
injustices, particularly on issues [dealing with] race and peace. The Wesley
Foundation helped me in sorting through those values and, again, I think I took on
some of the beliefs. Clearly those, I had been raised with, became mine -- active
participation in seeking social justice. Although I admired people like I.F. Stone who

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could sort of stand out there holding to their beliefs without compromise — I found
myself believing more in someone like Hubert Humphrey who really could get
change done [through the political process].

Dan continues to demonstrate a sincere passion for social justice issues and with
this experience begins to more seriously consider divergent perspectives and methods for
effecting meaningful change. He relies on the techniques of listening and discussion with
peers as a preferred way of sorting through these issues. He moves from the local Junior
College to the University with the idea of becoming a social worker and saving the world.
He was encouraged by his mother to “pick up” a teaching certiﬁcate, just in case he
couldn’t [afford to] get a master’s in social work right away. Dan describes his university
experience as a positive one and recalls beneﬁting most from methods courses that
provided hands-on opportunities for learning. He talks about his desire to work with
students who were potential dropouts and looking for a student teaching position that
would afford him the opportunity.

Because, again, of my interest in wanting to do social work, I looked for a place
where I could work in a program that worked with students who were having
difﬁculty. The [city offered a] Personalized Curriculum Program that was geared for
students that had been identiﬁed as potential dropouts. There were a lot of new
teachers in this program. I learned and I really enjoyed teaching both groups of
students. It was interesting [to compare] the approaches of the two teachers. The
PCP teacher put me to work on the ﬁrst day. I immediately began helping students,
tutoring, walking around -- the math and science were at a level I could understand,
and I actually enjoyed doing that. With the Social Studies/History teacher who taught
in the regular program, I think I sat for two weeks just observing and was anxious to
get on with the process of teaching.

Professional Work Experiences

 

Dan describes his mentoring during his ﬁrst years of teaching as inﬂuential in his decision to

remain in education rather than pursue a career in social work.

I was very fortunate to have some outstanding people give me early mentoring in
those early years of teaching. Among them was one of the consultants for the PCP
program. He was the person who guided me through many years, helping me to

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understand inner city youth, the value of work and academics together. I found that
my need to be a social worker could be accomplished in the ﬁeld of education and I
felt that I, being a teacher, was a stronger role and commitment in making a
difference in students’ lives as actually being a social worker. In the next two years I
ended up getting my masters’ from [university], specializing in alternative school
programs. I was fortunate to meet many people again who were sort of on the edge of
educational reform as part of that program. My counselor was a gentleman who
published many articles on the need to reform schools and change schools. I heard
him speak many times afterwards at conventions as I sort of followed him around.

Dan’s career continues to move along a path that is very consistent with his
philosophical underpinnings of social justice and reform. He describes the tensions that
exist as he struggles to remain loyal to his “idealistic” convictions about education as he
faces the realities of the real world that confront him.

I found the school philosophically shifting. It was moving from being an open
school -- where there were lots of choices for students, but no one could make a poor
choice -- to what some of us characterized as a free school, where there really were
very few rules and sometimes a sense of chaos or anarchy. And so after several
years, I decided to look for another opportunity. My leaving the open school, was
certainly a very formative part of who I am today. It was my dealing with sort of a
dream that failed. I believed very strongly in the open school. I saw it [work] with
my [own] children [and was] very strongly committed to all students having this kind
of opportunity of loving to learn, of ﬁnding their interest. I became disillusioned with
people who got bogged down in petty ﬁghts and politics. And I think it soured me for
a while on change and when a change can actually be made, or whether it even should
be. I think I also became suspect of reformers.

Dan was later offered an opportunity to be involved in yet another reform
initiative. It was opportunity for him to start something from scratch like he had done at
the open school and he really thrived on that kid of experience. Again the concept of the
program was to serve students who had been suspended for anything from carrying a
knife to continuous misbehavior in the regular classroom. They would have the
opportunity of serving their suspension in this in-school suspension program. He

accepted the position and remained there for approximately ﬁve years. He had

concurrently been serving on a committee for middle school reform and had traveled to

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conferences and schools in search of a model. After the in-school suspension program
closed, Dan moved to middle school and became involved with that reform initiative.

Dan was encouraged to move into administration after nineteen years of teaching
in the same school district. He talks about moving into yet another phase of his learning
and growth as a leader. His ﬁrst assignment as an administrator was to provide
leadership for a program designed to service 15- 25 year old students who had dropped
out of school and were returning. Recapturing dropouts -- students off the street, was a
dream that Dan had for quite sometime. His program was located in an area of the city
that had a lot of people on the streets, a lot of gangs and other crime areas. But Dan
viewed it as another opportunity to be the social worker and the educator and it appealed
to him as another chance to provide students with individualized program he believed
they needed and deserved. He talks about the ease in making changes in a program like
this compared to the more traditional program.

If something wasn’t working, we got together on Wednesday and the staff talked
about it and on Thursday we started doing things differently. It was that sort of
autonomous ability and smallness that allowed us to do that, and that was a very
helpful piece. I continued to struggle with this issue of providing the traditional

approach that parents seemed to want, with what seems to be, in my mind, and always
has been an inclination toward a more individualized and open program.

Dan was asked about the role that mentors played in his learning experiences as a
school administrator.

Some of the people who were important as mentors as I ﬁrst became an
administrator, would continue to have talks with me, give me hints, check on me, and
encourage me. I think that’s a very important ingredient in any new administrator’s
life, or anyone seeking to be administrator. [My mentors] understood the nature of
creating experiences, gently bringing people along and they were very excellent at
that. As I have grown in my administrative role, I have tried to repeat that experience
with some assistant principals and people that I’m working with — looking at the
kinds of experiences that new administrators need, guiding, constant review and
encouragement.

9O

 

 

As we moved toward closure of the interview, I asked Dan if there were any other
signiﬁcant experiences that he wished to share. He began to talk about a more recent
experience that he had two summers ago when he was invited to participate in a
leadership program sponsored by the Christian Johnson Foundation. Interestingly
enough the theme of the program was “The Importance of Liberal Education.” Dan
described the experience as a strong one and went into detail about why he felt that way.
His account summarizes the content, the process, the context, and the motivations he
appreciates and values in an optimum learning experience.

It was a wonderful, isolated experience of two weeks. This [experience] was
committed to the study of knowledge and the origin of knowledge and how people
learn and why people learn, and simply gathering information for information’s sake.
I just came out of that again excited about the idea of learning. I think that sometimes
we get so locked into immediate relevance that we do not see the value of knowledge
simply for knowledge’s sake. So, I’ve sought to implement that again with our
school programs.

Catherine: The Rule Follower

Several dominant themes emerge from Catherine’s recall of her most signiﬁcant
learning experiences in her early childhood and continue to weave throughout her
learning experiences. They are 1) compliance with rules; 2) a focus on doing what was
right; 3) fear of the consequences for negative behavior; and 4) the desire for positive
feedback, rewards and acknowledgment for good behavior. The following verbatim
accounts are provided as illustrations of these experiences.

I was a rule follower, I did what I was supposed to do. I always did well in
school; was an outstanding . . . was a top student in my room; always got good
grades; was very conscientious. I know I always was the kid in the room, if the
teacher was out of the room, I know I did what I was supposed to do whether the
teacher was there or not. I really internalized that and never remember ever doing
anything in school that would get me into trouble. Doing what is right -- if there was

an itinerary back in the sixties for how you should do it --[laugh] I did it all pretty

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much by the book.

Catherine attributes much of her effort to comply with the rules and stay out of
trouble to observing her brother being disciplined for non-compliance. She describes the
conﬂict that continually existed in the home as a result of her brother rebellious nature. In
contrast, she talks about being consistently rewarded for her compliant nature.

But I do know that my brother had a strong impact on my following the rules and
being an obedient child. Watching Paul be in trouble so much... that I just processed

. not only didn’t I want the consequences that he had and my parents certainly
believed in spanking -- that was probably the greatest consequence. I guess I felt like
by not being in trouble was a reward in itself. I know that I always received a lot of
positive strokes in school. My parents were always good to me and we did things
together as a family. So we had a lot of things like that. My parents really didn’t
think they could afford to send me away to school, but they felt that I had been such a
good kid, and stayed out of trouble, so they sent me.

The relationship between Catherine and her brother began to deteriorate as time went
on and she admits losing respect for him as a result of his insistence on not following the
rules and keep their family in continual conﬂict. As a result, when her brother was left
home to watch Catherine, she did not respect his authority and would rebel.

The thing I always resented about [my brother] was the fact that he kept our
family in turmoil. And I used to think, “Why?” When [my brother] was young -
[parents] were ﬁghting with him. As he became older, they fought with each other
about him. They didn’t ﬁght with each other, they loved and got along well with each
other. But they fought over him and I used to think, you know, “Why can’t you just
do what you’re supposed to do?”

While Catherine viewed her father as very authoritarian, she characterizes her
mother as allowing much more freedom. She talks about the differences in the way
things were handled by each of her parents and as a result the behavior of she and her
siblings.

I didn’t think they were equal. As a matter of fact we loved it when my dad

worked late because we would push my mother around. You had a lot more freedom.
It wasn’t that we didn’t want him there; it’s just that things were so much . . . we were

in control more -- when he was gone. She was the kind of mother that if you didn’t

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do it right, she’d just do it. So you didn’t do it right . . . cause she would do it then.
But when my dad was home, he made us do it right.

Catherine describes early responsibilities as a babysitter and her lifelong love of
children. As she moved to high school, she continued to be conscientious about her
studies, is actively involved in extracurricular activities, and remains compliant.

I really always had a love for children. I started babysitting quite early and was
very responsible as a babysitter and knew that I wanted to do things with children
because I always enjoyed being around children. I’d had an opportunity in high
school to visit the Michigan School for the Deaf; a friend of mine’s mother taught
there. I was very impressed with that -- with the school and the opportunity to help
hearing impaired kids. I decided I wanted to be a teacher of the deaf.

College Experience

 

Catherine went away to college and during her freshman year, took full advantage
of her newly found freedom. Freedom proves to be an important theme throughout the
rest of her experiences. Other than poor grades, Catherine does not experience any
serious consequences for failing to follow the rules. She is on her own and enjoying not
having to answer to anyone for her actions but herself.

When I went away to school, it was pretty free. Really, I just partied. I mean, I

did enough to stay in school. I just wanted the social thing -- being free to just do
what I wanted to do. Social just kind of took precedence. I knew, whatever I did,

[my father] wasn’t going to know. And I did that in my freshman year; didn’t get
very good grades.

Tragedy strikes in November of that year and Catherine’s brother was killed in an
automobile accident. He’d been home from the service for six weeks. She describes
shock of this tragedy as being the most dramatic thing that has ever happened in her life.

It really changed my life. All of a sudden it just, the realization was there that
life was not a game, it was not a party, but serious things could happen.

Catherine returned to school with a changed perspective and began to seriously apply

herself to her studies. She spent her junior year as an intern and student teacher at the

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School for the deaf and accepted her ﬁrst teaching position the following year, just prior
to graduation.

Professional Work Experience: Teaching

Catherine taught high school at the school for the deaf. She described that experience
as “really tough” because a lot of the students were her age. At the end of her second
year of teaching, she was encouraged to apply for a position as a leadership intern with
one of the major local foundations.

And it was really a big deal . . . because it was a national search and they took
four people from [our state] and four from [each of] the other states and people from
all over applied. We had people in the program from all over the United States. But
this group of eight was there speciﬁcally for hearing impaired deaf education. We
worked with, actually we worked with hearing children in deaf homes and language
development and then also deaf children and deaf infants of deaf parents. We
traveled a three county area and we had families that we worked with. It was very
exciting. We also were very involved in a lot of the ﬁrn leadership activities:
foundation activities, and special legislative kinds of things.

Catherine describes the experiences during this early part of her career as exciting
and full of opportunities for creativity, risk taking, and learning. She talks about a
signiﬁcant mentor during this time. In fact, he is one of very few actual people that she
recognizes as having a signiﬁcant inﬂuence in shaping as a result of the freedom that he
allowed her to have in trying new and different ideas.

I had a wonderful principal who when I would want to do something different -- I
always wanted to try something different. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it
didn’t, but he would always let me do it, and I appreciated that. I talked to the
principal about it and he said, “Go ahead and try it.” but I always appreciated
someone who would let me do some of those kinds of things. I just liked to be able to

be creative and be able to do different kinds of things and see things happen and I
always had a lot of ideas of how I’d like to do things.

Catherine thrived in this environment of freedom and support. She talked about

how important receiving positive encouragement and continual feedback were in

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motivating her to do her best and she credits these experiences as the early seeds of her

deep commitment to the families of the children that she served.

I always was in a position where everybody kind of encouraged me and patted me
on the back. The principal had always encouraged me and thought I did wonderful
things, parents always were supportive and excited about the things I [did]. I’m still
friends with many of the parents and families and children I had way back then. And
we were important parts of each other’s lives. I started parent groups and we all
came together like family once a month, we were friends socially too. My husband
came and we brought our daughter. I really felt we had an impact on the lives of
these families, to impact their children. When parents have handicapped children, it’s
not easy and I always have had a lot of empathy and compassion for parents. I feel
like, of course, that’s helped me in what I do today because I see parents basically as
wanting to do what’s best for their children; not always able to do what’s best.

Professional Work: Administrative

Catherine describes her ﬁrst administrative experience in special education as

being one that taught her important lessons about leadership, self-reliance, persistence,

and resilience.

I started this position and I had to deal with the issue of being in the building
where I’d already been a teacher, which is difﬁcult. But I had a very difﬁcult person
to work for and that was hard. Rather than having somebody pat you on the back
and say, “Go ahead and do it.” There were constant restraints. I tended to be much
more sensitive and I felt in the long run, God used that to toughen me up a little bit
and make me not so dependent upon what other people think; to be more resilient,
more persistent, to ﬁnd other ways of doing things. It was a good experience in the
long run; at the time it was a difficult experience.

She talks about how hard she worked to be conscientious, responsible, and to do things
right. Although she received positive feedback from her coworkers, she was not

receiving positive feedback from her supervisor. Here she describes the frustration of,
for the ﬁrst time, not being able to please the person that she reported to for six years and

the impact of that experience on shaping her as a leader.

I worked constantly. I was very conscientious about having things done in a
timely fashion, to be responsible, to make sure that paperwork preceded children, to
try to do those kinds of things. I received a lot of positive feedback about those

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things and encouragement from within my area and we had a lot of camaraderie in
our area. But when it went beyond that and when I was dealing with issues that
revolved around the person who I was responsible to, [it] was very difﬁcult. Being in
a position, which was so unique to me, of not being able to please or satisfy or not
receiving ANY positive feedback for six years from the person I was responsible to
was very discouraging. So, what I [learned here] is that if you you can’t coerce
people into doing things. The only thing you can do is provide them with an
environment. And so my feeling is that when you make people feel that way, it stiﬂes
them, but if you create an environment ﬁrst of all that values them as a person and
then you decide what they need to have to be able to do that job. I thought, well I saw
this [poor example of leadership], and 1 determined that the people that worked for
me, there would never be a question -- they would know that they were appreciated.

Catherine moves into a position as principal of an elementary school and has been
in the same school for nine years. As she talks about the signiﬁcant learning experiences
of this period in her career, themes of courage, determination, conﬁdence in her own
ability to know what is “right” and act accordingly surface in the midst of disappointment
andtﬁal

I always was brought up to believe that authority ﬁgures were basically right and
you did it just because, you know, my parents always said, “Well, you do it because I
told you.” And I really, I always kind of did. And so I guess, when I found out that
maybe they weren’t [always] right, I got a little more bold in what I thought. Because
I thought, “I know what’s right. I do know what’s right.”

When Catherine was questioned about what she meant by doing the “right thing”,
she responded with the following:

And, I guess when I think about doing the right thing, there are the broad, ethical
[principles] of integrity, trustworthiness, and all of those kinds of things -- we know
what the right things are. And of course for me it has to do with my own spiritual
relationship with the Lord and, you know, it doesn’t take much . . . the Holy Spirit is
pretty good at letting me know -- those are the right things. Maybe it’s because of the
some of the things I’ve seen happen. But . . . again, you think there are certain things
that are going to be true, that people are going to do what they’re supposed to do and
if you’re a really good person and you really do your job well, that there are rewards
for that . . . and guess what? You ﬁnd out, in pretty heartbreaking ways, that that’s
not true.

Up to this point, Catherine’s accounts of her learning experiences have been dominated

by actual on the job experiences. When she was asked to think about and describe other types of

96

   
 

learning experiences that have been inﬂuential in shaping her leadership practice, she responded

with the following:

I work through a lot of things verbally, and so I know that I have a natural affinity
to being with peOple. I, again, because of where I am spiritually, I know that people
are important. And so, whatever you do, whatever you accomplish, if it doesn’t have
an impact on pe0ple, and really have a positive somehow on their life if you’re
interacting with them, then it’s really not of much value. Now some people when they
have a big problem they go off somewhere and they think -- I verbalize. I think out
loud and sometimes by the time I’m through with the interaction, I’ve solved it and
I’ve gone on to something else.

Catherine describes herself as independent thinker and problem solver. She had
difﬁculty in attributing signiﬁcant learning to anything or anyone other than actually trial
and error experiences where she tested her own ideas and received support in doing so
from others. She deﬁnes mentors as those who were willing to encourage her try her own
ideas rather than teach her what they know.

