The bards on standards: three noteworthy poets provide a historical perspective from three different centuries on the evolution of leadership.

Extraordinary poets may very well be the creators, or at least the "capturers," of the cultural thinking of the time in which they live and write. This may be especially true for a society's collective thoughts regarding an issue like leadership. Not convinced? Share in a remarkable conversation among the editors of Leadership magazine and three noteworthy poets.

Using the magic of modern cosmotechnology, the editors of Leadership were able to gather three remarkable individuals, each able to provide perspective from a different century, to discuss the issues of school leadership. The California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (CPSELs) served as the center of the interviews, held with the author of Beowulf (referred to in the interview as the Beowulf poet or B.P.), playwright extraordinare William Shakespeare (W.S.), and 20th century American poetry treasure Denise Levertov (D.L.).

Leadership: It is, indeed, a rare opportunity to bring the three of you together Co share the insights you each have developed regarding the topic that is at the heart of our magazine, school leadership. To focus our discussion in the short time available, we'd like each of you to comment on the California standards that have been developed for school leaders. Standard One, known, in short, as the "vision standard,: reads like this: Standard 1: "A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by the development, articulation, implementation and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community."

W.S.: As I wrote in Henry VI, a great leader is someone who "stands upon a promontory and spies afar-off shore where he would tread, wishing his foot were equal with his eye," someone who "chides the sea that sunders him from thence, saying he'll lade it dry to have his way" (Richard of Gloucester, Henry VI, Part III.) This may be what is being referred to as having a "vision."

B.P.: Indeed, vision is essential. A leader must know clearly where he is headed. For example, my hero Beowulf, as he began his journey to save the Danes, announced:

I had fixed a purpose when I put to sea. As I sat in the boat with my band of men I meant to perform to the uttermost what you people wanted or perish in the attempt (Lines 632-635).

Equally, it is important to state that vision: "The sooner you tell where you come from and why, the better" (Lines 256 & 257).

D.L.: However, I do think it's important that "vision" not be static.

   Vision sets out
   Journeying somewhere,
   Walking the dreamwaters:
   Arrives
   Not on the far shore but upriver,
   A place not evoked, discovered.

(Relearning the Alphabet--Relearning the Alphabet, 1970)

Perhaps, not incidentally, I also evoked the image of the boat in attempting to capture the concept of vision Again, I've found vision to be elusive and tried to describe it as such:

   You at the prow were the man--
   All voice, though silent--who bound
   Rowers and voyagers to the needful
   journey,
   The veiled distance, imperative mystery.

(To Rilke--A Door in the Hive, 1989)

Leadership: I think we might all agree that a vision that does not become part of the culture of a community or nation is of little value. What do you feel is the leader's role in shaping culture?

Standard 2: "A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating nurturing and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and stall professional growth."

B.P.: Indeed, that, and preserving that culture is the purpose of leadership. As Beowulf declared when he set shore in Denmark:

   We have arrived here on a great errand
   to the lord of the Danes, and I believe
   therefore
   there should be nothing hidden or withheld
   between us. (Lines 270-272)

For talk without action is of little use

   Anyone with gumption and a sharp
   mind will take the measure
   of two things: what's said and what's
   done. (Lines 287-288)

D.L: I would caution that it is not the "culture" itself that is of significance. It is the quality of that culture. In my work I emphasized the good that is possible in human existence. In fact, I have grave doubts about any culture that does not strive to create the "honey" of being human:

   In our gathering, in our containing, in our
   Working, active within ourselves,
   Slowly the pale
   Dew-beads of light
   Lapped up from flowers
   Can thicken,
   Darken to gold:

   Honey of the human.

(Second Didactic Poem--The Sorrow Dance, 1967)

W.S.: It is impossible for an organization to be without a culture, whatever it may be. For:

   "The heavens themselves, the planets,
   and this centre, observe degree, priority,
   and place, insisture, course, proportion,
   season, form, office, and custom, in all
   line of order" (The Merry Wives of Windsor,
   Act V, Scene III).

Leadership: Having a vision, then communicating it and ensuring it lives in the culture of a community--be it a school or a nation--seems to be a function of management. How do each of you see the role of management in leadership?

Standard 3: "A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by ensuring management of the organization, operations and resources for a sate, efficient and effective learning environment."

W.S. It must be some kind of modern notion to even suggest that management and leadership can somehow be separated. Management is essential; poor management can only lead to disaster:

   "Since life is not an annuity, fiscal responsibility
   is as integral to an individual's
   and family's bottom line as to corporation's.
   In all cases, financial leverage used
   temperately can fuel prosperity. But used
   excessively by those "whose large style
   agrees not with the leanness of his purse,'
   (as Gloucester said in Henry VI, Part II,)
   it can lead to ruin."

B.P. I must wholeheartedly agree. The leader must be an expert in the resources of which he makes use. Returning to our nautical metaphor:

   The warrior boarded the boat as captain,
   a canny pilot along coast and currents.
   Lines 208 & 209)

D.L.: More than ever I'm understanding how we are all products of the times in which we live. In the complex society of the late 20th century we became weary of management tasks, and, in fact, often they seem to keep us from leading:

   I can lay down that history
   I can lay down my glasses
   I can lay down the imaginary lists
   Of what to forget and what must be
   done ...
   Little by little one comes to know
   The limits and depths of power.

(Action--Overland to the Islands, 1958)

Leadership: As I see the leadership styles of Beowulf and many of the heroes in Mr. Shakespeare's plays, it would seem as if"everything" depends on the strengths (and weaknesses) of the leader. Do you feel that collaboration is a necessary leadership skill?

Standard 4: "A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs and mobilizing community resources."

