Leadership & Dark Matter
Abstract: Leadership
is a product of the dark matter in the world of organizations. Like the dark
matter in the cosmos, leadership is hypothesized to exist, although its
existence can, for the most part, only be inferred from actual observable
conditions, events, and circumstances that include successful conclusion of
“leadership events.” Thus, leadership actualizes as a transactional event that
occurs between the leader and his or her colleagues. (Northouse, 2004, p. 3)
Putting the point in a different frame, teams and team work (leadership events)
are not just the best leadership strategy, they are the only leadership
strategy available to us.
Background:
A long while ago, in what seems now
like another life, I was a graduate student at The Ohio State University and
taking a class in rural sociology. The Professor had assigned a book, the title
of which I no longer remember. To tell the truth, I do not recall much of
anything about the book or the course, for that matter. Both were likely quite
good since I do remember the Professor, Howard Philips, whose teaching I respect
all these many years later.
Dr. Philips gave us an assignment
that I thought at the time was silly and high schoolish. The instruction was to
select any ten declarative statements in the book not attributed to someone
other than the author. The ten statements were asserted as true and factual
without further support beyond the context where I found them.
I do not remember what we were
asked to do with the ten statements, but do realize that the exercise was far
from high schoolish, since it had an important and lasting lesson. Over the
years and to this day, I take in any simple declarative statement with a
certain measure of skepticism, regardless of the source or context. Perhaps
that was Professor Philips' point.
Fast forward to a year or so ago. I
was making one of my periodic visits to the mental space where I seriously
question whether anyone in a leadership position actually knows what he or she
is doing. Many people do what they do extremely well; but even so, it is not
necessarily the case that they understand the whats and whys of it. I am
suspicious that they, like me, are mostly making it up as they go along.
A trip to the library, of
course. -- I confess. I have never quite gotten over being a graduate
student. I originally thought it was a temporary condition cured by graduation
but have come to understand that the condition is chronic. The best I can do is
symptomatic relief through occasional library visits.
This time, the short visit I
intended turned out to be many visits over several months. My library of choice
was BookShare.org, a library of "Accessible Books and Periodicals for
Readers with Print Disabilities." It is not in the same class as the main
library at OSU; but it is quite substantial. I discovered a good selection of books
related to leadership; and, as is my bent, I read them all. -- The only
drawback turned out to be that not all of the books were correctly paginated.
The result is that I occasionally only include the author and publication year
when appropriating the words and ideas of the many leadership experts who have
taken the time to generously share their thinking and experience.
Strategy:
I was interested in leadership, in
leaders, and in ideas and thinking associated with leading. Through my inquiry
process, I captured those passages that I thought declaratively stated what the