I know the principal that I had when I first came was a key person and the reason
for it was that he was so willing to let me do [things] — and some of these were crazy
things. But [he was] always willing . . .and he was a very conscientious person, so it
wasn’t like he just let you do anything you wanted to do. But, if I went to him with an
idea and I thought that it was [promising], he would let me [run with it]. I would have
to say that I . . .[am pretty much independent bird] and I just would have to say that I
never had anybody over me that I could, that could mentor me. I took a lot of
professional development. Anything that I felt -- I never like taking classes just to
take classes, but I liked taking classes and learning things that were practical and
made a difference in what I was doing. I always enjoyed that -- going back into the
classroom or go back into whatever you were doing the next day and trying to
implement what you’d learn and trying different things. I always bought a lot of
books and materials to try. I always tried to improve.

Catherine describes the principalship as being a position of isolation and talks
about her efforts to establish support networks with colleagues that she respects for the
purpose of sharing and professional conversation.

Being in a building leadership position, you are deﬁnitely kind of on your own.

So I’ve tried to maintain contacts with other principals and for probably or four years

. . . well, ﬁrst I started off meeting with another principal weekly and now there are
three of us that meet. We’ve invited other people and sometimes people have come,

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but they haven’t come consistently. Just, not, an opportunity to share information and
just talk. But I ﬁnd myself personally I get energized by interacting with other people
so I learn a lot by talking with people . . . talking things through or bouncing ideas off
of somebody. You know, a lot of times we can just cut through a lot of the stuff and
you can just be very honest with me, like parents and community, and I can be back
with them. Things can be resolved without all of the other stuff going on if have the
kind of relationship where you really do try to focus on doing the right thing.

Summary

In summary, Catherine’s most inﬂuential learning experiences have been
concentrated primarily in the area of relationships. Early lessons taught in her home on
following the rules, doing things right and doing the right things appear to have carried
through to her leadership practice. There is also evidence that suggests that freedom to
explore her own notions with regard to appropriate decisions and actions in the
workplace is extremely important to Catherine. As the story of experiences unfolds, she
continues to thrive on positive feedback, acknowledgment and reward, as evidence of
positive results. Likewise, these themes can be traced to earlier learning experiences

reported as having a signiﬁcant impact on Catherine.

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Gabriela: The Cultural Composite

Gabriela identiﬁes as her my most significant learning experience in her entire life the
fact that she was born into a family of polyglots — persons of many tongues — by birth, by
ethnicity, and by race. She talks about not knowing what it was like to not speak or hear
a language other than English. Her father spoke French to them as children, her mother
spoke Italian to them. It was the way they communicated with their grandparents and so,
it was perfectly normal and natural to hear languages other than English. This lead to a
foundational underpinning linking diversity in all of its multiple facets to absolutely
everything that is important and signiﬁcant to Gabriela.

...[diversity] is the most normal thing about life I can think about. I don’t see it

as a problem or something you have to deal with or manage or any of those other sort
of scary words when people talk about diversity.

Gabriela was born on in 1952 in a small city in the Midwest. Her father and mother
were both school personnel. Her father, at the time of her birth, was a social worker for
the County, and her mom — not being able to teach after announcing her pregnancy — was
a full-time mom but had been a teacher. Her father was the only one of eleven who
graduated from high school. She has one brother.

Gabriela’s father had great aspirations for career advancement and became a
counselor at Boys’ Training School in the early ﬁfties shortly after she was born. He
then accepted a [position] as an elementary school principal in [another small town].
They moved [there] when she was about four years old. Her mom attended the
University of Michigan and graduated with her degree in Spanish and taught junior high
Spanish and World Geography. This pattern of continually moving, as a result of her

father’s career pursuits is a major theme of inﬂuence in Gabriela’s learning experiences.

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School Experience

Gabriela started kindergarten in a small rural community. She describes the
community as having two factions, the blue-collar workers or the farmers and the town
was pretty much divided between those two social class groups. Gabriela was the
daughter of the principal. She describes her kindergarten experience as being a very
isolated experience and inﬂuential in teaching her to be independent.

I spent a great deal of time in that doll house kitchen, . . mostly because I had . . .
I was being excluded . . . this is my recollection . . . I was being excluded from
instruction because I had been blessed with a mother who was actually a teacher and
had spent a great deal of time with me during my years, formative years before
elementary school in teaching me how to read and write and write my name and
know my numbers. And so I spent a lot of time in the doll house for knowing already
what everybody else didn’t evidently know. So I remember thinking, well, you
know, if I already know what everybody else doesn’t know and this means that my
punishment or my reward for knowing what other people don’t know is exclusion,
than I guess being by myself is probably the path I’m going to be taking. I mean, it’s
sort of a lonely path.

That pattern kind of repeated itself throughout US. schooling for Gabriela. She talks about
the fact that as she got older, she used her knowledge to really exclude herself from the norm, and
really to set herself apart from her teachers and fellow students.

[I used] this “intellectual acumen” to “dis” people, to “dis” teachers, to “dis”
fellow students, in Spanish as we say, “Pour las buenas or pour las malas.” The good
way or the bad way, I was going to set myself aside, away from everyone else, so that
was sort of the underpinning of what my educational experience was like in the
United States.

Shortly into the first couple of weeks of ﬁrst grade, Gabriela’s father joined the US. Foreign
Service. He was recruited by the United States Information Agency to become a cultural attache
in Latin America. Gabriela’s father was ﬁrst assigned to the northeastern comer of Brazil, in a
very remote, less developed part of northern Brazil. She describes Brazil as being divided in the

middle in a place call Via San Salvador which is pretty much in the middle of the country on the

coast. South of Via is where the Europeans settled so there was a predominately Caucasian

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population—Europeans, Italians, Germans, Portuguese, French, Spanish, in the southern part. In
the northern part, according to Gabriela, it was a very different story. There, 2% of the
population were Caucasian and extremely wealthy and 98% were poor and black. Lessons about
the distinctions between people based on class and racial differences are again reinforced.
in Brazil you’re never just black. There are about 200 different shades of black.
People have qualiﬁed themselves by the shade of black that they are within the social

structure.

Gabriela spent four years in Brazil and learned Portuguese as her ﬁrst formal
language. She quickly assimilates into the culture and boasts of her ability to ﬁt in with
the people.

I read Portuguese, wrote Portuguese. My mom used to take me to the market and
hide kind of around the comer and let me do all of the wheeling and dealing because
my Portuguese was ﬂawless and I’m kind of dark. I mean I’m a darker caucasian and
with the: sun, I could pass. I always had a dark tan because I was a kid and I was
outside. I could get by as one of those 200 shades of children there. . . .and spoke
Portuguese and so no one knew that I wasn’t a Brazilian.

Gabriela considers the four years she spent in Brazil to be the most signiﬁcant
learning experiences of her entire life. She describes her life, as the child of an attache,
as being one of extreme privilege.

There were maids and chauffeurs and a beautiful home on the ocean. There were
secret service men, visits from presidents, opera stars, authors, etc. So, that was kind
of the life that I had as a child .. . . extremely privileged, high proﬁle, traveled in
circles that were inﬂuential. I, of course, didn’t know that they were inﬂuential -- I
was seven-eight years old, but they evidently were. So, the experience, that whole
total holistic experience of living in Brazil between class worlds, I think, is what
formed me . . . the person I am today. I feel as comfortable at a cocktail party with
the president or Governor as I do sitting at the kitchen table . . . forget the kitchen . . .
at a table on a crate with my mother-in—law who lives in a ﬁshing village and is
Mayan . . . and as uncomfortable in both places.

After four years, Gabriela’s father decides not to renew his time in Brazil. She
describes it as a very rough assignment for him for several reasons. Her brother almost

died of amebic dysentery, and her father contracted water ﬂuke. He came back to the

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states to be operated on and lost half of his lung. But his next assignment was in
Guadalajara Helisco, Mexico. They moved to Mexico when she was ten. She describes

the contrast in lifestyles, people and customs.

It was metropolitan and cosmopolitan and it was like night and day from [Brazil].
Mexico and Brazil, the two places are so different. Brazil is so extroverted, people
are so out there, in your face, energy, movement, bellicose, your space is violated all
the time in Brazil because people are really out there. They like loud music, parties, I
mean, it’s a very extroverted society. And Mexico is extremely introverted. So, there
was this change of social behavior for me between Brazil and Mexico.

Gabriela continued to live a privileged life in Mexico until her father decided to leave

the Foreign Service as a result of philosophical difference about the way they were to

interact with the people.

I mean his idea of foreign policy was that you go live with the people, you are the
people. You speak the language, you eat the food, you live with the people, you
marry the people, you love the people, you are the people. And that isn’t what
American foreign policy was like in the 50’s and 60’s. It was . . . you go there,
you’re an American, you stick with Americans, you spy on the people. Lord knows
you don’t marry the people, for crying out loud, because, you know, you can’t bring
them home. Because you don’t want to bring them home because home doesn’t really

want those people here. And so my father had a really philosophical — huge
philosophical problem — with U. S. Foreign policy and decided that it was time to
leave the U. S. government.

Gabriela learns signiﬁcant lessons about conﬂicting philosophical beliefs. And
after just one year, her family decided to move back to the states and returned to their
former small community in the Midwest. Her father became the Superintendent of the
school district.

All of this moving apparently took its toll on Gabriela and she contracted
rheumatic fever during the sixth grade. Conﬁned to her bed for several months she
describes this as a particularly rough time for her and talks about another signiﬁcant

learning experience.

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I began to learn English by watching television. I watched baseball and I have
been a fan of baseball ever since that experience. I wrote the baseball players, I
watched baseball games. They used to have them on in the afternoons. I have a post
card from Sandy Colfax, from Al Kayline, from Tom Tresh, I mean, I was a baseball
fan. I can tell you the lineup of the ’64 Tigers right now. That became a very
signiﬁcant learning experience for me . . .knowing the lineup of the 1964 Tigers, it is
just amazing. I’ve always loved baseball. [This time] was rough for me. I didn’t feel
a part of [the community] at all; I never did. And I think my dad didn’t feel a part
either because he very shortly thereafter took a position with a company called
International School Services, they’re head hunters for international schools.

Gabriela’s father took a job as the headmaster of an international school in
Santiago, Chile. The family moved to Chile and were there for approximately the next
two and a half years. Gabriela describes it as one of the most beautiful places in the
entire world and as for her learning experiences, they became a lasting part of her life.

I mean there’s just no end to the beauty of Chile. It’s a wonderful place; people
are really special and I still miss being there. I’ve never really ever gotten over
having left Chile. I felt so part of that life there. I went to this international school,
met people from all over the world. If you didn’t speak more than 3 or 4 languages
you were a real loser. If you hadn’t been to Bancock and Teheran and everywhere
else in the world, they wondered what had happened to you, you know. It was another
very privileged life.

Gabriela describes her teachers in Chile as being people with broad and
adventurous backgrounds that were experts in their ﬁelds. Her geography teacher, for
example, was one of the members of the team that accompanied Hillary Clinton in her
expedition to Everest. Another, was her geography teacher who was one of the members
of the National Geographic Mount Arawat National Geographic expedition in search of
Noah’s Ark. She had US. History teacher who drove his motorcycle down to Santiago on
the Pan Am highway. She goes on to describe other teachers that she had during this
time, and the profound impression that they made on her learning. Her recollection is

remarkably vivid and the experiences obviously made a lasting impression.

This was in the sixties — we’re talking people who are pretty adventurous. My
English teacher was one of the screenwriters for Night of the Iguana from Norway

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[name]. I’ll never forget him. He taught us the complete works of JD. Salinger when
I was in the seventh grade. I mean, he was one of those teachers who said, “You
know, you’re ready for this stuff, you’re ready; make yourself ready — stretch, learn
stuff, get outside yourself into another context.” My biology teacher was the co-
discoverer of streptomycin. I mean how could you not be inﬂuenced by these
learning experiences?

Gabriela felt a sense of belonging in Chile. She describes feeling valued and
appreciated for her knowledge rather than isolated and different as she felt in the U. S.

...school was difﬁcult for me in the United States, because there wasn’t much
room for a kid who knew a lot in the public school. You really had to pay for what
you shouldn’t know — you should know it — but you shouldn’t let anyone else know
you know it. On the contrary, in Latin America, you were encouraged to know, you
were asked to know, you were asked to show what you knew; you were rewarded for
knowledge -- you were rewarded for knowledge.

Political unrest in Chile forced Gabriela and her family to again pack up and
leave. At this age, however, leaving was extremely difﬁcult for Gabriela. She had
assimilated with the culture, the people, and the way of life. She had started to paint her
own picture of her ﬁrture and it did not include moving back to the United States.

I had already decided she was a Chilean, she was going to college in Chile; she
had already picked out the University. I already knew what I was going to do, what
city I was going to live in. I really was pretty clear on who I was going to marry, too
— who was also a Chileno. So, when my parents made that decision to leave, very
quickly, out of Chile and I didn’t really, I don’t think I really understood the political
ramiﬁcations of that, at the time. But we all got on a boat and we got the heck out of
Santiago and came back to the United States. I was miserable. I mean, I didn’t
recover from that move for . . . I would say 10 years.

Gabriela’s parents realized that she was having difﬁculty adjusting to being back
in the US. and having to reenter a cultural context that was not familiar.

I didn’t know squat about it because all my memories, the smells, and the food,
and music, and proverbs, and all of those sort of, you know, social cultural elements
were not American for me, they were Latin American. They were Chileano, they .
were Brazilian, they were Mexican, they weren’t American. I could not identify With
this iconography from the United States at the age of 15 and you want to talk about
being isolated. I was persona non grata and I hated school. I hated high school.
Hated it. I was expelled — suspended — I was forbidden to ever take another math

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class in that high school because the math department teachers just, well one of the
teachers just hated me so much.

Gabriela’s perceptions and interpretations of her experience at age 15 were ﬁlled
with feelings of anger, rejection, and isolation. She openly deﬁed authority and became
rebellious in her attitudes toward what she believed to be a totally foreign way of living.

I had to get a tutor — it was awﬁrl. I hated it. I became extremely pompous, very

arrogant, Iwas a brat. I told people off. I was angry. I was pissed that I had to live in
this really out-of-the-way place. I came from Santiago, 3 million people. You know,
you go see the Russian Ballet, you go to the movie theater, you have ﬁne wine, I
mean, it’s a whole other life and here I am in [small parochial community], oh my

God, why did my parents to this to me. And they would not let me come to [city] to
go to school — they just wanted me to deal with this.

When Gabriela was in eleventh grade, she became involved in theater. She
perceived this as a life saving experience and one that offered her an opportunity to find
her place in her new home. Her drama teacher nominated her for a scholarship at
Northwestern University for an 8-week summer workshop—she auditioned and was
accepted. The program was held at Northwestern University, north of Chicago, with 500
kids from all over the United States also 1 1'" graders — “the top of the line.” She
describes this experience as “like being back in Latin America” and blossomed. She
went from being “. . .the most unpopular girl in high school [at home],” to being voted
president of the girls’ dorm of 300 girls.

...that [experience] really said to me, you know, there’s more to life than what
you’re seeing right now and all you need to do is get out of what you’re in and. go
ﬁnd it. So, don’t just sit around and be victimized; don’t allow yourself to be vrctrm.
If you’re a victim it’s because you’re making yourself a victim, and you need toget
out of that and go ﬁnd places that will appreciate you. So that really was incredible
and taught me that, success begets success. I’ve never forgotten that lesson. [After

being] successful at Northwestern . . . when I came back [home], it was a lot easier
for me to get through school.

105

 

Gabriela identiﬁes another “turning point” learning experience in high school that
also contributed to changing her perceptions about her worth and value. She was asked
by the high school coach to become the team statistician.

best thing that anyone could have done for me in high school because it really
gave me a place to vent and to get involved in what was going on in school, but in a
completely different way. I wasn’t a cheerleader — I was a statistician. So it was
wonderﬁil and I have always appreciated [coach] for doing that — I’ll never forget the

SUV-

College Experience

Gabriela was initially interested in pursuing studies in the technical side of ﬁlm making.
She credits her positive experience at Northwestern and in high school as key in inﬂuencing this
interest. After the program that she was interested in closed, and given that her father, now a
professor at the local college, received free tuition, it was decided that Gabriela would attend
college there. She moves into the dorm and is immediately hired as the team statistician for
wrestling, basketball, baseball, and football. She describes this as “one of the most important
learning experience of her life.”

Doing stats and being with men all the time and with guys all the time in those
sports was one of the most important learning experiences I have ever had in my
entire life. And that is, again, once again, it’s that being able to bridge the genders,
social class, language, race, culture, ethnicity. I am not uncomfortable being around
guys, I’m not uncomfortable playing that “game.” I was able to learn about guys from

a guy perspective. So, I have had great mentoring from both men and women. So, that '

involvement with sports at that particular level of doing stats and statistical reports
and having to know the game intimately, I mean I had to learn basketball, baseball,
football, and wrestling. Of course there are a lot of female statisticians now, but in
1969, I was the only one. So, that was a great learning experience; it wasn’t in the
classroom, but it was a great learning experience. I think we’re getting a pattern of all
these great learning experiences that were not in the classroom.

In addition to her work as a sports statistician, Gabriela also renewed her interest
and involvement in theater, while in college. She became involved at the production end

of theater and did some acting. She talks about her troupe being on tour as a result of

106

 

 

winning a regional competition and describes the lifelong friendships that were made as a
result of that experience. So again, we see examples of the types of learning experiences
perceived as inﬂuential being related to personal and emotional connections established
with others.

