A social and communal view of leadership

This paper outlines an alternate view of leadership to 'leader-centric' views that focus on the personalities and actions of leaders. Leader-centric views are based on prevalent assumptions about the nature of the self and its relationship to others and the phenomenal world. Influenced by Buddhist and Taoist pllilosophy and social constructionism, an interdependent understanding of the 'self world' relationship is advanced as a basis for this alternate view of leadership. Leadership can be more precisely understood as arising from and distributed throughout the social and communal world rather than imposed on it by leaders. This broader and more interconnected view also incorporates a spiritual sensibility and has some constructive implications for ethics in organizations. Based on this view a leadership practice referred to as 'creating environments of administrative sanity' is described. This practice includes narrative and dialogical elements, a specific focus on ethical stewardship, a renewed appreciation of the value of the 'other' and a reformulation of organizational strategy. implications of this practice for the education of leaders and for the education of organizations about leadership are identified.