Literature and Leadership—do they still relate?

Human beings think, perceive, imagine and make moral choices

According to narrative structures.

Theodore Sarbin, Narrative Psychology, as quoted by Joanne Cooper in The Constructivist Leader

When I began to write fiction, I altered my web site from a singular focus on Leadership to “Literature and Leadership.” Since then, my posts have most often focused on one or the other—and, sometimes a blend of the two.  Mary Gardner and I (with the assistance of our friend Maxine Greene) realized some time ago that “imagination” provokes and deepens compassion and empathy. Our imagination expresses itself in so many ways, especially through art and literature, creativity and innovation (see this lengthy discussion in our Women’s Ways of Leading). Clearly—without question—imagination is a nearly magical connection between leadership and literature.  And, compassion and empathy ought to be our political litmus test.

A second critical bridge that links literature and leadership is the nature of narrative.  By “narrative,” I mean here a written account of connected events—a story. Joanne Cooper has reminded us that stories express and remind us of who we are—they give meaning to our lives and contain the meanings of our histories. Yet stories are fluid, open to reinterpretation as we mature.  Stories contain our metaphors of self. No group of peoples understand this better than Native Americans.  Fortunately, Joanne and Mary will be contributing to the third edition of The Constructivist Leader.

Imagination and narrative—at this moment these two concepts stand out as  essential links between literature and leadership. What do you think?

Linda

 

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 6th, 2011 at 11:05 am and is filed under Education, Fiction, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.