Barbara Kellerman

The recent literature on public leadership: Reviewed and considered

Abstract The purpose of the article is to review the academic literature on public leadership. The discussion is generally confined to books and articles in which leadership in the public realm is explicitly at the center of the discussion; and it is limited to materials published in 1999 and 2000. The literature on leadership is divided into five groups: individuals, groups/organizations, nations, transnational arrangements, and cross-cutting themes (diversity, ethics, mass movements). The article concludes by noting that although the literature on public leadership, at least as generated by contemporary academicians, remains meager, it is growing in richness and diversity. In fact, this review demonstrates that scholars, teachers, and practitioners have a range of relevant materials from which to draw information and ideas. An enormous amount of work remains to be done before the literature on public leadership reaches a critical mass. But some good work is being accomplished in a field that is clearly expanding, and that is of increasing interest to constituencies both within and outside academia.

Leading questions: The end of leadership – redux

The article proposes that patterns of dominance and deference have changed throughout human history. It further proposes that in the last half century such change has – due to culture and technology – accelerated. These fundamental shifts have not, however, had an impact on the leadership industry, which continues, erroneously, to presume that leaders are all-important, that followers are unimportant, and that context is other than central. It is concluded that leadership education and development must themselves adapt to the changing times – times in which leaders generally are losing power and influence, while followers generally are gaining.

Mentoring in Political Life: The Case of Willy Brandt

Mentoring relationships have a qualitative impact on the transition from early to middle adulthood, as well as on adult life itself. This paper proposes that the exploration of the role of mentors in the lives of political leaders will produce suggestive results. The study is a case history which examines the mentor in the early and later life of the adult male, here Willy Brandt. Brandt had two mentors: Julius Leber and Ernst Reuter. Reuter is briefly discussed but we focus here on the first of these, Leber, a prominent Social Democrat during the Weimar era and a legendary member of the German resistance. The essay describes the origins, nature and termination of the Brandt-Leber relationship. The influence of the mentor on the mentee transcended the period of their actual interaction and, as the paper procedes to demonstrate, the intensity of the relationship ensured that Brandts self-image as Lebers heir continued to affect both professional and ideological choices.

Former Duke & Wellesley President, Nannerl Keohane, offers candid reflections on life, leadership, and the promising future of higher education with Frank Shushok

11 ABOUT CAMPUS / JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2017 THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM ABOUT women in higher education is upbeat. Women are moving up, barriers are coming down, and full equality is just around the corner. Moreover, many people believe that the leadership pipeline will take care of any remaining inequities. We question these conclusions and offer a more sober assessment of the status of women in higher education, especially women in positions of leadership. Yet while our focus is on women in higher education, whatever we have to say about this particular pipeline applies equally to the professions more generally. The theory is that over time, a larger number of women on lower rungs of organizational hierarchies will yield a larger number of women on higher ones. This presumes, first, that since women and men have similar qualifications, once women are in the system, they will ascend to the top at a rate similar to that of men. It presumes, second, an absence of gender bias—namely, that no gender stereotypes will impede women ’ s progress. The pipeline presumes, third, that in spite of the differences between genders, organizational systems and structures work as well for women as they do for men. Finally, it presumes patience—that women ’ s equal representation at the top is simply a matter of time. The trouble is that the pipeline is a pipe dream. Since the theory achieved currency more than 30 years ago, the number of women in positions of leadership and management has remained dauntingly and depressingly low. Although the figures change slightly from year to year, in 2016 women held a mere four percent of Fortune 500 CEO and Fortune 1000 positions. Moreover, as researchers at Catalyst and elsewhere confirm, women ’ s representation is strikingly low not only at the highest levels but also at those immediately below. Women hold less than 15 percent of executive officer positions at Fortune 500 companies—and one quarter of these companies have no women serving in these positions at all. Women as board members fare only slightly better, constituting about 16 percent of corporate boards. Additionally, for the last few years, these numbers have remained stagnant or inched up only slightly, as have the numbers of American women who are high earners—in the US, women hold just 8 percent of the top earning jobs. Women at the Top: The Pipeline as Pipe Dream Barbara Kellerman and Deborah L. Rhode question the conventional belief that the “leadership pipeline” of women coming up through the ranks will solve gender inequity at all levels. They recommend the creation of rigorous, significant leadership curricula focused on women and leadership to create future women leaders.

The president abroad: Leadership at the international level

Abstract The article explores the president as an agent of change in world politics, both during and after the Cold War. It is argued that although leadership at the international level is a two step process involving support at home as well as abroad, executives who marshall the range of resources at their disposal are in a relatively good position to exercise power and influence. Indeed, of the presidents since Kennedy more than half have been able to realize their most important foreign policy goals. This record of success suggests that in fact world leadership may actually be easier than domestic leadership—or, at least, that Americans elect presidents who perform better abroad than they do at home.

Leadership–It's a System, Not a Person!

This article argues that the leadership industry has been beset by a bias. This bias has been directed toward leaders and away from two other variables that equally pertain–and that equally explain the trajectory of human history. The first is followers, or others who are in any way relevant, even if passively. And the second is contexts, within which leaders and followers necessarily are embedded. Together these three parts, each of which is equally important and each of which impinges equally on the other two, make up the leadership system. This article suggests that the approximately forty-year-old leadership industry has paid a heavy price for its obsession with leaders at the expense of whoever/whatever else matters. For the industry has not in any major, measurable way improved the human condition, which is precisely why it should be reconsidered and reconceived.

Certain Trumpets: The Call of Leaders

Winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Lincoln at Gettysburg, Garry Wills now considers one of historys most emotionally charged topics: Leadership. Presenting portraits of FDR, Ross Perot, King David, Martha Graham, and many others, Wills offers a lens for studying society and ourselves.