Leadership and

Intelligence
 Leadership is………………

 I can improve my leadership by………..

 Poor leadership qualities include………..

Framing
 Billy, Jimmy, and Benny are each holding an
identical plastic cube in their hands at waist
height. They all release the cube they are holding
at the same time. When they do so, however,
Billy’s cube descends, Jimmy’s cube ascends,
and Benny’s cube does not move.
 What is your explanation for this phenomenon? Three
people released three identical plastic cubes at the same
time and each cube responded differently.
 Determine one more explanation for the
above activity. The only requirement is that
it must be a different explanation than what
you thought of in your first attempt.
 You now have at least two explanations.
how many more explanations could you
come up with?
 The possibilities are endless once you start
THINKING!
 Thinking leads to problem solving and
decision making.
Agenda
Sunday, March 8, 2009
9:00-6:00

 Article Review: “In Search of Intelligence,” Dickman, Blair

 Connecting Leadership to the Brain
 What is Intelligence?
 Dispositions and Leadership
 Mindful Leadership
 Activity: Leading Iran (Article)
 Article Review: Roots of School Leadership,” Sergiovanni
 Covey: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
 Goleman Six Leadership Styles
 Review Final Exam
 Work on class project: Analyzing problems
 Required readings: Senge (Tuesday), Bolman and Deal
(Saturday), Collins (Saturday), Evans (Thursday) Fullan??
Article Review
 In Search of Intelligence, Dickman and Blair
Mindful Leadership (Dickman and Blair, 2002)
 Mindful leadership is a phenomenon that
occurs within the intrigue and questioning
of an individual brain.
 Attentive to the nature and nurture of
intelligence
 What skills are necessary for mindful leadership?
Mindful Leadership
 Use data and research
 Seek diverse points of view
 Be creative
 Open-mindedness
 Persistence
 Analysis
 Accuracy and precision
 Clarity and coherence
 Empathy
 Curiosity and questioning
 Speculation and hypothesis
 Listening
 Risk taking
 humor
Mindful Leadership Promotes Mindless Leadership Promotes
2. Physical and mental health and 2. Physical and mental stress and
wellness decline
3. Social interaction 3. Isolation
4. Cooperation 4. Lack of collaboration
5. Common vision 5. Confusion about purpose
6. Inclusive planning 6. Top-down planning
7. Direct and rich access to 7. Limited and passive access to
information information
8. Novelty and challenge 8. Redundancy and complacency
9. Metacognition 9. Discouragement of reflection
How is Leadership connected to the
brain?
 What is intelligence?
 Intelligence is the ability or capacity to solve
problems, organize information and act on
it, reason, think, respond to novel situation,
figure things out, learn, imagine and create,
make judgments and decisions.
 Intelligence-what you use when you don’t’
know what to do (J. Piaget, 1923)
 Intelligence-a biopsychological potential to
process information that can be activated in
a cultural setting to solve problems or
create products that are of value in a
culture. (H. Gardner, 1999)
 Intelligence: “the collective attributes of the
brain that contribute to the acquisition and
application of knowledge in diverse and
novel situations” (Dickman and Blair, p.20)
 Specific dimensions or qualities of intelligence
never operate independently of each other. The
multiple dimensions of human intelligence operate
as an integrated whole.
 Human intelligence operates on a biological
platform of cells, circuits, and chemicals
 Social experience is the great provider of thinking
and learning.
 Emotion is the means by which the brain attends,
makes judgments, and is motivated.
 The human brain is a lean, mean, pattern making
machine, a biological system of extraordinary
capacity for perceiving and endlessly constructing
useful information patterns. (Blink study on
marriage)
 Reflection is the capacity to consciously
manipulate information and rehearse options prior
to action.
 The cultivation and exercise of thinking
dispositions are the keys to maximizing
intelligence.
Developing EI
 Emotional intelligence is the circuitry that
runs between the brains executive centers
in the prefrontal lobes and the brains limbic
system which governs feelings, impulses
and drives. Skills based in the limbic areas
are best learned through motivation,
practice and feedback.
Problems
 Hasty thinking, characterized by impulsiveness
and mindlessness-people reacting and acting
without thinking about what they are doing
