On Imaginative Gridlock

On Imaginative Gridlock

More learning (data gathering and theoretical application of technique) will not, on its own, change the way people see things or how they perceive them. "There must first be a shift in the emotional processes of that institution [in our case, international education as a sector]. Imagination and curiosity are at root emotional, not cognitive, phenomena. In order to imagine the unimaginable, people must be able to separate themselves from the surrounding emotional processes before they can even begin to see (or hear) things differently. Without this understanding, it becomes impossible to realise how our learning can prevent us from learning more." (Friedman, A Failure of Nerve, 31). In the event that this doesn't make sense, consider Galileo, who offered naysayers an opportunity to utilise his telescope to observe the movement of cosmic bodies, to look for themselves. So many naysayers, in those earliest days of his efforts, refused to observe, even when offered the chance. Consider just how much longer it took for things to evolve because their "learning" got in the way of learning, of becoming something more.

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On Moral Potency
Leadership, Learning & Development Kevin Ruth Leadership, Learning & Development Kevin Ruth

On Moral Potency

In the seeming mess that is the contemporary world, leadership demands moral potency. Characterised as "a psychological state marked by an experienced sense of ownership over the moral aspects of one's environment, reinforced by efficacy beliefs in the capabilities to act to achieve moral purpose in that domain, and the courage to perform in the face of adversity and persevere through challenges (Sean T. Hannah & Bruce J. Avolio, "Moral Potency: Building the Capacity for Character-Based Leadership," 2010), this tripartite blend of moral courage, moral efficacy, and moral ownership serves as a compass, providing direction so that we can measure our lives accordingly. Yet it feels in increasingly short supply.

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Future-Back Strategy

Future-Back Strategy

Existing leadership development programmes exemplify the present-forward model of thinking, rather than future-back. We continue to prepare tomorrow’s leaders for today’s schools, with today’s thinking. We might even be so bold as to assert that these programmes prepare managers instead of leaders. That’s an issue.

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Compensation for School Leaders: Do We Have the Right Model?
Governance, Leadership, Strategy Kevin Ruth Governance, Leadership, Strategy Kevin Ruth

Compensation for School Leaders: Do We Have the Right Model?

In a recent article on executive benchmarking in Korn Ferry Briefings, the authors (Irving S. Becker and Lawrence M. Fisher) note that Korn Ferry Hays Group “recommends that board members go beyond benchmarking, and instead use multiple lenses to evaluate compensation via a more complex and rigorous assessment of both internal and external factors” (20). As they state further, “the goal is to establish ‘internal equity,’ or the perception that the organisation is paying people according to the relative size and impact of their roles” (20).

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