While in college, Gabriela’s involvement in the social movements of the time
reﬂect a continuing theme from early experiences in which she learned about race,
culture and class differences and the consequences of being disenfranchised. She
describes with pride her involvement in the march against the war in Vietnam, the lettuce
boycotts, and the Civil Rights movement.‘

I had posters of Malcolm X long before it was fashionable to have posters of
Malcolm X by any means necessary, plastered in my dorm wall. I, you know, all of
those . . . those people, they were right, they were right. I mean it wasn’t about
whether it was political, sometimes there are just some things you gotta ﬁght for
because they’re right and they’re fair. I mean it’s about fairness, and it’s about justice
and for everybody. I think because of where I was raised, the only difference I could
ever see was who had money and who didn’t have money. In the United States by
comparison, it looked like everybody had money, in comparison to what I had seen
before.

Gabriela graduated from college with a BA. in Speech and Theater and a

 

secondary teaching certiﬁcate. She talks openly about some of the more tragic events
that were also signiﬁcant learning experiences for her and played a part in shaping who
sheistoday.

I had a very unfortunate experience in that there was a . . . I guess now they call it
date rape. I became pregnant and made a very life-changing decision to go to New
York to terminate the pregnancy. I went to New York City — alone — with no one, no
support and no one to know about it. Of course I couldn’t possibly tell my parents,
which I did not. But it was an extremely difﬁcult decision, but one I have never
regretted. As events unfolded in my life I never did have my own biological children.
So, it’s kind of interesting how we sort of fall into our destiny. But, anyway that was
a major event.

107

 

After college, Gabriela was advised by her mother to consider a job that would allow
her to use her Spanish. She had not considered that as a possibility and thought it was a
great idea. She moved to the city and interviewed for a temporary position in the
Department of Human Relations as a translator. She was hired. She describes the
inﬂuence of her ﬁrst boss and mentor.

I worked for a man by the name of [name]. You know I can hardly even talk
about him without getting a little choked up — he was a signiﬁcant mentor in my life.
He really taught me a lot about urban life . . . about black urban life. About black
history — black American history. You know I didn’t know anything about black
American history. I knew a lot about black history in Brazil and I knew a lot about
Pan Africanism. I knew scads about that having lived PanAfricanism. But I didn’t
know much about American blackness, really until I met [name]. So my job was to
translate for the city and I did that in text; I used to translate in the drunk tank on
Monday mornings for the Mexicanos who’d get picked up at the Tango Bar or the
Mustang Bar on the weekend. And that was my job and I really loved it a lot. I really
loved it. I loved working for [name].

Gabriela was engaged to a gentleman from New York City; he was Greek, and his father was
president of Olympic Airways. Her ﬁancee was tragically killed the summer before they were to
be married. Gabriela identiﬁes this as another important learning experience.

Of course, I was a basket case, I mean, the one love of my life had just been
stabbed to death. I mean, I don’t understand stabbing to death. I understand plane
crashes and car crashes, but stabbing to death, that kind of stuff, that was
incomprehensible to me. So, I went out to New York for the funeral and of course
being the woman to whom he was going to be married, I had to be part of the family
ritual. It was really hard. I loved [name] very deeply and he love me very deeply, but,
you know, it was destiny, it just happened that way.

Professional Work: Teaching

It was after she returned from New York, that Gabriela decided to get a teaching job.
She was a migrant teacher for a couple years before teaching sixth grade teacher at the
brand new school elementary school. She was bumped out of that position, due to low
seniority, and moved to a split position -- she taught part time at the junior high and part

time at the high school center for gifted and talented students - where she taught 5’h year

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Spanish. She talks about making ﬁ'equent trips to Mexico during her vacations in order to
“charge her cultural battery.”

Gabriela talks about the signiﬁcance of friendships in her learning experiences. Surprisingly,

someone who was her total opposite, became her very best friend.

I was teaching as a migrant teacher at that time and I met this teacher named
[name] and she said to me at the end of the year picnic, “What are your going to do
for summer break.” And I said, “I’m going to the Yucatan.” She said, “Can I go with
you?” And I thought, “Oh, my God, she drives a red camero, I drive a volkswagon
van; she wears a mini skirt and platform heels, I wear bib overalls and sandals, you
know. I have long hair down to my back that’s in a braid all the time, and she’s got
peroxide hair with blue contact lenses. How are we ever going to see eye-to-eye on
things.” Well, she’s my best friend, has always been my best friend. She rubbed off a
little on me, and normalized me and I rubbed off a little bit on her and gave her a
sense of some risk-taking. So, that was another great learning experience for me.

After going through a marriage and a divorce, Gabriela returned to Cancun and rekindled

a relationship with an old friend after twelve years — and they were married.

. . . being with [name] is the other greatest learning experience of my life.
Committing yourself, turning yourself over to another human being that you trust,
especially for me as an extremely independent woman, to rip my agenda and say,
“You know what? What’s your agenda? How can we form one together?” This was
a very signiﬁcant learning experience.

Gabriela talks about her experience as the principal of a brand new school of choice and

recognizes this experience as significant in her learning.

. . . total school of choice for children who speak a language other than English as
well as children who come from families whose parents want them to learn another
language besides English. Being a total school of choice we were responsible for all
of the issues associated with choice — image, marketing, and keeping school culture
alive, etc. We did not rely on neighborhood or geographic closeness to establish
your school culture, but created a culture within the school [that was inclusive of]
every corner of the city, and every corner of the world in the case of this [particular
school]. That was the most signiﬁcant thing I think. . . well deﬁnitely the most
signiﬁcant thing I’ve ever done in my life. I won a national educator award ﬁve years
ago and have been blessed to receive honors of [distinction for my work]. That’s
been great learning for me, [as well]. While a lot of this learning was very positive, I
also learned a lot about jealousy that people have and how they go after you if they
think you’ve got something they don’t have. And that’s been a great learning
experience.

109

Recently, Gabriela was appointed to a central office administrative position. In
talking about her experiences over the last eighteen months, she describes them as
learning to live through the politics.

the last 18 months, for me has been one of the greatest learning experiences
I’ve ever had. I’ve learned a lot about, you know, politics, the organization is like
living in the court of Versailles. Everyone’s a pretender to the throne; there’s intrigue
behind every velvet curtain, or people think there is. I’m pretty much, what you see
is what is get and you really can’t be that way in an organization that thrives on
intrigue.

In describing the political environment of her new organization, Gabriela ﬁnds the
culture to again be in stark contrast to her own philosophical beliefs about power. These
were lessons learned early in her experiences in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico from her
parent.

I’d rather use my political markers on the advancement of an idea or an issue
rather than in eliminating people from the scene. I’m not into neutralizing other
people’s power. I like to empower them. I mean, I like to empower them because
empowerment means you get more power. I think that’s a pretty simple formula. I
haven’t ﬁgured out how it is that people think you get more power by neutralizing
other people’s power or by eliminating their power. I mean, you only get more power
by making other people more powerﬁrl. I mean, that’s basic and I learned that in
Latin America, as a kid. That’s the social exchange theory 101—all Latin Americans
understand the interdependence of power and how the more people with whom you
are interdependent, the more power you actually end up acquiring. I don’t regret
anymore anything that’s ever happened. It’s all been part of the whole scheme of my
life story and it’s been a great life story. I’ve learned from every person with whom
I’ve had signiﬁcant contact I’ve come away with a bit of them in me.

Summag

Evidence that Gabriela’s learning experiences have contributed signiﬁcantly to
her leader identity from multiple vantage points are apparent from her learning portrait.
She draws from a wide pool of rich experiences to formulate her perspectives, attitudes

and beliefs. Evidence exists suggesting that these perspectives, attitudes, and beliefs are

110

deeply rooted in her early childhood experiences both in and outside of the home and
remain consistent throughout the course of her life.

From an early age, indications are that Gabriela was aware of her extraordinary
intelligence and using it to make her way in the world. She loved learning and though
her experiences in American schools were unpleasant for her, she thrived on her own
appetite for knowledge and with the help of educated parents, was propelled forward.
She describes her learning experiences in foreign schools, as particularly inﬂuential and
attributes much of her value of knowledge to those experiences. Her teachers were
engaging and peer group knowledge competitive.

Gabriela grew up in a multilingual environment and learned to speak several
languages ﬂuently. As she traveled with her family, another hallmark of her learning
experiences can be attributed to her parents belief in the importance of complete
assimilation into the customs and cultures within which they lived. She experienced ﬁrst
hand the class wars that existed between the very rich and the very poor and her
phiIOSOphical and seeds related to social injustice, racism, and class were planted and
grew.

Relationships were not always easy for Gabriela. Part of this she attributes to
early feelings of isolation as a result of being separated from her peers in school. This
theme continued to play out as she continually moved in and out of communities while
her father served in the Foreign Service. Her resent begins to surface, as she grew older,
and tired of being uprooted from familiar and comfortable surroundings. By the time she
returned to high school in the US, her own country felt strangely unfamiliar and her

adjustment difficult.

lll

Growing up in a very political environment, she attributes much of her sensitivity
and passion for issues relative to the disenfranchised to her early learning experiences
and has always identiﬁed with the role of social activists. She believes in ﬁghting for
worthy causes and believes that this is the appropriate arena for politics.

Gabriela considers herself to be a composite of all those characteristics of people that she has
met throughout her life — characteristics that she liked and characteristics that she hasn’t liked.
Her learning proﬁle is remarkable and I think the following verbatim quote deﬁnes who she is
and illustrates the profound inﬂuence that her signiﬁcant leaming experiences have had on her
life.

I am the composite of all those characteristics. That’s what leadership is all
about. It is being able to recognize characteristics in others that you also have. If you
get out of the familiarity of your own life context enough you’re going to have a
whole menu of characteristic that you can draw upon — life events, activities, history,
or whatever. You’re going to have enough of a menu that you’re going to be able to
identify with every single person that you come in contact with and say, “Here’s the
characteristic, here’s the life event, here’s the bond that I can make with this
individual.” That is probably the essence of what learning is all about for me and has
been for the past almost 49 years —— you can learn from anywhere and from anyone.
And for me, the essence of leadership is the ability, the propensity, the desire to see
perspectives, to analyze perspectives, to adopt and mold perspectives that are outside
the familiarity of one’s own life context. That, to me, is the essence of leadership —
the ability to do that and enjoy it and communicate it. I kind of think of my self as a
cultural chameleon.

112

Mildred: The Independent Mover

Mildred was the ﬁrst born of three children in her family. She was born shortly after the
end of World War II to parents who were both college graduates. Her father was in the clothing
industry and owned his own business, and her mother, was an English teacher by profession. At
the time when Mildred’s mother married her father, the expectation of her father’s family was
that she be a homemaker. Though Mildred suspects this might not have been enough for her
mother, she nevertheless became not only a homemaker, but is described by Mildred as being a
mother extraordinaire. Mildred’s recollections of early learning experiences are dominated by
memories of her mother and the time and attention she gave to Mildred, particularly before her
other siblings were born.

Mildred described herself as being born an “extremely ugly” child. She considers

this to be an important fact and instrumental in shaping her early path.

I did think it was important to share that I had been born an extremely ugly child:
someone with no hair until she was three years old; someone with not only large ears
in terms of size, but also in terms of protrusion because they had no cartilage.
Perhaps it is because I was born so ugly that my mother spent a great deal of time
with me as a younger child developing those other parts of me that she believed
would be healthy for me if I were to be successful as I moved out into the world. You

need to know that I didn’t know that I was born ugly; I discovered that as I got a little
older.

Mildred entered kindergarten reading. Her memories of these earlier times are very
sketchy and she acknowledges having to use albums and scrapbooks to aid her recall of
those times. When my second sister came, as I said, I think I was more independent and
didn’t recollect a lot of it. She describes herself, as a young child, as being very
adventurous and unafraid to venture forward on her own to explore things that she was
curious about. She offers several illustrations of this related to times when she moved

into new situations with conﬁdence, unaware of dangers that may exist, and had to be

113

rescued by her mother. She considers these early characteristics to be fairly descriptive
and inﬂuential in shaping who she is today and describes the various strategies employed
by her parents and teachers to teach her how to control her behavior.

Another illustration of that would be related to my second or third grade
classroom. I don’t know how often students at that age were sent out in the hall [for
misbehavior], but I remember being removed from class in order to spend some time in
the hall to determine whether or not I could control my behavior. At that point in time
[misbehaving] was, in essence, deﬁned as creating an environment where other kids were
unable to learn. I did that mostly by laughing and/ or talking because I was highly verbal.

Mildred talks about having to compensate for an inability to spell all the way
through school but quickly acknowledges the fact that she was astute enough to know
how to compensate for this weakness.

I could never understand why I was a great reader, with a fantastic memory, and

still could not spell phonetically, which is how we were taught at that point in time. I
don’t know if there’s a correlation between what one hears in music and what hears in
phonetics, but I will tell you that I also have demonstrated an ability all the way
through high school and college to sing in what is laughingly called a monotone
voice. I am known as [one who has] the ability to give you every verse of any song
ever written, but not [be able to] sing it. And I don’t know whether there’s a

relationship between what you hear in phonics and what you hear in music and/or that
relationship in terms of spelling.

In terms of other learning experiences in Mildred’s childhood, she describes
lessons learned about how to relate to other people, being independent, and not afraid of
the unfamiliar, as standing out more than anything else.

. my mother put me in so many different environments that I learned how tc
communicate with a variety of people. I will also tell you that either innately or
learned —- and I can’t tell you which—I had been independent at an early age. That
independence may very well have come from the fact that I had received so much
nurturing in my early years, but I didn’t feel the need to please people as I got older. 1
was relatively precocious and don’t think I ever shut up until she pushed me intc

ll4

school. I think it’s typical to say that throughout my life I have taken myself from that
which I knew into an unknown and without fear.

Adolescence

As Mildred moved into adolescence, she describes going from being “an ugly duckling -- at
least for a short period of time -- to a not-too-bad-looking’ adolescent with a major ﬁxation on
boys.” She recalls being verbally mature for her age as well as very self conﬁdent. Her parents
recognized that she was beginning to become self conscious about her protniding ears and offered
her the option of having cosmetic surgery.

I remember going away from that overwhelmed by the fact that my parents were
perceptive enough to know that it had begun to bother me and that they were willing
to do something to make a difference. In any case, so going into adolescence, then,
my ears were ﬁxed. They were better than they had been before. I also had a great
body; and it truly was — I was built in the places I needed to be built, small in the
places in the places I needed to be small, and I had never-ending legs. In addition to
that I was verbally mature for my age and relatively independent. So, I was interested
in boys/men at an early age, dated them, and had already by the time I was 18 begun
to deﬁne who I needed to be married to. This sounds really strange but intuitively I
knew.

Mildred’s describes an intuitive ability for knowing what is best for her,
independent of what others think. A ﬁirther illustration of this self-conﬁdence is found in
the way she talks about how she determined the kind of man she would eventually marry.
Though she indicates her trust in her own intuition, she is also careﬁil to check it against
reality before making a ﬁnal commitment.

the man I would marry was the man most likely to bring organization and
structure to my life; most likely to bring to me the psychological support I needed to
move forward and most likely to allow me to be who I was. I dated my husband,
from the age of 14 until we married, but never did I date only [name] until we were
engaged. And I think one of the reasons for that was that in spite of the fact that I
knew intuitively, I also needed to check that against reality. And so by dating a
variety of people, many of whom were considered to be “the guy” to be dating, I was
able to measure what [name] could bring to the marriage against what some of the
other men I dated could bring to the marriage. And what I know now is that what I
need is a man who will, in the end, give me the psychological support, because I
believe I can to everything else myself.

115

 

 

Mildred describes her most inﬂuential experiences to this point as learning to trust
her own intuition, learning to trust her own experience, and learning to trust her own
intelligence in making important decisions. As she talks more about learning to trust her
own intelligence she becomes quite analytical and reveals the insecurities that surfaced
when she compared herself with others while in college.

I never doubted that I was bright, in fact, I always thought I was brighter than
most, however, I never could understand until I got into college why in some discreet
arenas I had more difﬁculty than others. What I did know is that verbally I was
stronger than most. What I did know is that I could relate to more people than most --
and here I talk about people who were different in terms of ethnicity, in terms of
social economic status, and in terms of ideas. It was okay to be different than me. I
could -- but never chose to -- exclusively run with “the crowd.” I could be there
when I wanted to be, but most of the time chose not to be — sometimes consciously,
sometimes subconsciously. But in most cases I was where I chose to be based upon
what fit for me. I would have to say that I probably am a person who learns best by
doing. I take those experiences that I’ve had and transfer them either consciously or
subconsciously to new experiences. I would say that I’m not fearful of new learning,
which is pretty unusual. I’m generally not fearful of risk, although I would guess
that’s dependent upon the degree to which that risk impacts me socially,
psychologically, ﬁnancially. . .

Mildred characterizes her formal learning experiences as traditional in the respect
that they included opportunities to learn and grow with students very much like herself —
white, middle class, and learning both inside and outside of the classroom those things
that society thought were important for them to learn.

I would say that for most of my high school career and part of my junior high
career, my focus was on building relationships. Much of that I think was due to the
fact that I already had a lot of the knowledge. I didn’t necessarily ever demonstrate
the ability to be a four-point student — I could have been if my parents had put
pressure on me — but they didn’t. In fact both my parents say now -- as they deﬁne
that period in my life -- that they felt that I had the background I needed to be
successful academically to the degree that I chose to be, whenever it was that I
decided to apply myself. They felt that building relationships was probably the best
way to go, given I was going to do it one way or the other.

