Over my career as an educator I have tried to understand why the very same strategies lead to renewal and improvement in one school and to more-of-the-same performance in another. The answer that most people embrace centers on school leadership, the head of school in particular, and his or her ability to inspire confidence and support among the people on whose competence and commitment the school’s performance depends. I have come to recognize that the essence of leadership cannot be defined by a series of personal attributes, nor prescribed through a set of particular roles and activities. Lots of diverse people – with diverse backgrounds and styles – end up leading. ‘It is like the challenge of describing a bowl: we can describe a bowl in terms of the clay from which it is made. But a true picture must include the hollow that is carved into the clay—the unseen space that defines the bowl’s shape and capacity.’
I am always seeking ways to grasp the ‘unseen space of leadership’. The longer I look, the more I find myself reflecting on lessons in my own education and life experiences. Like all of us, I have as an adult come into contact with, and at times been challenged by, teachers, guides or furtherers, those children and adults who shared the wisdom of life through their own work and way of being and who helped me see how I might probe my capacity through a similar awareness and reflection. The essential qualities of leading and the acts that define a leader are most present to me there in the reflection and resonance of these interactions: the ability to hear what is not said, humility, commitment, the value of looking at reality from diverse perspectives, the awareness to create safe places that invite and cultivate the unique strengths of those around one. Indeed, at the heart of this consciousness seems to be the capacity to be a mirror reflecting what you see and a window viewing what is out there.
Life stories of others have provided me with the inspiration and insight I needed to see that to capture my ‘unseen space of leadership,’ I needed my own stories and my own presence to share those stories. Likewise, they have helped me to see that a school’s potential - the capacity of a place and the solutions to its challenges- lies inside its own distinctive stories and storytellers.
The Wisdom of the Mountain
In ancient China , on top of Mount Ping
Lao-li struggled with his lot for days, nights, months, even years until one morning, the sight of a falling cherry blossom spoke to his heart.
"I can no longer fight my destiny," he reflected. "Like the cherry blossom, I must gracefully resign myself to my lot."
From that moment forth, Lao-li determined to retreat down the mountain, giving up his hope of enlightenment Lao-li searched for Hwan to tell him of his decision. The master sat before a white wall, deep in meditation. Reverently, Lao-li approached him.
"Enlightened one," he said But before he could continue, the master spoke, "Tomorrow I will join you on your journey down the mountain."
No more needed to be said. The great master understood. The next morning, before their descent, the master looked out into the vastness surrounding the mountain peak.
"Tell me, Lao-li," he said, "what do you see?" "Master, I see the sun beginning to wake just below the horizon, meandering hills and mountains that go on for miles, and couched in the valley below, a lake and an old town."
The master listened to Lao-li's response. He smiled, and then they took the first steps of their long descent. Hour after hour, as the sun crossed the sky, they pursued their journey, stopping only once as they approached the foot of the mountain. Again Hwan asked Lao-li to tell him what he saw.
"Great wise one, in the distance I see roosters as they run around barns, cows asleep in sprouting meadows, old ones basking in the late afternoon sun, and children romping by a brook."
The master, remaining silent, continued to walk until they reached the gate to the town. There the master gestured to Lao-li, and together they sat under an old tree.
"What did you learn today, Lao-li?" asked the master. "Perhaps this is the last wisdom I will impart to you."
Silence was Lao-li's response. At last, after long silence, the master continued.
"The road to enlightenment is like the journey down the mountain. It comes only to those who realize that what one sees at the top of the mountain is not what one sees at the bottom. Without this wisdom, we close our minds to all that we cannot view from our position and limit our capacity to grow and improve. But with this wisdom, Lao-li, there comes an awakening. We recognize that alone one sees only so much - which, in truth, is not much at all. This is the wisdom that opens our minds to improvement, knocks down prejudices, and teaches us to respect what at first we cannot view. Never forget this last lesson, Lao-li:
“What you cannot see can be seen from a different part of the mountain."
When the master stopped speaking, Lao-li looked out to the horizon, and as the sun set before him, it seemed to rise in his heart. Lao-li turned to the master, but the great one was gone. So the old Chinese tale ends. But it has been said that Lao-li returned to the mountain to live out his life. He became a great enlightened one.
by W. Chan Kim and Renee A. Mauborgne