B.P.: Certainly, to the degree that the leader is able to get others to do things his way:

   Through the strength of one they all
   prevailed (Line 698)

   Each was concerned for the other's
   good. (Line 2171)

   So every man should act....
   be at hand when needed (Lines 2708 &
   2710)

W.S.: Collaboration is the duty of the common man. Macbeth explained the nature of collaboration when he spoke to his King, "The service and the loyalty I owe, in doing it pays itself: Your Highness' part is to receive our duties; and our duties are to your throne and state children and servants, which do but what they should by doing everything safe toward your love and honor" (Macbeth, Act I, Scene IV).

D.L.: This may be an area where we have the greatest differences in viewpoints. Beowulf was certainly an outstanding leader. His 50 years of leadership brought great stability and prosperity to his kingdom. Yet, his enemies were ready and anxious to pounce as soon as he died. I hope the centuries that, intervene between us have taught us that a culture can only be maintained if leadership is shared. It's important:

   To stand on common ground
   Here and there gritty with pebbles
   Yet elsewhere "fine and mellow
   Uncommon title for ploughing' ...
   To reach those shining pebbles,
   That soil where uncommon men
   Have labored their virtue
   And left a store
   Of seeds for planting!
   To crunch on words
   Grown in grit or fine
   Crumbling earth, sweet

   To eat and sweet
   To be given, to be eaten
   In common, by, laborer
   And hungry wanderer ... (A Common
   Ground The Jacob's Ladder, 1961)

Leadership: An interesting progression of thought. Perhaps a few more centuries of time will show us if collaboration will lead to permanence. Certainly, that is a goal of democracy, In our times the good works of a leader can be diminished when we discover that the once revered leader did not live according to a strong code of ethics. What do you believe is the role of ethics in leadership?

Standard 5: "A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by modeling a personal code of ethics and developing professional leadership capacity."

W.S.: I've been told that some of my most quoted words relate specifically to ethical issues:

   "Tell truth and shame the devil," Hot-spur
   guides us, and Polonius guides his
   son Laertes: "This will above all: To
   thine own self be true, and it must follow,
   as the night the day, thou canst not
   then be false to any man." Even my
   sleaziest characters learn, before their
   closing scenes, that "truth will come to
   light," as Lancelot says in "The Merchant
   of Venice."

B.P.: I must add:

   Behaviour that's admired
   is the path to power among people
   everywhere. (Lines 24 & 25)

And the consequences of not being ethical have always been immense:

   The fact is, Unferth, if you were truly
   as keen or courageous as you claim to be
   Grendel would never have got away with
   such unchecked atrocity, attacks on your
   king,
   havoc in Heorot and horrors eye where.
   (Lines 590-594)

D.L: This seems to be an area where we are in agreement regardless of the century in which we lived:

   Never
   run away from the stormcenter.
   Cultivate
   Cool courage, die without killing--
   (Gandhi's Gun--To Stay Alive, 1971)

   To imagine justice and mercy,
   Only begun to envision

   How it might be
   To live as siblings with beast and
   flower,
   Not as oppressors. (Beginners--Candles
   in Babylon, 1982)

Leadership: This brings us to the last of the leadership standards. This standard involves the role of politics. In this day and age, the political process is the means by which leadership happens. Any comments on the leader's responsibility to influence the political context?

Standard 6: "A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by understanding, responding to and influencing the larger political, social, economic, legal and cultural context."

W.S.: A big problem with polities is that politicians start thinking much too highly of their own abilities. As Hamlet observed:

   "That skull had a tongue in it, and
   could sing once ... This might be the
   pate of a politician, which this ass now
   o'erreaches; one that would circument
   God, might it not"? Hamlet, Act V,
   Scene I).

B.P.: It's the leader's role to create the political context:

   His warrior band did what he bade them.
   when he laid down the law among the
   Danes. (Lines 28 & 29)

The results can be spectacular. Let me remind you of this description of the later days of Beowulf's life:

   He indulges his desires; illness and old
   age
   mean nothing to him.; his mind is
   untroubled
   by envy or malice or the thought of enemies
   with their hate-honed swords.
   The whole world
   conforms to his will,
   he is kept from the worst. (Lines 1733-1739)

D.L.: And it's exactly the "worst" that Beowulf must be kept from that is of interest to me. That there are enemies out there waiting for his demise and friends that must keep the "truth" from him point out to me the importance of political skills--in their best sense. I believe:

   We have only begun to know
   The power that is in US if we would join
   Our solitudes in the communion of
   struggle.

   So much is unfolding that must
   Complete its gesture,

   So much is in bud. (Beginners--Candles
   in Babylon, 1982)

The ability of both leaders and followers to realize this is essential for sustaining a system. Promoting the success of all, I believe, requires each of the leadership standards stated in your CAPSELs--none can be overlooked.

Leadership: Each of you has provided valuable insights into the standards of leadership. It's clear that this short conversation has forced you to quote yourselves out of context; nevertheless, you've succeeded in providing a historical view of the evolution of leadership. It is an honor, beyond comprehension in a physical sense, for me to thank you for your contributions, not just to this conversation, but to mankind.

References

Augustine, Norman and Kenneth Adelman. (2001). Shakespeare in Charge. New York: Hyperian Books.

Heaney, Seamus, Translator. (2000). Beowulf. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Kitteredge, George, ed. (1936). The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Boston: Ginn and Company.

Levertov, Denise. (2002). Selected Poems. New York: New Directions Books.

WestEd. (2003). Moving Leadership Standards Into Everyday Work: Descriptions of Practice. San Francisco: WestEd.

George Manthey is a professional learning executive for ACSA.