116

Mildred talks at length about her lifelong mission and commitment to educate the
poor. She recalls her parents saying that when she was in junior high school, most of her
friends were poor and recollects an experience that signals this emerging consciousness.

...When I was in junior high, most of my friends were poor. They lived right by
the freeway and those were the kids that I did things with. I didn’t think of it until I
went to their houses. When I was freshman in high school, I had made friends with
someone at school and I went to her house. I went up to her bedroom to sleep over
that night and I mean, I’m glad I went to her house ﬁrst, because I don’t know if she
would have invited me otherwise. I mean, her bedroom was this non-heated, light
bulb with a string pull, you know, and two beds and linoleum on the ﬂoor. I mean it
wasn’t poor, poor, but I mean, it was different than my experience base. But my
parents said I just did that. Maybe it was more maybe at that time just [wanting]
genuine relationships.

As an involved student in high school, Mildred was a class ofﬁcer every year,
involved in basketball, track and a lot of the social activities. She talks about another
experience in which she was involved for two summers in working in missions — one
summer in California and another summer in the Chicago area.

I had an opportunity there to again get to know a variety of people; who had a

variety of world and life views. It gave me the opportunity to hold those world and
life views against my own.

Mildred describes her college experience as pretty social, particularly the ﬁrst
year. She was social committee chairperson of the dorm and that meant she planned all
of the parties. She recalls doing well in the typical subjects — English and Social Studies
and some of the Sciences -— but remembers not doing well in French and eventually
switched to Spanish. She acknowledges having fairly poor study habits, but because she
could cram at the last minute and still do well, her study behavior was reinforced.

I would think that some of that was just a choice not to apply myself. I can recall
in my Freshman year in college, because I was an avid reader — and still am — and
could read quickly, in those courses in which I did pretty well, I sometimes did not
read the book until a week before the exam. I can remember speciﬁcally in Social
Studies/History class where our ﬁnal grade was to be based upon papers we wrote,

discussion in class and then an exam on the book. Since I didn’t see any need to read

117

the book until the exam, I spent the week before the exam locked in a linen closet
reading the book from beginning to end and I did very well in the class. So that
probably reinforced, short term, some pretty poor study habits. As I moved into my
junior and senior year I took my education much more seriously and ended up
graduating with honors and a part of the National Honor Society.

Summary

In summary, Mildred’s learning experiences propel her forward on several
distinct fronts. She attributes, as being most signiﬁcant, her early lessons about
commitment to a mission, relating with all kinds of people from all walks of life,
particularly the poor, as being instrumental in forming and shaping her later focus of
interest and ultimately her life mission.

Mildred learned early to negotiate her role as a player with the “big boys” and
from an early age was quite comfortable in taking risks and being independent in her
efforts to navigate the world. She learned to develop her ability to communicate ideas,
listen careﬁilly to how others described their needs and took on the charge of working to
meet those needs as she perceived them. Mildred also developed her ability to articulate
points of view from a variety of perspectives in search of common ground and attributes
much of her accomplishment as a leader to these skills and abilities.

Mildred traces her deep, philosophical underpinnings back to childhood days
when she enjoyed playing with children who where from a different social class and took
up the mantle of ﬁghting for social justice. Her mother emerges as a central ﬁgure in
shaping her philosophical beliefs, attitudes, and core values. She comments on early
impressions made by eloquent speakers, particularly in her church community, who were
effective at getting large numbers of people to be attentive to their words and as a result

of the message, willing to move collectively toward a common goal.

118

 

Mildred describes her school experiences as fairly traditional and does not
identify experiences of particular signiﬁcance from the perspective of the content studied.
However, she does appear to be keenly aware of performance differences between herself
and her peers from an early age. She often referenced her accomplishments in
comparison to the accomplishments of others in determining her own level of
effectiveness. She is concerned with her image and how she comes across to others and
relies on feedback from signiﬁcant others to provide her with this information. Base on
what she learns from them, Mildred does a self-initiated course correction.

She describes her life as her work and her self-image is consistently reﬂected in
this context and often through the eyes of others. She spends a considerable amount of
time scanning her environment and monitoring situations and circumstances for potential
opportunities as well as threats. This ability to carefully listen, observe, and analyze

people and situations emerges as a trademark of her learning experiences.

ll9

 

ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS

Again, the purpose of this study was to explore relationships between leader
learning experiences, their perceptions and interpretations of their strategic situations, and
their subsequent strategic action. Toward this objective, each participant was asked to
describe the learning experiences that they recall as having played a signiﬁcant role in
shaping their leader behavior.

Interview transcriptions were read multiple times and coded for content, context,
process, and motivation themes. To fairly represent the content and the context of the
learning experiences reported, individual narratives were prepared for each participant
using a signiﬁcant amount of verbatim quotation. Narratives were coded again to verify
initial learning themes. Recurring themes were than organized into the following ﬁve
categories of learning: academic, relational, political, philosophical, and technical. The
categories have been operationalized as follows:

- Academic learning experiences are deﬁned here as experiences that are
discipline speciﬁc and generally associated with the curricula of formal
schooling.

I Relational learning experiences were people-focused and people-intensive.
These experiences were described as ones in which lessons about awareness,
appreciation, and respect for self and others were learned.

I Political learning experiences are deﬁned as those lessons that developed the
leaders’ abilities to manage conﬂict, negotiating power, and build support. for

the purpose of advancing a particular idea or agenda.

120

 

I Philosophical learning experiences are deﬁned as experiences that were
inﬂuential in shaping the leaders’ values, beliefs, and ideologies about what is
right, fair, honorable, important, and worthy of consistent attention and action.

I Technical learning experiences are deﬁned as those experiences that provided
leaders with the academic, skills, processes, and strategies that enable them to
perform speciﬁc processes and function necessary in accomplishing a
particular task or goal.

Academic Learning Experiences

For the purposes of this study, academic learning experiences are deﬁned as
experience that focus on intellectual, or subject matter content that leads to improvement
in human performances and has ultimate usefulness in the pursuit of the individual’s
vocation or profession (Gagne, 1971).

Learning experiences of signiﬁcance described by leaders that fell into this
category were often associated subject matter content in the humanities and was often
described as inﬂuential as a result of the personal. For example, Vivian’s love of
literature was connected to her respect and admiration for her high school teacher. Dan’s
interest and fascination with social politics and philosophy can be traced to his
relationships with early teachers and mentors. Gabriela’s signiﬁcant academic
experiences in geography, history, and literature were motivated by her teachers as well
as by the “lived” experiences in Brazil, Guadalajara, and Mexico. This pattern of
inﬂuential academic learning being associated with signiﬁcant people and contexts was
consistently found among the leader participants. Interestingly, leaders did not identify

academic learning experiences void of this type of association as being inﬂuential in

121

shaping their practice. These experiences were more frequently referred to as subjects
that were undertaken to meet formal schooling requirements and details of the
experiences and the processes for learning were-difﬁcult for participants to recall.
Technical Learning Ergmiences

Technical learning experiences were also underrepresented as being signiﬁcant in
shaping the strategic behavior of leader participants. Peter Senge (1990) offers one
possible explanation. He suggests that we have all mastered a vast repertoire of skills
through “training” the subconscious. Once learned, they become so taken for granted,
that we don’t notice when we are executing them. He suggests that most of us'have never
given a second thought to how we mastered these skills. This was apparent in responses
from participants regarding how they learned to read, write, drive a car, play an
instrument, etc. While most were not able to recall the actual experience of technical
learning, two participants did report technical learning experiences that were signiﬁcant.

Gabriela describes as quite natural the experiences of learning multiple languages
both in her home and in the many countries in which she lived growing up as a child.
Again, as she described the experiences, it was obvious to me that the signiﬁcance was
more related to the interactions associated with the skills being learned at the time. Jane
also describes learning experiences related to her learning to write for an audience. These
experiences, while skill based, appeared to be again motivated by the conditions for
learning the skill rather than the skill itself.

Somewhere along the line, I discovered that I had the ability to bring out
deep emotions in other people through my writing, through my words, through

listening, through connecting with people in some way . . . and that is something
that I thrived on, I think, and used to my advantage.

122

This pattern was consistent in the ﬁndings for other participants as well and
suggests again that technical learning associated with relationships between self and
others is most often identiﬁed as inﬂuential in shaping leader behavior. When this
relationship was absent from the learning experience, even though the skills were
acquired and consistently used, the learning was not viewed as being particularly
inﬂuential in shaping leader behavior. An illustration of this can be found in Gabriela’s
account of her learning to track sports statistics and Catherine’s efforts to perform tasks
“the right way.” In both of these cases, the mastery of technical skills was reported as
signiﬁcant in shaping leader behavior, however, the underlying motivation for mastery
appears to be primarily relational and is a recurring theme in this type of learning
experience. This suggests that technical learning experiences appear to be inﬂuential in
shaping leader behavior when they are motivated by factors that are relational in nature.
Relational, Political, and Philosophical Learning Experiences

Relational, political, and philosophical learning experiences were consistently
described as being of predominant inﬂuence in shaping behavior of leader participants in
the study. These were by far the most frequent types of learning experiences identiﬁed
by leaders (see Table 4.1) and were frequently traced back to early childhood experiences
in the home with one or both parents most often identiﬁed as the primary teachers.
Participants described with vivid detail speciﬁc events and circumstances related to their
learning to interact and communicate with others in their families, schools, churches, and
communities. Though the particular dynamics of these contexts varied among
participants the data suggests that these early lessons consistently appeared to be identity-

deﬁning experiences for each participant in the study.

123

Table 4.1 Most Frequent Categories of Signiﬁcant Learning Experiences

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vivian Jane Dan Catherine Gabriela Mildred
Academic X X
Relational X X X X X X
Political X X X X X X
Philosophical X x x i x x x
Technical X X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recollections were vivid and at times quite emotional appearing to touch them at
a deeper level of consciousness than the other categories of learning experiences shared.
Whether the experiences were of a positive or negative inﬂuence evidence of their power
in deﬁning and shaping leader identities and perspectives was undeniable and
remarkable.

Participants were able to describe colors, smells, tones of voice, gestures, and
feelings associated with of these types of experiences and several key themes quickly
emerged. First, all of the participants appeared to be affected by these experiences on a
deep emotional and psychological level that was often prompted by a sense of urgency
that arose forcing participants to navigate a particular challenge or dilemma. In most
instances, these situations of urgency appeared to provide the context and motivation for
deep learning that dramatically change the way that participants perceived themselves,

their circumstances, and their relationships and interactions with others (see Table 4.2).

124

 

4.2 Contexts for Significant Learning Experiences

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Context: Home/Family School Work
0 —— Ts _ o — s _ 0 —~ '3 .—
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gee-Bageaﬁ'ageaea
"g a; 8 E A: is :5 8 E —= “U a 8 E -=
.—c o o 0 C3 .—. o o O N .—. o o 0
< M ..r: E“ <1 94 .1: I“ < M ..C.‘ E-’

a. an _ n4

Vivian X X X X X X
Jane X X X X X X X X X X X
Dan X X X X X X X
Catherine X X X X X X X
Gabriela x x x x x x x x x
Mildred x X x x x x x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Numerous examples of this phenomenon appear across the learning narratives as
we think back to Vivian’s vision impairment, Jane’s experience with the truck on the
bridge, the automobile accident that killed Catherine’s only brother, and the tragic murder
of Gabriela’s ﬁance the summer before they were to be married. While these examples
were among the more dramatic of the accounts, evidence of this sense of urgency being
associated with leader deep learning experiences surfaces throughout the data and
appears to be precipitated by a crisis. The sense of urgency created as a result of the
crisis was most often the context within which participants described signiﬁcant learning
and it was generally relational, political and/or philosophical in nature. Another
observation was that it was generally more difﬁcult for participants to recall speciﬁc

details of signiﬁcant learning experiences outside of these contexts.

125

 

relational, philosophical, and political learning were often emotionally and/or

The data illustrated in Table 4.3, suggests that the primary motivations for in the

psychologically driven. Motivations for academic and technical learning were most often

related to personal and/or career aspirations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.3 Motivations for Signiﬁcant Learning Experiences

Employment

Motivation: Life challenge Personal Interest Objective
0 —- '73 — 0 —~ '5’ — 0 —~ Ts —
'ggagaa‘éagagésga
a) .9 9‘ -— 'E to .9 9* -—- 'E a) .9 9" ~-— ’5
«s “l m "" o «3 ‘3 ‘0 "" o as “f m "" o
o T) .9 0 <1) 0 T) ..9 a? a) o T.) 9 a? o
< m 5 ‘3: [_. < M LE3 [_. < a: :a‘ I—

94 :1. CL
Vivian X X X X X X x
Jane X X X X X X X
Dan X X X X

Catherine X X X X X X X
Gabriela X X X X X X X X
Mildred X X X X X X X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

126

 

Leader Views of Strategic Situations and Subsequent Courses of Action Taken

In seeking to explore the relationships between what leaders have learned and
what they actually do, I now focus my attention on their strategic behavior. The interest,
here, is in exploring leader perceptions about the nature and scope of their strategic
issues. Also of interest are the processes they use in analyzing problems and determining
subsequent courses of action.

The four questions, guiding part of the inquiry were: ﬁrst, what types of strategic
issues do school leaders identify as being priority concerns? In this study, the term
strategic is used to refer to issues that impact the overall organization, not just one small
unit. It also implies substantive decision-making responsibility. Second, how do the
leaders describe their strategic issues? The interest here was focused on how leaders
described factors contributing to their problems, their view of the problem as an
opportunity or a threat, and whether or not they perceived the solution to the problem as
one that was within their control to make happen. The third question was what are the
speciﬁc strategies used to gather information about the problem, analyze the problem,
and determine the appropriate action to be taken? And the ﬁnally, what action was
actually taken?

Again, narratives were used as the preferred medium for understanding and
explaining the leaders’ strategic situation (Straude, 1994). They seem particularly well
suited to the purposes of this study as it seeks to convey “the richness and the nuances of
meaning” among study participants (Carter, 199316; see also Bruner, 1986; Michler,
1995; Scholes, 1982). In Louis and Sutton’s (1991) terms, telling a story about an event

helps storytellers move from automatic to conscious processing of that event, processing

127

 

 

characterized by awareness, attention, and reﬂection. As a result, academic that is
normally hidden comes into view.

As in the analysis of leader learning experiences, this analysis proceeded in
several steps. Again, since the research is exploratory, I needed to let categories emerge
from the data, rather than impose them a priori. First, I extracted the stories, verbatim,
fiom the transcripts. I then created abstracts. These were literal condensations of each
story, designed to make the data compact enough to work with. Next, I sorted iteratively
through these abstracts, ultimately grouping similar themes together from each story to
create a comprehensive set of categories for the responses (Miles & Huberman, 1994: 55-
69). Each abstract was then coded. I then constructed a table of all of the coded
abstracts. This process allowed me to discern a smaller number of basic types of
responses. In the next section, data from interviews is presented in the following order:

I. Leaders’ views of strategic problems facing their organizations —
perceptions and interpretations;

II. Processes used in analyzing speciﬁc problems — nature and scope,
identifying possible solutions; and

111. Speciﬁc actions taken by leaders to address the problem.

Qaders’ Views of Strategic Problems Facing Their Organizations

 

In this section, data related to leaders’ views of their strategic problems is
presented. Speciﬁc questions addressing (a) leaders’ perceptions about the strategic
problems facing their respective schools/districts; and (b) leaders’ perceptions about

contributing factors to their strategic problems were explored. In Table 4.4 and 4.5, the

128

 

data for each of these questions is presented. Illustrations from the interview transcripts
of leaders’ talk related to these questions are also provided.

All leaders in the study provided evidence of having some problem-sorting
process and were quickly able to identify priority concerns. All of the strategic problems
identiﬁed involved some level of strategic reform and ranged from program to
community level in scope. The problems identiﬁed were classiﬁed into one of the
following three categories, based on the primary nature of their talk about the concern:

1) technical — focus on system processes and techniques;

2) pedagogical — focus on teaching and learning; or

3) political — focus on inﬂuencing others in order to advance an idea or agenda.

Of the three principal participants in the study, two perceived their problems as
having a pedagogical focus while the third principal’s perceptions of the problem were
technical in nature. Both of the central ofﬁce leaders perceived their problems as being
politically oriented. In Table 4.4 the six strategic problems are indicated and classiﬁed as
being in one of the above three categories. Illustrative comments are provided as further
support for category selection.

In Table 4.5, data is provided regarding factors contributing to leaders’
perceptions about their strategic problems. Based on study participant descriptions of
factors contributing to their perceptions, factors were coded either as opportunities,
threats, or both opportunities and threats. Illustrative comments are provided as
additional support for coding.

In listening to leaders talk about the problems of priority concern to them, they

more frequently perceived contributing factors to the problem as threats rather than

129

opportunities. Twelve of the twenty-one contributing factors identiﬁed were perceived by

the leaders as threats while only three factors were perceived as opportunities. Six of the

contributing factors were perceived by leaders to be both opportunities and threats.

