There are two seemingly dissimilar theories of leadership that come together as one in Terrence Deal’s chapter on Poetical and political leadership (2009) Deal argues that an effective leader needs to use both poetry and symbolism as well as recognize that there is a political terrain to map out and understand. Leaders need to be visionary and recognize that rituals, stories and ceremonies are an important part of the success in effective leadership especially in a world that has contentious and competing special interest groups trying to vie for attention and power. As Deal mentions in his chapter, most people find the idea of political manoeuvering as distasteful and dishonest (Deal, para. 9) but he argues that it is necessary to recognize the political terrain in order to be a truly effective leader. In this chapter, there is a formula for dealing with problems that can be summarized in three steps: 1) Find out what’s going on. 2) Do the right thing in response and 3) organize other people do get the job done. (Deal, para. 3). “Leadership is essentially political and inherently symbolic” (Deal, para 7) is the main idea behind this theory of educational leadership.
Deal, T (2009) Poetical and political leadership. In Davies, B (2nd Ed.) The Essentials of School Leadership. Thousand Oaks: Sage. [Kindle edition] Retrieved from amazon.com
Deal, T (2009) Poetical and political leadership. In Davies, B (2nd Ed.) The Essentials of School Leadership. Thousand Oaks: Sage. [Kindle edition] Retrieved from amazon.com