Soft Leadership for Hard Times.Soft Leadership for Hard Times by George A. Goens, Rowman and Littlefield Education, Lanham, Md., 2005, 157 pp. with index, $38.95 softcover In his text, Soft Leadership for Hard Times, George Goens takes a new approach in defining leadership through the extensive use of poetry and metaphors and includes citations from the likes of Carl Jung Noun 1. Carl Jung - Swiss psychologist (1875-1961) Carl Gustav Jung, Jung image, persona - (Jungian psychology) a personal facade that one presents to the world; "a public image is as fragile as Humpty Dumpty" and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (IPA pronunciation: [miha:ɪ :tʃi:k'sɛntmiha:ɪi]), born on September 29, 1934, is a psychology professor at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California and is the former head to reinforce his unique perspective. Goens, a former superintendent and university professor, focuses on those aspects of leadership pertaining to building relationships and the personal qualities of leaders that go beyond the simple analysis and use of quantitative data and traditional strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. . A good leader, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Goens, is like a jazz musician. When playing jazz, musicians have a framework over which they have the creative freedom to play their melodies as they see fit. Each note is not scripted and every performance, even of the same piece of music, is different. Their success is based on their ability to improvise im·pro·vise v. im·pro·vised, im·pro·vis·ing, im·pro·vis·es v.tr. 1. To invent, compose, or perform with little or no preparation. 2. by creating a series of harmonious sounds in sync with the chord changes and rhythmic structure as performed by the rest of the band. Leadership involves the ability to improvise and be creative. The framework for leadership consists of those guiding principles and values on which the leader is able to improvise solutions to problems and navigate through situations without prior rehearsal. Just as the notes improvised im·pro·vise v. im·pro·vised, im·pro·vis·ing, im·pro·vis·es v.tr. 1. To invent, compose, or perform with little or no preparation. 2. by the jazz musician have not been scripted, so too are the actions of the leader. No two performances are exactly the same and no two situations addressed by a leader are exactly the same. Goens also uses scenario planning Scenario planning or Scenario thinking is a strategic planning method that some organizations use to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an adaptation and generalization of classic methods used by military intelligence. as an option to strategic planning. He downplays the effectiveness of strategic planning because of its inability to accurately assess or measure people-driven organizations such as schools. According to Goens, scenario planning is better suited for schools as it takes into account the issue of critical uncertainties defined as unpredictable issues connected to emotion, opinion, intuition or chance. Reviewed by Ronald A. Styron Jr., assistant professor of educational leadership, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Miss. |
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