Table 4.4 Leader perceptions of strategic problems facing school/school district

 

LEADER
PERCEPTIONS OF
STRATEGIC
PROBLEM

LEADER ILLUSTRATIVE COMMENT

 

System Processes and

“ . .. looking at the ninth graders and looking at their success rate

 

 

 

 

 

 

Techniques. they were not doing well; they were not doing well anywhere. And I
' said, “we need to do things differently and at the time I really didn’t
Need to restructure instructional know exactly what [differently] was.” g
delivery for ninth grade students '5
“We have information that says, you’re not reaching all these kids.
And you’re not stretching the kids who already got it before they
Pedagogy: came in your class and you’re taking credit for it.” So we needed to
ﬁnd something that would be encompassing enough to allow them to 2%
Need new instructional delivery honor what they had already done in the past, but continuing to go "’
model down that same road isn’t taking care of all these other kids who
aren’t getting it. So, we needed something different”
“ . . .how very difficult it is to have comprehensive reform and do it
Personal with a big group. I struggle with the difﬁculty of moving a big ship
Philosophy /Ideology: and having it take a turn right or left. That does weigh me down 5
sometimes.” Q
Comprehensive high school
reform
“There is still a lack of focus in the lower grades and it’s difficult to
System Processes and know how to create the sense of enough pressure to make [teachers] q,
T h . . accountable and sensitive to what has to be covered in each content E
(3
Teacher accountabi [i [y for 0
teaching curriculum
“How was I going to get a school established for children who were
Political Influence: historically underserved; the disenfranchised; have no voice in the {,3
language that’s spoken. How do you get through the politics, how do '5
Rallying community support for you martial enough support from the general community to see that 3
establishing a language. school they have a need for their own SChOOl-”
Political Inﬂuence: “...but again, it was always the owning piece. How do you get 3
people to own it so they want to do it.” ;§
Creating ownership and 3

commitment to a shared vision

 

 

 

130

 

Table 4.5 Factors contributing to perceptions of strategic problem

 

 

 

 

 

 

conmbmmg Factors Illustrative Comment:
“We’re too big. [Students] have to interact with too many peeple.
0 Observation of middle [At the middle school] students are in this small home base, this
school team concept: community. . .and all of their teachers know them. And then you
T Parental concerns and bring them to this big high school and their moving from one place. 5
fears No wonder the parents have some concerns, and the fear they’ll get E
T Low freshmen test scores lost. We lose them. The light came on for me things started to >
make sense. What we’re doing was all wrong with regard to how we
organized learning [for these students].”
0/1“ 50% new teaching staff “In the last maybe ten years our test scores have not indicated steady
T Flat test scores gowth. They’ve been pretty much flat We are serving some kids
T Changing demographics well. Most kids we’re not doing a really good job, and some kids 3
T Veteran teachers who we’re doing a terrible in serving them.” .9.
don’t see the need to
change
“We were created to be a traditional school, if we change, then do
T Conﬂicting ideologies we lose our sense of who we are? I think there’s allegiance to give
O/I‘ Parental expectations the parents the kind of school that they want here; and they want
T Shifting philosophical more tightly structured, more tightly disciplined school. I think we
T allegiance struggle with some of the reforms- how to make those things fit and
T Identity crisis still bring parents along In the early, early years of the Academy,
parents really bought into a particular educational philosophy; I g
don’t know that that’s there as much anymore.” Q
“We have to have a way of assessing from grade level to grade level
T Limited teacher what has to be completed before we go on to the next grade level.
accountability for learning They’re teaching the curriculum but they’re not teaching it with the g
mastery commitment that makes sure all the kids master it. They’ve taught '5
it; and now in many ways it’s up to the kids to get it. We don’t have "(5,,
the accountability and are constantly in the situation where half of 0
your kids are not at grade level [when they come].”
O/l‘ Dying native traditions “I saw the traditions of the elders; I saw the stories, the proverbs, the
Off Student assimilation into rearing of children sort of dissipating generation to generation as
mainstream culture people became more and more assimilated to this environment. We 7”;
0/1“ Conﬂicting program had 350 kids total in two different sessions, 13 bus runs, 10 teachers. E
philosophies I mean we were a school within a school. And yet the school that we 8

were housed in was a complete different [philosophy].”

 

 

O/T Administrator perceptions

 

. . but just what did this place called [school district] look like to
them as administrators? We had them describe it by drawing a
picture. And the picture is still that thing I recollect most when I
think about what people thought. Because what we ended up with in
the end was a murky pond with piranhas in it. [There were] creatures
and murk ﬂoating over the top, and toxic waste, and cloudy skies.
Way out in the distance, just a little, little, little peek of sunlight -
which they hoped would be me and could get bigger. This team had
so much baggage.”

 

Mildred

 

O= problem viewed as opportunity T= problem viewed as threat

O/T= problem viewed as both

131

 

Summary of Findings

In summarizing the ﬁndings related to how urban school leaders perceive and talk
about the strategic problems facing their organizations, several key ﬁndings are revealed
in the data that are relative to this study. First, in analyzing the data collected relative to
perceptions about the type, nature, and scope of the strategic problems, there was
evidence to indicate that the problems were all associated with a need for change.
Secondly, the strategic problems identiﬁed could be categorized as being either technical
— focus on system processes and techniques; pedagogical — focused on teaching and
learning; or political — focused on inﬂuencing others in order to advance a particular idea
or agenda. Third, the data revealed that, in describing factors that contribute to their view
of the strategic problem, leaders view factors contributing to the problems as threats more
frequently than they View them as opportunities.
Leaders’ Processes for Strategic Problem Analyses

For the purposes of this study, questions related to leaders’ processes for
analyzing and interpreting their strategic problems are explored using speciﬁc questions
related to (a) processes used to analyze and interpret the nature and scope of the problem;
and (b) processes used to determine the appropriate courses of action. In the following
sections, data are presented including illustrative comments from the actual interview
transcripts.
Processes Used to Analyze and Interpret Nature and Scope of Strategic Problem

In Table 4.6, the data suggests that urban school leaders in this study sample
utilize a relatively limited array of strategies in analyzing and interpreting the nature and

scope of their strategic problems. The data ﬁrrther suggests that overall leaders tend to

132

spend a limited amount of time in front-end analysis process before moving toward
identifying solutions. I feel that it is important to note that study participants’
descriptions of their analysis strategies were rather vague and more broadly referenced
with little speciﬁc detail given even when questions were followed with specific probes.
This was in stark contrast to the detailed descriptions provided during other parts of the
interview.

The data indicates more reliance on technical sources of information in leaders’
analyses of their problems. Strategies used more often included formal-written sources of
information related to student performance, pedagogy, and reform. Actual observation of
promising practice as well as more informal-oral strategies were also used in problem
analysis, but to a lesser extent. Central ofﬁce leaders appeared to rely more on internal
and external sources of information in their analysis of problems, while school principals
used internal data sources.

Processes Used in Determining Appropriate Courses of Action

Overall twelve processes were identiﬁed as being used by the leaders in
determining appropriate courses of action to take in solving their strategic problems.
These processes were grouped, in Table 4.7, according to their dominant characteristics
and categorized as being relational — oriented toward the attitudes and behaviors of
people; academic-based — oriented toward learning more about the particular problem;
technical — oriented toward speciﬁc methods and techniques; and political — oriented
toward determining levels of support for a particular idea or agenda.

Vivian, Jane, and Mildred used relational strategies to determine appropriate

courses of action to take. After observing the “team” concept used in organizing students

133

 

 

 

at the feeder middle school, Vivian formed a study group of teachers and University
partners. They conducted a year long process of “seed planting” discussions with
interested teachers and explored ways that the concept could be implemented for
freshmen at the high school level.

. . . we had a group of teachers who were working in partnership with

[University], we called it the ninth grade study group. So, I started to talk to that

group about... what if we. .. you know. . . what if. . . and just began to plant the

seed, and you do have to plant . .. you have to test the market. That was one of
my favorite expressions, you know, you test the market. Then we started to talk
about people who would work with this group and, in fact, in fact I think it took
oh, a year or two, from the time we started planting the seeds. You talk and look
at people who are willing to step out there.

Jane spent considerable time meeting with staff for the purpose of listening to
them talk about the work they were involved in at the time. She listened with interest as
they individually met with her and talked about their various projects. She listened also
for ideas that could have potential for addressing the strategic problem that had been
identiﬁed. Jane believed in the importance of honoring the work that had gone on and
looked for ways to make connections between where they had been and where they

needed to go.

... you have to honor a person’s history in knowing them; you have to respect
where a person’s coming from and who that person is; it’s the same with a
district; it’s just . . . it has it’s own culture; you have to appreciate that culture.
I’m the new comer. I can’t come here and say, “Now here this, we’re doing it my
way.” 1 would be stepping on their culture. I can’t do that.
Mildred describes her path to action as being extremely sensitive to the attitudes and
behaviors of the people in her organization as an indicator of next steps and direction. In
her efforts to build trust and establish a shared vision, she uses relational strategies to

determine the course of action in building a shared vision. She continually monitors the

organizational climate in search of clues relative to shared mission, attitudes and

134

behaviors of trust. In her opinion, it is only when these are established that they can
move forward and “walk together”.

Dan spoke about the daunting problem of high school reform more from a
philosophical perspective. He admits that he is struggling with how to move an
organization of considerable size. His solution ﬁnding strategies are primarily academic-
based. As he learns more and more about high school reform and the change process, he
talks openly about the tensions that exist between the various approaches to reform. Dan
admits that he is still wrestling with these ideas in search of an educational philosophy
that he can embrace and promote with staff. He describes his efforts to continue learning
about reform and acacademics feeling some pressure to make a move but is still unsure of
just what that move should be.

“. . .When I talked about what happened with older schools in reform at the
high school level. I still I am not sure what it looks like at the high school level.”

So we have looked at forming learning communities around our languages, for

instance, as the center. You know, we might have two Spanish communities and

a Latin community and a German and a French community and dividing our high

school students that way. It’s working with the mechanics of how that works out

[that’s the problem].

While Dan continues to ponder the merits of reform for his high school, Catherine is
busy looking for ways to accomplish her goals in a very deliberate and decisive manner.
In discussing the processes she uses to determine appropriate courses of action, Catherine
is consistent in her reliance on student and teacher performance data to lead the way to
needed action. She describes her job as being to keep things moving. She continually
monitors and assesses performance looking for ways to be of better support to her

teachers. She is very technical in her approach to determining what action is needed and

relies heavily on objective data for indicators of what is needed and when.

135

_.r-

 

4.6 Processes Used to Analyze and Interpret Nature and Scope of Strategic Problems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANALYSIS STRATEGIES ILLUSTRATIVE COMMENTS:
“ .. looking at the ninth graders and looking at their success rate
. .. they were not doing well; they were not doing well anywhere.
TEEtIeiririlvE 63%;“ scores And I said, “we need to do things differently and at the time I g
_ Read a little of the literature really didn’t know exactly what [differently] was. I did read the E
_ Observed other programs literature, but probably not as much as I should have. Read it >
some, but wasn’t relying on anything that had already been done,
quite frankly.”
TECHNICAL “The Superintendent surveyed the whole school system, all the
Conducted system-wide aspects of it and had put it in a report to the Board. He had
survey already identiﬁed that we were kind of all over the map and there 3
. Analyzed survey results was no model for instruction... that we needed was something .9.
. Shared ﬁndings would unify the district. After looking at the data, [we knew] we
. Identiﬁed Needs were not serving all kids well.
When I ﬁrst heard him [Fullen] at a conference -- the issue was
ACADEMIC; reform from bottom up or top down. He really talked about it
having to be interactive — both ways - [that] really helped me,
. Learned more about reform because I’d been in both situations where it was only one or the g
strategies that work other. It seemed like when people imposed reform on people; it 0
doesn’t work because you don’t own it. When it came simply from
the bottom; it lacked a sense of direction and focus, maybe, or
completeness, or someone who really could look at it objectively.
“ . . .our ﬁrst graders came to ﬁrst grade and in October we took our
TECHNICAL; MAT test. They were basically at later Kindergarten-First grade
. Pre-tested students across the board So that tells me our ﬁrst graders were at grade 3
. Post-tested students level, basically, because we’re talking about an average. If it’s an '5
. Analysis results average of K-8 or K-9 or 1.1, then that tells me that we . . most of §
our kids are there. And we were really fairly strong going into 0
second grade. By the time we get to fourth grade, we’ve lost a
year and a half. So, what’s happening in the meantime?
“What I said was, “We’re too big. We’ve got 350 kids
POLITICAL coming in and we have eight classrooms there’s not enough room
Reviewed Choice legislation — and that’s what I used. People understand size - [it means]
. Assessed the growing market you’re popular, they want you, you need more room, you need to
demand for Schools of Choice grow, you can’t grow here, how can you grow? You need your 7'3
. Assessed space limitations own school. Here’s another thing that I used, another strategy. B
. Tested the idea on others Limited English proficient kids are out in the home schools. Okay, 3
the attendance area schools, the principals call me and say, “what
are we going to do with these kids, they don’t speak English?” [I
reply], “I’m sorry, we’re full. Call somebody.” So they squawked
— limited service availability.”
“1 called a variety of people who had connections with people. I
POLITICAL; called representatives from business and industry. I called
. Gathered input from a wide teachers. I called administrators. I called people in the faith
variety of internal and external community just to get a perspective of what the issues were. What '0
sources I determined after I gathered the input was they were not only in g
contentious negotiations, but they were also in the middle of two El

 

civil rights suits. So one of the things I discovered was that they
were looking for someone who had a background in diverse
communities and had worked with folks all across social-
economic strata.”

 

 

136

 

4.7 Processes used in determining appropriate courses of action

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOLUTION ILLUSTRATIVE COMMENTS
STRATEGIES
“But I talked to principals in the Middle Schools. We started to talk
REL ATION AL about issues and somebody there mentioned their teams and asked
_ Conversations with me to come down to their room, it was a teacher. — I went down to
principals the classroom and they were talking about the team concept there.” g
. Classroom Observation And it was like a light bulb came on. I said, “my goodness,” I said, 5
“that’s it” I mean, “that’s it...we’re too big. Things started to make
sense what we’re doing was all wrong with regard to how we
organized learning.”
RELATIONAL On f taff had bee ki 'th ' ular ' ' l
. e o my 5 n wor ng W] a partic mstructiona
E3231: :zmeiher model for several years and she came to me [with it]. Well, as I
g looked it over, [I thought], “this is the right thing, this will do it.” 1
' Develop common core Of took that to the Superintendent and I said, you know, “What about 5
_ Efﬁgy}; past this?” He liked the model.” -~
'- Encourage others to share
their work
- Support the ideas of others
ACADEMIC “When I ﬁrst heard [Fullen] at a conference — the issue was reform
. Learn more about reform from bottom up or top down. He really talked about it having to be
strategies that work interactive — both ways — [that] really helped me, because I’d been in
both situations where it was only one or the other. It seems like 5
when people impose reform on people, it doesn’t work because you Q
don’t own it When it came only from the bottom; it lacked a sense
of direction and focus, maybe, or completeness, or someone who
ream! could look at it objectively.”
TECHNICAL “So, as a challenge to me as a leader, the challenge is how do I keep
. Continual monitoring and them going? How do I keep the professional development there; 0
assessment of student and how do 1 keep them moving to where they need to be? All of those .g
teacher performance things. What do I have to put in? I’m really talking about, you know, 3
accountability and monitoring, but also the professional development 8
that goes with it.”
POLITICAL “So, I talked to [name] and I said, you know, I really think we
Continually assess the deserve to have our own place; how can we do this? [As a result of]
political environment the Choice Legislation, our district sent out a request for proposals to fr:
. Stay abreast of information any school or group of staff interested in becoming a focus school. E;
on available opportunities So, I thought, here’s a legitimate reason. I saw this as an opportunity 8
that support the agenda for us to become our own school.”
RELATIONAL
Continually assess and “It took more than a year for them to even begin to trust that I would
monitor organizational stay long enough to do anything with them. So part of what I had to '8
climate looking for evidence do was, I had to be everything I said all of the time because trust was E
of positive changes m SO incredibly hard [for theml.” g

attitudes and behaviors

 

 

 

137

 

 

Gabriela’s strategy takes into account a variety of factors that operate both inside and
outside of the organization. She relentlessly pursues resource opportunities to make her
dream happen and leaves no stone unturned in looking for ways that will achieve her
goals. The data suggests that because her strategic challenge involves building consensus
between very diverse populations of people, she is necessarily political in her approach
preferences as to what action to take and when.

Strategic Action Taken

In asking school leaders to describe speciﬁc actions taken to address the strategic
problems and courses of action identiﬁed, three key ﬁndings were evident in their
responses:

1) In cases were deliberate and speciﬁc strategic action had been taken by the
leader, there appeared to be a high level of congruence between how the
leader viewed the problem and their perceptions of their personal capacity
and sense of urgency in affecting the solution.

2) High school principals appeared to be far more speciﬁc in discussing their
views and analyses of strategic problems facing their organizations
including appropriate courses of action that should be taken, than they
were in talking about the speciﬁc strategic action they themselves had
taken to affect the solution.

3) At least part of reason for this appeared to be related to their perceptions
and interpretations about (a) internal and external constraints; (b) their

personal sense of urgency and commitment in taking on the challenge; and

138

 

(c) the match between their motivations and capacities and the actual task

at hand.

In Table 4.8, the types of actions reported and supporting illustrative comments are

provided.

4.8 Types of Strategic Action Taken by School Leaders

 

Jane

“We implemented instructional process training for all employees who are in any way
connected with a classroom, that would be counselors, that would be tutors,
paraprofessionals, teachers, administrators, and we’re making some headway in that.”

 

Catherine

“I implemented a monitoring and accountability model and established an intemal
professional development program for teachers to teach teachers.”

