Ackerman, Richard H. & Maslin-Ostrowski, Pat (2002)
The Wounded Leader: How Real Leadership Emerges in Times of Crisis.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
For this reviewer, The Wounded Leader was a difficult book to stop reading. The readability results in part from the authors' "case story" approach, an intervention they have pioneered. The case story combines elements of the traditional case study with storytelling. Wounded leaders tell, in their own words, about painful, career-threatening situations. In the case story approach, the role of the person, or facilitator, hearing the story is not to offer advice, but to ask the probing questions that help the person discover his or her own answers. Thus, asking the right questions becomes a key element of healing.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part sets the stage by describing tensions and situations that can leave a leader vulnerable, and by describing the meanings of wounding found in mythology and medicine. The second part is devoted to nine wounded leaders telling their own stories, and these stories are compellingly and vividly told. One superintendent recounts being forced to choose between upholding a court order to desegregate and the wishes of a school board headed by a man who can only be described as villainous. Another dedicated principal fights to improve test scores, only to find that even heroic efforts could not make the scores rise high enough or fast enough to satisfy her supervisor or colleagues. Another principal tells of her inability to prevent a student from entering a life of crime and, more importantly, her lack of power to prevent his inflicting violence on other students. The stories are both unforgettable and moving, but they are not stories with traditional happy endings. Even though the authors claim that the book is "ultimately optimistic," most readers will find the situations described to be discouraging and sobering. The last part of the book explores the questions raised by the stories, discusses some of the lessons that were revealed, and offers suggestions as a "cure" for leadership. There are no easy answers, however, and the authors end by concluding that real leadership is a "very personal matter." The source of optimism is the potential for transformation and growth.
The Wounded Leader is not, however, just highly a readable book. It is also a fine scholarly work, resulting from the authors' ongoing research agenda. A series of four phenomenological studies and their interpretations and reflections on the findings of these studies form the basis of this well-documented and thoroughly researched book.
All libraries serving current or aspiring school administrators should own The Wounded Leader. It is a powerful book, and it may well become a classic.
Pages: 143
Price: $28.00
ISBN: 0-7879-6110-8
Reviewed by Sharon Naylor, Illinois State University