 Narrow thinking, marked by bias and fixed, limited
patterns of information.
 Fuzzy thinking that fails to seek clarity, precision,
and distinctions in information.
 Sprawling thinking that wanders in a disorganized
way without ever converging.
Dispositions
 A habitual inclination, a tendency (American
Heritage Dictionary, 2000 p. 522)
 A propensity to act in a certain way.
Viewing intelligence dispostionally says
that intelligence is expressed as
characteristic patterns of intellectual
behavior in everyday situations. (Tishman,
2000, p. 43)
 How does information influence
perception?
 How does perception influence behavior?
 What would be a historical example of a
breakthrough in information leading to a
shift in behavior?
Iran Activity
 Please read the recent article on Iran,
“Hard times help Iranian leadership tighten
its grip.”
 Two groups; one group represents the
leadership of Iran, the other group is “the West.”
Leadership Legacy Activity
 Step 1: reflect for a moment about individuals you respect as
great leaders.
 Step 2: select four individuals from the leaders you admire to
join you at a council table. Identify each of the leaders by
name at the chairs numbered one to four
Leadership Legacy Activity
 Step 3: Sit yourself at the head of the table in the chair
marked “heir to the legacy.”
 Step 4: Moving from chair to chair, write down one or two of
the distinguishing attributes of the character or behavior of
each of the four leaders seated at the table.
 Step 5: Next ask each guest at the table to share his or her
best advice about leadership. What would they say?
 Step 6: What have you learned from your leaders? That is
your legacy. How have your perceptions of leadership been
influenced by important people in your life?
Michael Fullan
 Five Components of Leadership
 Coherence Making
 Moral Purpose
 Understanding Change
 Relationship Building
 Knowledge Creation and Sharing
Fullan on Leadership
 “The job of the leaders is primarily about enhancing the skills
and knowledge of people in the organization, creating a
common culture of expectations around the use of those
organization skills and knowledge, holding the various pieces
of the together in a productive relationship with each other,
and holding individuals accountable for their contributions to
the collective result.” (p.65)
Article Review
 Roots of School Leadership,” Sergiovanni
Steven Covey
 Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
 Be proactive-we are responsible for our own lives. More
than just taking initiative, responsibility (the ability to
chose a response) Its not what happens to us, but the
response we choose.
 Begin with the end in mind (Funeral)-all things are created
twice. There is a mental first creation and a physical
second creation.
 Put first things first-organize and execute around
priorities. Be able to distinguish between Urgent and
Important. Think ahead, think prevention.
 Seek Win-Win: there is plenty for everybody and
one persons success is not at the expense or
exclusion of the success of others.
 Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Communication and listening is the key.
 Synergize-the whole is greater than the sum of
its parts
 Sharpen the saw through self-renewal in
physical, social and emotional, mental , and
spiritual domains. Stay balanced in life.
Goleman (2001)
 Coercive-the leader demands compliance
“do whatever I tell you.”
 Authoritative-the leader mobilizes people
toward a vision “come with me.”
 Affiliative-the leader creates harmony and
builds emotional bonds “people come first.”
Goleman (2001)
 Democratic-the leader forges consensus
through participation “What do you think?”
 Pacesetting-the leader sets high standards
for performance “Do as I do, now.”
 Coaching-the leader develops people for
the future “try this.”
Is there a best style of leadership?
 Some researchers argue the best style is: the one
that maximized productivity and satisfaction,
growth and development in all situations (Hersey,
p. 90.
 However, leadership theories, like all behavioral
science theories, have not been validated by
scientific research. Solid evidence supporting
leadership theories may be lacking because
leadership theories are sets of empirical
generalizations that by their very nature cannot be
scientifically tested.
 The primary reason why there is no one
best way of leadership is that leadership is
basically situational, or contingent. The
effectiveness of a particular leadership style
is contingent on the situation in which it is
used.
Final Take Home Exam
 See handout