 

Mildred

“I’m using my voice statewide in order to impact what I need to impact here. So, we’re
working strategically by leveraging influence here, but then moving to making it broader
so that everybody is beginning to speak with the same voice.”

 

Gabriela

“In order to capture a greater buy-in from the greater community we offered languages to
students who didn’t speak a language other than English. It became a world language
center. Where children whose parents wanted them to learn language other than English
could also enroll. And the Communication Arts piece was my degree, my bachelor’s
degree’s is in speech and theater, I believed that one of the most important ways for
children to be able to express themselves in any language is through the dramatic arts.
The proposal went to the board and was approved

 

Vivian

“We started the conversation about organizing. I mean, it was just. . . and we had started
to get them to see how you discuss issues, how you deal with, you know, what’s good for
the students . . . and that’s how you stepped in.”

 

 

Dan

 

I think one of the things, in reaction to reform is, again, how very difﬁcult it is to have
comprehensive reform and do it with a big group. I still found it so easy and so much
more comfortable like at [school] where we could look and see what we wanted to do and
just do it. I struggle with the difficulty of moving a big ship and having it take a turn right
or left. That does weigh me down sometimes.

 

I39

 

 

 

Summary of Findings

This segment of the inquiry focused on the perceptions, interpretations, and
processes used by leaders in viewing their respective strategic situations and determining
appropriate courses of action. Again, the central objective is to determine whether or not
evidence exists that suggests a relationship with the prior learning experiences of these
leaders. Several interesting ﬁndings were found and are presented here.

School leaders were interviewed and asked to identify and describe in detail the
strategic problems they perceived as being priority concerns facing their respective
organizations. Evidence provided by these interviews was used to determine the types of
strategic problems encountered. Problem content is viewed as a key determinant of the
academic domains in which administrators are expected to operate and are important to
this study for that reason.

The scope of strategic problems described ranged from grade level restructuring
to creating a shared community vision for educating all students, but all problems had
several key features in common. All school leaders described strategic problems of
priority concern that were reform oriented — change imperative affecting the entire
organization; lacked clear deﬁnition — multiple interpretations; non-routine — outside of
their experience background; and all involved complex factors that each had their own set
of potentially serious consequences.

The next area of inquiry focused on the factors identiﬁed by leaders as
contributing factors in shaping their view of the strategic problem. Student performance,
parental pressure, charter school competition, changing demographics, conﬂicting

ideologies, resistance to change and lack of trust among staff were the common factors

I40

identiﬁed. Leaders perceived these factors as threats more often than opportunities and in
some cases, a combination of both threat and opportunity existed.

In summarizing the process used by leaders to analyze and interpret their strategic
problems, several ﬁndings were represented in the data. There was a high degree of
variance in the level and depth of analysis employed by leaders. All leaders relied on
information sources to analyze the nature and scope of the problem. However, there was
signiﬁcant variance in the types of information used across the leaders. Some relied
heavily on more formal, written information that was directly relevant to the problem.
Others relied on more informal, observation and oral sources of information and in some
cases, leaders made assumptions, in lieu of collecting information. With the exception of
one leader, all were able to provide fairly clear and comprehensive interpretations of their
problems.

Responses related to processes used in determining appropriate courses of action
indicated that leaders relied heavily on relational strategies. Leaders reported having
numerous conversations with internal and external sources seeking input and encouraging
broad participation in the process. At least one participant indicated the need to learn
more in order to effect the need changes. One leader focuses strictly on student and
teacher performance data in determining appropriate courses of action.

In summarizing the strategic action taken by leaders in addressing the strategic
problems and courses of action they identiﬁed, two key ﬁndings were evident in their
responses. First, in cases were deliberate and speciﬁc strategic action had been taken by
the leader, there appeared to be a high level of congruence between how the leader

viewed the problem and their perceptions of their personal capacity and sense of urgency

l4l

 

 

 

in affecting the solution. Second, high school principals appeared to be far more speciﬁc
in discussing their views and analyses of strategic problems facing their organizations
including appropriate courses of action that should be taken, than they were in talking
about the speciﬁc strategic action they themselves had taken to affect the solution.
A partial explanation for this appeared to be related to their perceptions and
interpretations about (a) internal and external constraints; (b) their personal sense of
urgency and commitment in taking on the challenge; (c) the match between their
motivations and capacities and the actual task at hand. The size and complexity of their
organizations also appeared to be a factor.
Chapter Summagy

To summarize this chapter, six urban school leaders were interviewed in search of
information about what they consider to be signiﬁcant learning experiences over the
course of their lives. I further inquired as to the reasons these experiences were
signiﬁcant for them and the circumstances involved in the learning. I then asked
participants to describe their current strategic situation as leaders in urban school settings.
I was particularly interested in learning about the issues they faced and the resources they
used in their individual attempts to address these issues. Next, I compared what they
actually did to what they said they learned to do and looked for relationships between the
two. For the purposes of this exploratory study, I suspended all judgment as to the
effectiveness of their learning or the particular strategies and behaviors they described.
My focus was on the inﬂuence of their prior learning in determining their actual leader

behavior.

I42

Because my analysis was placed in a developmental framework, for which there
was no precedent in this population, I used a more phenomenological approach to the
inquiry. Methodological research suggests that when little is known about a particular
phenomenon, it is important to explore it in a relatively open manner in order to isolate
relevant variables for future study and analysis (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Semi-
structured interviews allowed me the opportunity to collect consistent data while offering
my study participants greater freedom and latitude to contribute unanticipated perceptions
and attitudes.

The personal narratives were included in this section as background and were
presented with the intention of letting the voices of each participants be heard. The
detailed descriptions of their individual experiences were also intended to offer further
support for the ﬁndings, conclusions, and implications of the study.

Content of Leader Learning Experiences

General ﬁndings consistently supported by the data suggest that learning
experiences described by leaders as particularly inﬂuential in shaping their leader
behavior are generally relational, political, philosophical, technical, and academic in
nature. Relational, political, and philosophical learning experiences were identiﬁed more
frequently as inﬂuential, while academic and technical learning experiences were
described less frequently as being of signiﬁcant inﬂuence. Learning experiences of
particularly signiﬁcant inﬂuence were often associated with deep emotional and/or
psychological factors that had a profound impact on leader. These learning experiences
were described as occurring both in isolated situations, events, personal encounters; and

as a result of long term exposure to environments, family, friends, peers, teachers, and

M3

work. Findings suggest that when learning experiences were interwoven with emotional
and psychological factors the learning became deeply rooted. This ﬁnding could explain
why leaders, in vivid detail, easily recalled learning experiences of this nature. Academic
and technical learning experiences were found to be less often associated with emotional
and psychological factors. This may explain why school leaders less frequently
described these types of experiences as being particularly inﬂuential and appeared to
have more difficulty in recalling the details of these experiences.
Context of Leader Learning Experiences

Academic learning was found to be more frequently associated with the formal
school context. Technical learning was more frequently associated with the work context.
The home and work environments were the most frequent contexts for deep learning
experiences associated with political, philosophical, and relational learning content.

Deeply rooted learning experiences that were relational, philosophical, and
political in content could frequently be traced to learning experiences occurring early in
the life of the leader with the home being the primary context and one or both parents
being the primary teachers.

Motivations for Leader Learning Experiences

 

Motivations for deep learning experiences were often attributed to a particular life
challenge of a personal or work related nature and generally presented the leader with
some type of challenge that they were highly motivated to overcome. Primary
motivations for deep learning experiences appear to be more frequently associated with

life circumstances and personal interest rather than for credential or employment

144

requirement purposes; while technical learning was more frequently associated with
meeting employment requirements.
Leader Perceptionmd Interpretations of Strategic Problems

Leader perceptions and interpretations of their strategic problems were generally
described as being associated with improving results related to meeting student needs,
staff needs, resource needs, and internal and external demands.

Leader perceptions and interpretations of strategic problems facing their
organizations were generally change related in nature and were of the type requiring the
mobilization of large numbers of people toward the accomplishment of either a broadly
deﬁned or narrowly deﬁned goal or outcome. Strategic problems were perceived as
being either internally deﬁned as a result of self-initiated needs identiﬁcation; or
externally deﬁned as a result of external needs identiﬁcation.

Strategic problems were generally viewed as either opportunities or threats
depending on the circumstances in some cases were viewed as both opportunities and
threats. Whether or not a problem was perceived to be an opportunity or a threat
appeared to be related to three particular factors: sense of urgency, capacity to resolve,
and whether the problem was broadly or narrowly deﬁned.

Strategic problems identiﬁed as threats were more often associated with
perceptions of high levels of urgency and low capacity to resolve. Strategic problems
perceived as opportunities were generally associated with low levels of urgency and high
levels of capacity to resolve. When high levels of urgency and high levels of capacity

existed, strategic problems were viewed as both opportunities and threats. When low

145

levels of urgency were coupled with low levels of capacity, problems were viewed
neither as threats or opportunities.
We Courses of Action

When strategic problems were perceived as threats, high levels of urgency and
low levels of capacity, selected courses of action were more frequently associated with
strategic actions that were relational, philosophical, and/or political in nature. When
strategic problems were perceived as opportunities, low levels of urgency and high levels
of capacity to resolve, actions taken were more frequently academic and technical in
nature. When strategic problems were perceived as both opportunities and threats, high
levels of capacity and high levels of urgency, strategic courses of action taken were
relational, political, philosophical, academic, and technical in nature. The data suggests
that in this case, however, the primary inﬂuence in courses of action taken were political
and technical in nature. The data further suggests that when strategic problems were
perceived as neither threats nor opportunities, low urgency and low capacity, no speciﬁc
course of action was taken.

In chapter ﬁve, general ﬁndings and conclusions will be presented.

I46

 

 

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147

Chapter V
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
Introduction

My purpose in this dissertation has been to describe and explain the relationship
between signiﬁcant prior learning experiences and school leader strategic behavior. The
investigation was divided into three parts. The ﬁrst part of the inquiry focused on
describing the content, contexts, and processes of the inﬂuential learning experiences of
six urban school leaders. Efforts were taken to capture the nature of the signiﬁcant
experiences identiﬁed as well as the contexts and conditions in which these experiences
occurred. The second part of the inquiry focused on accurately describing school leader
perceptions and interpretations of the strategic challenges facing their respective
organizations. Here, the interest was in discovering the kinds of strategic problems
school leaders identiﬁed and the factors they viewed as contributing to these problems.
The third part of the inquiry focused on describing the actual processes used to determine
appropriate courses of action and the speciﬁc actions taken to address the strategic issues.

The previous chapters presented a description of the problem, a review of the
related literature and research, an explanation of the methodology, and a presentation and
analysis of the data generated in the study. This chapter begins with a discussion of the
general ﬁndings as they relate to the research questions guiding the study. The literature
is then revisited and discussed as it relates to general ﬁndings and the conclusions are
presented. The chapter ends with a discussion of the limitations of the study that are

used to generate suggestions for further research.

I48

 

General Findings
Responses to the Research Questions:
Prior to the ﬁrst round of school leader interviews, a series of exploratory
questions were developed to begin the exploration process. In this section, those
questions are revisited and responses, suggested by the data, are given.

1. How do school leaders describe learning experiences that have been inﬂuential
in shaping their strategic practice?

The data suggests that leaders’ inﬂuential learning experiences ﬁt into ﬁve broad
categories that are relational, political, philosophical, technical, and academic in nature.
Relational, political, and philosophical learning experiences that were identiﬁed as
inﬂuential were often associated with emotional and/or psychological factors that were
connected to the learning experience in some way. Participants often referenced
situations of crisis as precursors to these experiences and described the impact of these
experiences in shaping their attitudes and perceptions. Vivian learned to be a good
listener and developed keen sensitivity to the needs of others as a result of her own
serious vision impairment and she takes pride in being able to perceive the needs of
others and respond according to those perceptions. Jane learned to navigate conﬂict and
build bridges between differing points of view as a result of the cold war experiences
between her parents. She continues to view her self as a bridge-builder and plays a key
role in strategic negotiations where she is required to listen to both sides seeking common
ground and reconciliation. She also discovered early that she could touch people through
her writing and has worked to perfect this skill and use it to her advantage. Dan learned
about social injustice and political reform as an eyewitness to the conﬂicts his family

experienced as public servants and political activists and continues to view strategic

l49

 

issues from this philosophical perspective. Catherine remains conscientious in her efforts
to “do things right” and continues to seek approval from others as a result of her efforts.
The data suggests strong support for the conclusion that learning experiences associated
with emotional and/or psychological factors are more deeply rooted than those that do not
and indeed are inﬂuential in shaping the strategic practices of these school leaders.

The ﬁndings ﬁirther suggest that this deep learning can occur both in isolated
situations, events, and personal encounters; and as a result of long term exposure to
environments, family, friends, peers, teachers, and work. This could explain why leaders
were able to recall — in vivid detail -- learning of this nature and had more difﬁculty in
remembering other learning experiences. Thus, there is some support for the conclusion
that deeply rooted learning experiences are more likely to be inﬂuential over time, than
those that are not.

Context of Leader Learning Experiences

Academic learning was found to be more frequently associated with the formal
school context. Technical learning was more frequently associated with the work context.
The home and work environments were the most frequent contexts for deep learning
associated with political, philosophical, and relational learning content.

Deeply rooted learning experiences that were relational, philosophical, and
political in content could frequently be traced to learning occurring early in the life of the
leader with the home being the context and one or both parents being the teachers. For
example, both Gabriela and Mildred had mothers who were professional teachers. They
oﬁen referred to their mothers’ early teaching in the home as being a key factor in

shaping their independent styles. They entered school with advanced language and

l50

 

reading skills and were frequently disengaged from the activities of the teachers and other
classmates who were attempting to learn what they already knew. Further support for
this ﬁnding can be found in accounts given by Jane, whose mother was a teacher by
profession and whose father she describes as a “natural” teacher. Even though Vivian
acknowledges the fact that her parents had limited formal education, she too, describes
them as her primary teachers and attributes much of her current philosophy and ideology
to their instruction in the home. Thus, there is some support for the conclusion that deep
learning from early childhood in the home is reﬂected in school leader perceptions,
attitudes, and interpretations of strategic issues facing their organizations.

Formal schooling was described as the context in which most academic learning
occurred. Recollections of academic learning were sparse unless associated with
emotional and/or psychological factors that appeared to be of more inﬂuence than the
subject matter learned. For example, Gabriela describes academic learning in the area of
history, geography, and literature as being inﬂuential. However, when she describes
these experiences, she more often referenced the passion that the teachers demonstrated
for the learning as the factor that was most inﬂuential in the learning. Their was also
reference made to the value placed on knowledge within the learning context that
appeared to also be a factor in determining the level of learning inﬂuence. Likewise, Dan
and Jane reference inﬂuential learning that takes place in mentoring relationships where
they felt valued and supported. The conclusion suggested here is that academic learning
that is associated with contexts that are emotionally charged are often deep learning

experiences.

15]

Work was the context most frequently identiﬁed as the place where technical
learning occurred. Participants consistently described work as the place where they
learned the skills, methods, and procedures necessary in order to carry out their
responsibilities in the workplace. Again, learning associated with emotional and/or
psychological factors was frequently referenced as inﬂuential in technical deep learning.
For example, Gabriela, Dan, Vivian, Jane, and Catherine all described learning the
fundamentals of their jobs from mentor type ﬁgures with whom they were associated
with for long periods of time. These mentor ﬁgures in most cases were selected for
reasons that again reﬂected the idiosyncratic values, philosophies, and ideologies of
earlier deep philosophical, relational, and political learning experiences. Mentor
practices were often emulated and provided the basis for comparing other practices. The
conclusion to be drawn from this data suggests that the relational, philosophical, and
political nuances underpinning many mentor relationships provide the context for
potentially deep learning that will most likely be reﬂected in subsequent leader behavior.
Motivations for Deep Learai_ng

The data consistently supported the conclusion that the primary motivation for
deep learning was often associated with a sense of urgency felt by the participant in
facing a particular challenge that they were motivated to overcome. For example, Jane
describes her motivation to be “ﬁrst chair” violinist and the resulting competition that
was generated with her peers. Catherine describe the sense of urgency she experienced
as she worked to do things right in order to avoid the punitive consequences of failure.
Vivian describes a similar motivation in her efforts to navigate the world without sight.

Primary motivations for deep learning were also found to be associated with idiosyncratic

152

 

perceptions about the complexity of the challenge faced and the self-perceptions of the
participant as to their capacity to overcome the challenge presented. For instance, Jane
eagerly responded to the challenge for “ﬁrst chair” as long as her perceptions of her
capacity to meet the challenge were high. However, when she did not believe she had the
capacity, she was no longer motivated and in fact became frustrated and somewhat
despondent. A similar illustration is found in Catherine’s account of her history of
excellence in formal schooling. She was highly motivated by her desire to do what was
“right” and to reap the praise that she associated with that behavior. However, when
peers no longer associated high status with good grades, her sense of urgency to achieve
them, likewise diminished. Similar illustrations can be found throughout the leader
portraits that suggest a relationship between perceived sense of urgency and capacity as
motivators for deep learning. Academic and technical learning also appear to be
motivated by sense of urgency and perceived capacity as it relates to meeting credential
and/or employment requirements.

2. How do these learning experiences explain the way that school leaders view and
resolve strategic problems in their organizations?

