I’m becoming a fan of Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, former president of George Washington University. In a recent entry in The Chronicle Review (of the Chronicle of Higher Education) he talks about vision and the predilection of leaders to (over)use metaphor.
Here are a couple of excerpts:
Thus, one of the lessons of leadership I have learned is that the “visionary” leader’s ideas may be so wrapped up in metaphor, conditional modes, and personal shorthand that those listening to him or her have no concrete sense of what the leader means or wants. Concrete has less glamour and oomph than vision, no doubt, but I prefer to stand on firm ground than to lean on a vision which may be only a mirage, to my listeners if not to me.
Leadership is tricky and should not be confused with ordering someone else to do something. And, in a democracy, leadership is fuzzy because of the concept of shared governance. “We the people” is a powerful phrase, and making the “we” a universal and not a royal pronoun is vitally important. Organizations like to stay inside the confines of a bureaucratic box because the rules of the game are usually understood and the outcomes predictable. Thinking “outside the box” usually assumes the rules will change and before people agree to play in a new “sandbox,” they wish to understand the potential gains are worth the possible loses.
You can read the entire article here.