Results from the interviews with school leaders suggests that certain learning
experiences were deeply rooted and closely associated with how they perceived
themselves, how they perceived others, how they perceived the world, and their strategic
situations. As Weick (1983) points out, leader’s cognitive structure is a highly
personalized interpretation of reality, not necessarily aligning with objective conditions.
He further suggests that one’s cognitive structure can become self-fulﬁlling and self-
reinforcing and in some cases, elements of leaders’ cognitive structures are so well

established and unshakable that contrary data are overlooked or, if noticed, severely

153

 

discounted. Examples of these highly personalized interpretations of reality can be found
in Gabriela’s efforts to establish a world language school, in Dan’s views about reform,
in Mildred’s quest to educate the poor, in Catherine’s strategies for addressing curriculum
accountability, in Jane’s implementation of a theoretical instructional model, and in
Vivian’s efforts to inﬂuence her staff to bring about desired change. All accounts of
these situations reﬂect the obvious biases and blinders of the respective leaders in this
study. There is also evidence to support the conclusion that these biases and blinders
have been inﬂuenced by deeply rooted prior learning. Leader perceptions and
interpretations about organizational needs, resources, opportunities, threats, as well as
internal and external constraints varied across the leaders and were also highly
idiosyncratic and traceable to prior deep learning that was relational, political,
philosophical, technical or academic in nature.

When strategic problems were perceived as threats -- high levels of urgency and
low levels of capacity -- selected courses of action were more frequently associated with
strategic actions that were relational, philosophical, and/or political in nature. When
strategic problems were perceived to be opportunities -- low levels of urgency and high
levels of capacity to resolve -- actions taken were more frequently academic and
technical in nature. When strategic problems were perceived as both opportunities and
threats -- high levels of capacity and high levels of urgency -- strategic courses of action
taken were relational, political, philosophical, academic, and technical in nature. The
data suggests that in this case, however, the primary inﬂuences in selecting courses of

action were political and technical in nature. When strategic problems were perceived as

154

 

neither threats nor opportunities -- low urgency and low capacity -- the leader appeared to
take no speciﬁc course of action.

3. What patterns emerge across these learning experiences that inform our
thinking about characteristics of significantly inﬂuential learning experiences?

The data collected from school leaders suggests that certain characteristics
distinguished inﬂuential learning from other kinds of learning experiences. First, were
experiences where long term exposure to environments, people, job, family, friends,
teachers, and or peers resulted in an emotional and/or psychological connection being
made, second, were isolated events, situations, places, and/or personal encounters in
which an emotional and/or psychological connection was made; and third, were the _
consistencies in reports suggesting that deep learning is often precipitated by a sense of
urgency and/or self-perceptions of adequate capacity. The data suggests that these
experiences were usually highly personalized and varied across the leaders.

4. What is the range and nature of variation among the learning experiences of
school leaders?

Leader learning experiences covered a wide spectrum of content in remarkably
different contexts. From a contextual perspective, learning experiences were markedly
varied along racial, cultural, class, and economic lines and ranged, in nature and context,
from those reserved exclusively for children of the privileged, to those reserved
exclusively for children of the underprivileged.

From a content perspective, however, the range is less broad. Interestingly, the
learning content of all participants, while different in the speciﬁc details of the
experience, could be categorized as being relational, philosophical, political, academic, or

technical in substance. Deep learning experiences were generally clustered into

155

 

relational, philosophical, and political categories for all participants. The range and
variation of motivation for deep learning experiences were consistently related to
emotional and/or psychological factors connected to the actual learning experience and
personally impacted the leader in some way.

Leader perceptions and interpretations of their strategic problems were generally
described as being associated with improving results related to meeting student needs,
staff needs, resource needs, and internal and external demands. These perceptions and
interpretations of strategic problems were generally change related in nature and were of
the type requiring the mobilization of large numbers of people toward the
accomplishment of either a broadly or narrowly deﬁned goal or outcome. Different
levels of motivation and types of strategic action were associated with perceptions and
interpretatiOns of strategic problems that were broadly versus narrowly deﬁned. Problems
perceived as being narrowly deﬁned internally generally were consistent in prompting
immediate and direct strategic action. Problems perceived as being broadly deﬁned were
generally externally imposed and prompted less immediate and direct intervention.

Strategic problems were generally viewed as either opportunities or threats
depending on the circumstances, and in some cases were viewed as both opportunities
and threats. Whether or not a problem was perceived to be an opportunity or a threat
appeared to be related to three particular factors: 1) leader perceptions about the level or
degree of urgency; 2) leader perceptions about their capacity to resolve the problem; and
3) leader perceptions about the problem being broad or narrow.

Strategic problems identiﬁed as threats were more often associated with

perceptions of high levels of urgency and low capacity to resolve. Strategic problems

l56

perceived as opportunities were generally associated with low levels of urgency and high
levels of capacity to resolve. When high levels of urgency and high levels of capacity
existed, strategic problems were viewed as both opportunities and threats. When low
levels of urgency were coupled with low levels of capacity, problems were viewed

neither as opportunities nor as threats.

l57

 

CONCLUSIONS

The purpose of the study was to explore the learning experiences of urban school
leaders in search of connections between learning described as inﬂuential and leader
strategic behavior. School leader learning experiences, their perspectives and
interpretations of the strategic problems facing their organizations, and the strategic
courses of action they have chosen to take in addressing these problems have been
analyzed in terms of the relationships that exist between them. Findings support the
conclusion that the deep prior learning of school leaders consistently served as a ﬁlter for
their perceptions and interpretations of their strategic problems, factors contributing to
the problems, and the subsequent courses of action they chose to take in addressing these
problems.

Deeply rooted prior learning experiences were consistently reﬂected in leader
perceptions and interpretations of strategic problems facing their organizations. These
perceptions and interpretations signiﬁcantly inﬂuenced the way that leaders analyzed and
interpreted information related to the problem, and determined subsequent courses of
action to be taken. Findings also support the conclusion that deeply rooted learning
experiences are generally not displaced and will generally prevail and be relied upon in
the absence of competing information in problem solving. It is therefore logical to
conclude, that in the absence of deeply rooted academic and technical learning
experience, leaders will generally rely on deeply rooted relational, political, and
philosophical learning to inform their strategic decision making practices. If the
experiences are varied, it is logical to expect that perceptions and interpretations as well

as solutions choices will differ.

l58

 

RevisitinLthe literature

Although the past ten years have witnessed an explosion of research on the
relationships between executive background characteristics and organizational outcomes,
the vast majority of this research has pursued the general logic that observable
experiences of executives shape their cognitions and values and hence are reﬂected in
their strategic choices (Finkelstein and Hambrick, 1996). A smaller stream of research
has posited reverse causality — that certain strategic conditions give rise to particular
types of executive characteristics. A third research focus has been essentially a
combination of the other two, pursuing the idea that different strategic conditions favor
different types of executive qualities and that the organization will perform well to the
extent that executives have those characteristics.

Various executive experiences have been examined for their associations with
organizational strategy. However, three sets of executive background characteristics
account for the vast majority of inquiries: executive tenure, work experience, and formal
education. Results that focus on executive work experience and formal education are
closely associated with the focus of this study, however this study extends this literature
by directing its focus toward the actual nature of the learning experience.

Of the types of observed associations found in the literature, two broadly support
the ﬁndings and conclusions of this study. The ﬁrst association is the link to executive
psychological constructs and perceptions. However, because most studies of executive
experiences have treated psychological processes as a “black box,” there is relatively
little to report here. Second, are the links between executive experience background and

organizational strategy.

159

 

The literature supports a correspondence between primary work experience,
psychological tendencies, and strategic choices through at least three mechanisms. First,
individuals may be drawn to ﬁrnctional areas that suit their personalities or aptitudes
(e.g., Schein, 1968). Second, with the passage of time and the accumulation of successes
in a primary work area, an individual becomes more and more socialized and inculcated
with the mode of thinking and acting that is typical for that professional area (Blau and
McKinley, 1979', Mortimer and Lorence, 1979). And third, observed associations
suggest that even when individuals are operating outside of their primary work area, they
still gravitate toward perceiving problems in familiar terms, generating and preferring
familiar solutions (March and Simon, 1958). In fact, it was from a belief in the orienting
and ﬁltering effects of primary work experiences that Dearborn and Simon (1958) did
their seminal study that ultimately led to the widespread interest in the effects of
executive backgrounds on decision making.

Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996) posit that primary work experience has its
greatest effect on interpretation and choice when the manager 1) faces an abundance of
complex, ambiguous information and 2) has to deal with the information under urgency
or other forms of pressure. They suggest that when these conditions exist, executives can
be expected to scan, selectively perceive, and interpret strategic stimuli in line with their
primary work experiences. Findings in this study suggest that perceptions and
interpretations extend well beyond primary work experiences and can actually be traced
to deep learning experiences of early childhood that were inﬂuenced by emotional and/or
psychological factors. Evidence collected in this study ﬁirther suggests that these deep

learning experiences may play an even more signiﬁcant role in inﬂuencing the kinds of

I60

 

information sought and the resources utilized in analyzing strategic school problems. I
argue that this explanation is plausible given the highly personal nature of learning and
the fact that deep learning does not appear to be easily displaced.

Inquiries into the effects of executive primary work experience on organizational
strategy have centered on two classes of strategy — competitive strategy and
diversification strategy. In each of these streams, some recurring patterns emerge. Miles
and Snow (1978) and Porter (1980) have been instrumental in identifying some major
classes of strategic typology that have been applied in research on executive work
experience background and business strategy. Findings suggest that executives with
certain work experience backgrounds do tend to pursue strategies that align with their
primary work experiences (e. g., Thomas, Litschert and Ramaswamy, 1991; Chaganti and
Samharaya, 1987', Gupta and Govindarajan, 1984; Barbosa, 1985).

Again, these ﬁndings offer support for the ﬁndings of this study suggesting that
deep learning experiences outside of the work environment associated with relationships,
politics, and philosophical underpinnings play an equally signiﬁcant role in guiding the
strategic choices made by school leaders when the vast majority of the problems faced
are relational, philosophical, and/or political in nature rather than technical or academic.

A substantial literature in developmental psychology and higher education exists
regarding the effects of education on individual values and cognition, as well as on the
types of individuals who self-select themselves into certain educational experiences (e.g.,
Smart and Pascarella, 1986; Byrne, 1984; Cherrington, Condie, and England, 1979;
Schein, 1968; Altmeyer, 1966). However, very little research has examined associations

specifically between education and executive psychological constructs. Wally and Baum

l6l

(1994) found a very strong correlation between the amount of formal education and a
measure of cognitive complexity, or the ability to discern patterns and distinguish among
objects. Hitt and Tyler (1991) found a weaker but still positive link, thus suggesting a
relationship between formal education and cognitive complexity. The effects of
executive education levels on organizational innovation, change, and growth are widely
documented (Becker, 1970a; Becker, 1970b; Rogers and Shoemaker, 1971', Kimberly and
Evanisko, 1981; Bantel and Jackson, 1989; Barbosa, 1985; Thomas, Litschert, and
Ramaswamy, 1991; Norbum and Birley, 1988; and Wiersema and Bantel, 1992).
However, still absent from the literature are signiﬁcant ﬁndings that suggest the speciﬁc
nature of the learning experiences from this context. Findings in this study suggest that
the effects of learning that takes place outside the boundaries of formal schooling offer
plausible explanations for leader behavior in certain contexts and are worthy of ﬁrrther
exploration.

In summary, a substantial literature exists that appears to support the direction of
the theory being advanced in this study. General support in the literature as well as
substantial empirical evidence supporting the relationship between leader background
experiences and their subsequent strategic actions is robust.

Distinct similarities between the ﬁndings in these studies and the present study
suggest that the theory advanced in this study is plausible. Speciﬁcally, the theory
advanced in this study suggests that standing between the “objective” strategic situation
and the actual strategic choices is the repertoire of school leader deep prior learning
experiences. These learning experiences contains leader biases, blinders, egos, and

aptitudes that serve as ﬁlters for their perceptions and interpretations of their strategic

162

 

problems as well as the strategic options available to them. I contend that it is these

human factors that greatly affect what happens in schools and school districts.

Limitations of the Study

In a study of this type, numerous questions can be posed; and if I did not raise
them, readers certainly would — and appropriately so. Of the many issues that have given
me pause, I restrict myself here to a discussion of two principal topics.
Representativeness of Findiggs

According to Howard Gardner (1995, p.295), “. . .it is a point of logic that, given
any ﬁnite number of examples, one can ﬁnd an inﬁnite number of generalizations that
exist across them. It is also a point of logic that any generalization may be undone by the
ﬁrst counter example given.” I am aware of some of the sample biases — for example,
toward ease of access and my own perceptions about what constitutes a compelling story
— but no doubt, unaware of others. I recognize that each of the school leaders in this
study operated in a limited set of contexts and that other leaders, operating in other
contexts, might well differ in unpredictable ways. I fully expect that studies of other
school leaders will undermine certain generalizations and give rise to others.
Accuracy of Recalled Learning Experiences

Finally, remembering is highly subject to reduction by a number of factors
including interfering activities and the passage of time (Gagne, 1970). All kinds of
remembering are not the same. Another limitation of this study is therefore concerned
with the process of recall and the distinctive differences in the types and accuracy of

remembered learning experiences. In undertaking a similar project of this nature,

163

signiﬁcantly more time should be focused on exploring the learning experiences in a
more in depth fashion with more speciﬁc questions developed to guide the inquiry
process. As an exploratory study, hopefully the data and ﬁndings will be helpful in
guiding this process.
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

As a result of this study, I am convinced that we need to better understand how
school leaders think about their strategic environments; how they see themselves as
affecting those environments; and ﬁnally, how idiosyncratic perceptions and
interpretations interact with strategic environments to produce outcomes. This is an
important area of study that is worthy of very focused and long-term attention.

A clear focus on the particular determinants of school leader behavior — be it

effective or ineffective — offers us an opportunity to understand why certain courses of

action are taken and not others; why certain information is selected and other information

ignored; and ﬁnally, why some leaders are successful in inﬂuencing others toward
desired results and quite frankly, others are not. It appears that at least some of these

answers can be explained by directing our research efforts toward the relationship

between inputs and outputs. Evidence produced in this study certainly suggests that the

two cannot be separated. Theories about why schools perform the way that they do must

by necessity include the school leaders’ deep learning experiences as part of any
explanatory theory.

In the business management literature, the past ten years have seen a steady

accumulation of evidence that the psychological and background characteristics of senior

managers affect the choices they make, or at least that executive and organizational

164

 

characteristics co-vary. However, educational research in this area is thin. Future
research should continue to investigate the effects of individual differences in school
leader cognition on strategic views and subsequent strategic action. Further, efforts must
continue to open the “black box” to better understand the role that, emotional and
psychological factors play in explaining school leader behavior.

I hope that this exploratory study will spark further research interest in this critical
and extremely complex pursuit. In sum, we know a great deal about what school leader
behavior looks like; we know far too little about the reasons why it looks the way that it
does. I contend that we cannot afford to speculate or rely on our own idiosyncratic
perceptions any longer. We need further empirical study to guide our efforts in
adequately preparing individuals to become the future leaders of our schools. I suggest
that there is no one size ﬁts all curriculum that will adequately address the very complex
challenge of school leader preparation. These ﬁndings suggest that a very wholistic and
highly personalized approach that addresses relational, philosophical, political, as well as
academic and technical competence must be considered. Only then will we be able to
increase our conﬁdence in our abilities to adequately prepare individuals to lead our

schools.

165

 

APPENDICES

166

APPENDIX A

APPLICATION FOR INITIAL REVIEW
(and 5 yr. renewal)

APPROVAL OF A PROJECT
INVOLVING HUMAN SUBJECTS

University Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects (UCRIHS)
David E. Wright, Ph.D., Chair, Ashir Kumar, MD, Interim Chair
246 Administration Building, Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1046
PHONE (517) 355-2180 FAX (517) 353-2976
E-Mail - UCRIHS@msu.edu
WEB SITE - http://www.msu.edu/user/ucrihs/

Ofﬁce Hours: Mon-Fri. (8:00 A.M.-Noon & 1:00-5:00 PM.)

 

 

DIRECTIONS: Please complete the questions on this application using the instructions and deﬁnitions
found on the attached sheets. If not attached, these materials are available at
http://www.msu.edu/user/ucrihs/ucrihs_instruction_form.htm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

REQUIRED IF APPLICABLE
l. Monsible Project Investigator: 2. Secondary Investigtor:
(MSU Faculty or staff supervisor) (**Students Must Provide Student ID#**)

Name: Dr. Phial A. Cusick

 

Social Security #:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Department: Educational Administration
College: Education

Mailing 421 Erickson Hall

Address:

Phone 517-355-4539

Fax: 517-353-6393

 

Email: pacusick@msu.edu

Name: Cheryl Lynn King

 

 

 

 

Student ID#: or SS# A06500161
Department: Educational

Administration
College: Education

 

Mailing 915 East Court Street #105

 

Address:

 

 

 

Phone: (810) 232-1834
Fax: (810)232-1834

 

I accept responsibility for conducting the proposed
research in accordance with the protections of human
subjects as speciﬁed by UCRIHS, including the
supervision of faculty and student co-investigators.

SIGN HERE:

 

Note: Without signature, application can _n_ot be
processed

 

 

 

Additional Investigator Information
3. Name:

 

Student ID#: or SS#

 

4. Name:

 

Student ID#: or SS#

 

5. Name:

 

Student ID#: or SS#

 

 

 

UCRIHS Correspondence: Copies of correspondence will be sent to the primary and secondary investigators
only. If you would like additional investigators to receive correspondence, please provide further address

information on a separate page.
6. Title of Project:

Leading Forward, Learning Backward: A Phenomenological Inquiry into the

Learning Experiences of School Leaders

 

167

 

 

7.

10.

ll.

12.

l3.

14.

a. Have you ever received Preliminary Approval for this project? No [ x] Yes [ ]
b. Is this application a F ive-Year renewal? No [ x] Yes [ ]
c. Do you have any related projects that were approved by UCRIHS? No [ x] Yes [ ]

If yes, list IRB numbers

Funding (if any)
(if applicable, MSU Contracts and Grants app. and / or acct. #)

 

 

Has this protocol been submitted to the FDA or are there'plans to submit it to the FDA?
No [ X ] Yes [ ]

If yes, is there an IND #? No [ ] Yes [ ] IND #

 

Does this project involve the use of Materials of Human Origin (e.g., human blood or tissue)?
No [ X] Yes [ ]

When would you prefer to begin data collection? December, 2000
Please remember you may not begin data collection without UCRIHS approval.

Category (Circle a, b, or c below and then specify category for a. and b. See instructions pp. 4-7)

a. This proposal is submitted as EXEMPT from full review.
Specify category or categories:

b. This proposal is submitted for EXPEDITED review (Note: Includes all
audio/videotaped protocols).
Specify category or categories:

c. This proposal is submitted for FULL sub-committee review.

 

 

 

Is this a Public Health Service funded, full review, multi-site project for which MSU is the lead
institution? No [ X ] Yes [ ]
Ifyes, do the other sites have a Multiple Project Assurance IRB that will also review this project?
[ ] No. Please contact the UCRIHS ofﬁce for further information about meeting the PHS/NIH/OPRR
regulations. [ ] Yes. Please supply a copy of that approval letter when obtained.

Project Description (Abstract): Please limit your response to 200 words.

The primary aim of this study is to explore the learning experiences of school leaders. Of
particular interest, to the researcher, are the context, content, processes, and outcomes of learning
experiences school leaders have had and the degree to which these factors have inﬂuenced and
shaped their strateg'c behavior. The premise is that these factors will frame each leader’s learning
experiences diﬁerently and thus explain variations in the nature and degree of their inﬂuence on
the actual behavior of the leader. It is further proposed, that pinpointing these nuances in the
different learning experiences of school leaders will help to explain how and why they
characterize and resolve strategic issues in the manner in which they do. I will then look for
patterns that emerge across the multiple learning experiences and analyze and report the ﬁndings.

168

15a. Procedures: Please describe all procedures you will use in collecting data from human subjects. If
using pre—existing data, please describe your analyses and use of information. Investigators should
carefully consult the instructions to correctly complete this question.

The process of the in-depth phenomenological interview to be used in this study will follow
closely the methodology deve10ped by Seidman (1983) and Sullivan (1982). The process can be
described generally as open but focused. It is expected that each participant will be interviewed
two times (with an option to schedule a third interview, if needed Each interview will be
approximately two hours in length. All interviews will be audio-taped (using a small
inconspicuous tape recorder without a microphone). Interviews will be spaced at least 2 days
apart to allow time for reﬂection, and if possible, no longer than a week apart. Interviews will be
held in a place mutually agreeable to participant and interviewer.

Prior to the ﬁrst visit, telephone contact will be made with each subject to schedule an initial
appointment to discuss the study. Written conﬁrmation of the agreed upon date and time of the
preliminary visit. During the preliminary visit, the purpose and nature of the research will be
explained, the prospective participant will be asked to ﬁll out a brief information form, and make a
decision about whether he or she is willing to be interviewed. If so, dates are set for the next two
meetings.

At the ﬁrst of these, participant and interviewer discuss the written consent form and both sign
This process will allow for any ﬁnal uncertainties to be resolved Each interview will Open with a
focus question from the interviewer. After the interview has begun, the researcher will refrain
from asking questions, other than for purposes of clariﬁcation or to move the interview to another
level.

Interviews will be transcribed verbatim resulting in manuscripts of approximately 60 to 90 single-
spaced pages for each participant. Because of the volume of this work, it is possible that some
compromise with the totally verbatim transcript might be made: for example, abbreviating
interviewer statements (Rubin, 1979) and omitting management details that are unrelated or
unimportant to the focus of the interview.

15b. Does your investigation involve incomplete disclosure of the research purpose or deception of
subjects? [ X ] No [ ] Yes
If yes, he sure to include copies of your debrieﬁng procedures with the application. See the
UCRIHS Instructions pg. 9 for further instructions.

16a. Subject Population: Describe your subject population. (e.g., high school athletes, women over
50 w/breast cancer, small business owners )
The preliminary plan for this study calls for a minimal sample size of eight (8) school leaders

engaged in strategic reform initiatives in their school district. Selection of participants will ensure
inclusion of persons with characteristics that seem important in the context of this study.

169

16b.

16c.

16d.

16e.

16f.

16g.

The study population may include (check all categories where subjects may be included by design
or incidentally):

Minors [ ]
Pregnant Women [ ]
Women of Childbearing Age [X]
Institutionalized Persons [ ] (<—Note: Includes prisoners)
Students [ ]
Low Income Persons [ ]
Minorities [X]
Incompetent Persons (or those
with diminished capacity) [ ]
Expected number of subjects (including controls) 8

 

How will the subjects be recruited? (Attach appropriate number of copies of recruiting
advertisement, if any. See table 4 of UCRIHS instructions)

Using the purposeful sampling method (Bogdan and Biklin, 1982: Patton, 1989), eight (8) school
leaders will be invited to participate in the study. Selection of participants will be based on the
following criteria designed to ﬁt the purpose of the study.

1. Participant currently holds or is recently retired from a strategic leadership position in a
school or school district that is currently engaged in some form of strategic school reform.

2. Participant is recognized for his or her leadership in the successful accomplishment of at
least one complex reform initiative.

3. Subjects will be personally contacted by telephone and invited to meet to discuss the
proposed study and to consider participation.

Are you associated with the subjects (e.g., they are your students, employees)? [ ] No [X] Yes

If yes, please explain the nature of the association and what measures you are taking to protect
subjects’ rights, including safeguards against any coercion.

The researcher is acquainted with each of the invited participants based on working
relationships established over the course of time that we worked together in the same
school district. However, the researcher no longer works in the school districts of any of
the participants and invites participation strictly on a voluntary basis.

If someone will receive payment for recruiting the subjects please explain the amount of payment,
who pays it and who receives it. NA

Will the research subjects be compensated? [ X] No [ ] Yes.

If yes, provide details concerning payment, including the amount and schedule of payments and any
conditions. In addition, this information must also be explained in the consent form (See
Instructions p. 10)

170

 

16h. Will the subjects incur additional ﬁnancial costs as a result of their participau'on in this study?
[X] No [ ] Yes. Ifyes, please also include an explanation in the consent form.

16i. Will this research be conducted with subjects who reside in another country, or who reside in the
US. but in a cultural/ethnic context different from traditional U.S. society/culture? Note: This may
include ethnic groups/sub—cultures/ and other non-mainstream minorities, and would include non-
English language speakers. [ X ] No [ ] Yes.

(1) If yes, will there be any corresponding complications in your ability to minimize risks to
subjects, maintain their conﬁdentiality and/or assure their right to voluntary informed
consent as individuals? [ ] No [ ] Yes.

(2) If your answer to i-l is yes, what are these complications and how will you resolve
them?

17. How will the subjects' privacy be protected? (See Instructions pp. 10-11.)

Safeguards and procedures to ensure conﬁdentially in this study include:

0 Changing of names and masking of school and district names and locations

0 Checking with each participant to make certain that each is comfortable with the alterations
and they adequately accomplish the goal

0 No conversation with anyone outside of the study about the participants involvement in the
study will occur

0 Interview transcripts and audio tapes will be securely stored and shared with no one outside
of the study.

18. Risks and Beneﬁts for subjects: (See Instructions p. 11.)

Given the conditions of the participation agreement form, the participants may discontinue the
taping of their interview at any time as well as participation in the study without penalty or risk of
any kind

Potential beneﬁts for individual participants could include the opportunity to be reﬂective about
their experiences as they relate to their current practice as educational leaders. The literature on
educational leadership will beneﬁt from this study based on the anticipated ﬁndings and their
potential implications for the selection, training, and preparation of future school leaders.

19. Consent Procedures (See Instructions pp. 12-16.)

Upon receipt of UCHRI S approval, Prior to the ﬁrst visit, contact will be made by phone to set up an
appointment to meet with prospective participants to discuss the purpose of the study. Following
agreement to meet, a letter conﬁrming the agreed upon date and time of the preliminary interview will be
mailed. During this preliminary visit, the purpose and nature of the research study will be explained in
detail. Expectations for participation will be outlined and time reserved for questions and answers. At the
conclusion of the meeting, the prospective participant will be asked to consider participating. If the
prospective participant agees, a time and date for a follow up meeting will be scheduled to answer
additional questions and to explain the consent to participate process.

At the next scheduled meeting, the researcher will answer any questions from the previous meeting and
explain the written consent form process. This process will allow for any ﬁnal uncertainties to be
resolved If, at that time, the prospective participant expresses willingness to participate, the consent form
will be signed and subsequent interviews scheduled. The participant will be asked to prepare a taped
autobiographical account before the ﬁrst interview session using a prepared sheet of questions as a guide.

171

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The researcher will provide the audio-tape and the questions. The tapes will be transcribed prior to the
ﬁrst interview and used as a starting point for the interviews.

 

 

CHECKLIST: Check off that you have included each of these items. If not applicable, state N/A:

[ X ] Completed and signed application

[ X ] The correct number of copies of the application and instruments (e. g., surveys,
interview questions, questionnaires, etc.) according to the category of review (See
instructions, table 4)

[ X ] Consent form (or script for verbal consent), if applicable

[NA] Advertisement, if applicable

[ X ] One complete copy of the methods chapter of the research proposal (if available)

 

172

 

 

MICHIGAN STATE
u N r v E R 5 IT Y

February 1. 2001

TO: Philp A. CUSICK
418 Erickson Hall

RE: 1R3! 00-800 CATEGORY: 2-F EXPEDITED

TITLE: LEADING FORWARD, LEARNING BACKWARD: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INQUIRY
INTO THE LEARNING EXPERIENCES OF SCHOOL LEADERS

ANNUAL APPROVAL DATE: January 4. 2001
REVISION REQUESTED: Jammy 12. 2001
REVISION APPROVAL DATE: February 1. 2001

The University Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects' (UCRlHS) review of this project is
complete and i am pleased to advise that the rights and welfare of the human subjects appear to be
adequately protected and methods to obtain informed consent are appropriate. Therefore. the
UCRIHS APPROVED THIS PROJECTS REVISION.

This letter approves the revised consent form. Thank you for attending to this
matter at UCRIHS request.

RENEWALS: UCRIHS approval ls valid for one calendar year. beginning with the approval date
shown above. Protects continuing beyond one year must be renewed with the green renewal form.
A maximum of four such expedited renewal are possible. investigators wishing to continue a project
beyond that time need to submit it again for a complete review.

REVISIONS: UCRIHS must review any changes in procedures involving human subjects. prior to
initiation of the change. If this is done at the time of renewal. please use the green renewal form.
To revise an approved protocol at any other time during the year. send your written request to the
UCRIHS Chair, meeting revised approval and referencing the project's RBI! and title. include in
your request a description of the change and any revised instruments. consent forms or
advertisements that are applicable.

PROBLEMSIOHANGES: Should either of the following arise during the course of the work, notify
UCRIHS promptly: 1) problems (unexpected side effects. complaints. etc.) involving human
subjects or2) d'iengee in the research environment or new information indicating greater risk to the
human subjects than existed when the protocol was previousiy reviewed and approved.

it we can be of further assistance. please contact us at 517 355-2180 or via email:
UCRIHSOpManu.

Sincerely

1r Kum'ar, M.D.
interim Chat. UCRIHS

 

AK: bd

cc:Cheryl Lynnth
915 EestCourtSt. #105
7'7“”. HI ‘195’03 173
him-m
mean—um
”new

menu

APPENDIX C

PARTICIPATION CONSENT FORM

By signing this participation consent form, you agree:

To participate in the research project entitled “Leading Forward. Learning
Backward: A Phenomenological Inquiry into the Learning Experiences of School
Leaders” conducted by doctoral candidate, Cheryl L. King, Michigan State
University.

To participate in three (3) two-hour interviews, over a one-month period of time
(includes audiotaped autobiographical narrative). You will be asked to reﬂect on
your lifelong learning experiences and contemplate how these experiences have

inﬂuenced your practice as a school leader.

To have your interviews audiotape recorded and that you have the right not
answer any particular questions and to ask that the taping be stopped at any time
during the interviews.

That you have been informed that all data collected during these interviews will
be kept conﬁdential and that conﬁdentiality will be protected to the maximum
extent allowable by law.

That your participation in this study is strictly voluntary. While it is expected that
you will be involved for the duration of the study, you may choose to withdraw
from this study at any time without any penalty or loss of beneﬁt.

That you have been informed that should you have any concerns or complaints
regarding your participation in this study you may direct them to Dr. David
Wright, Interim Chair, UCRIHS, 246 Administration Building, Michigan State
University, East Lansing, MI 48824, (517) 355-2180.

 

Cheryl L. King

Signature 915 East Court Street105

Flint, Michigan 48503
810.232.1834

 

Date

174

 

Participant Conﬁrmation Letter
Dear

Please accept my sincere appreciation for your commitment to participate in my
research study. This study will complete the requirements of my doctoral degree in
Educational Administration at Michigan State University. I admire and respect you as a
school leader and am delighted to have this unique opportunity to learn about your
lifelong learning experiences.

As the ﬁeld of educational leadership continues to change, there is increasing
interest in how to better support current and future leaders’ in their preparation efforts to
meet the many new and unique challenges they face in leading their schools and school
districts. My research study proposes that much can be learned about how best to provide
support by examining the learning experiences of current school leaders and connecting
those experiences to their actual leadership practices. I am interested in learning about
your personal learning experiences and how you feel they have inﬂuenced actions you
have taken to lead reform efforts.

I will write a story with the information that you provide through individual
interviews over the course of the next few months. You will have an opportunity to
review, clarify, and expand your story and interview transcripts. When the ﬁnal draft of
the dissertation is written, speciﬁc measures will be taken to ensure your complete
conﬁdentiality.

Just to clarify the expectations for your participation in this study, here is what I
know at this point about the details of the upcoming experience:

0 The time commitment will be approximately 10-12 hours over the course of one
month. Most of this time will be spent at your home or ofﬁce.

0 You are being asked to prepare an audio-taped autobiography prior to beginning
the interviews. The primary focus will be to recount your lifelong learning
experiences and a set of questions to guide your spoken narrative will be
provided. A blank cassette and the question guide are included in these materials.

0 I anticipate that there will be no more than three (4) two hour interviews
following a preliminary meeting to explain the purpose of the study and get your
written consent to participate.

Feel free to contact me for any reason at (810) 232-1834, 915 East Court St. #105, e-
mail cking1950@aol If you should need to contact my dissertation chairperson, his name
is Dr. Phillip Cusick, Department of Educational Administration, 419 Erickson Hall,
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824.

Sincerely,

175

 

APPENDIX D

Interview Protocol

 

Autobiographical Audiotape Recording

Purpose:
A.

To establish a context and a starting point for the series of
interviews over the next month by providing you with an
opportunity to share in your own words an audiotaped narrative
account of your life experiences with a particular focus on learning
events.

To reduce any initial anxiety you may have by providing you with
an opportunity to privately reﬂect on your life experiences and
create your own audiotape narrative without the researcher being
present in your own unique format using the guidelines provided
by the researcher to assist you in constructing your story.

Given the shortness of our time together, this audiotaped narrative
will be used by the researcher to develop focused follow-up
questions and probes that will cue in to what you have shared on
the tape and hopeﬁrlly serve as an icebreaker for the face to face
interviews that will follow.

Researcher’s Role:

A.

Guidelines:

Provide guidelines that will assist the participant in constructing
their autobiographical narrative tape.

Provide each participant with a blank audiotape for the purpose of
recording their autobiographical narrative.

Transcribe taped narratives and use to develop questions and
probes during the face-to-face interviews.

A. Prior to the actual taping, look over the areas of interest to this researcher and
begin thinking about your experiences. Jot down notes to yourself or keep a
journal for several days as you think about how you will construct your story.
Memories can be tricky and we don’t want to miss anything.

B. When you feel that you are ready to begin taping, ﬁnd a quiet place that is
comfortable and create an environment for yourself that will allow you to tell

176

your story with ease. Feel free to use background music if you like. It is
important that this be an enjoyable experience for you.

. When you are ready to begin taping, be sure that you have the areas of interest
listed below handy along with your notes and/or journal. You will want to be
sure not to miss anything and then begin to share your story using the
following guidelines in order:

1. Begin by introducing yourself and talking about events surrounding
your birth experience (including date, place, parents, siblings,
extended family, etc.)

2. Early childhood learning experiences

3. Adolescent learning experiences

 

4. Teenage learning experiences

5. Young Adult learning experiences

6. Adult learning experiences

. When you have ﬁnished taping, play back and listen to be sure the story is

told just the way you want it. Now is the time to add anything that you may
have missed.

 

. When you are comfortable with it, place the tape in the self-addressed
stamped envelope and drop it in the mail to me. I will transcribe the tape
when I receive it and use your story to prepare questions for our ﬁrst
interview. A prompt response is most appreciated.

 

177

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