WICS: A Model of Educational Leadership by Robert J. Sternberg What are the ingredients of successful the theory of successful intelligence—creative educational leadership? One possible answer intelligence—is discussed in the section on is the WICS model. According to this para- creativity. These abilities are important for digm, to be a highly effective leader, an indi- leaders because they need to be able to re- vidual must possess three key attributes: trieve information relevant to their decisions Wisdom, Intelligence, and Creativity—work- (memory abilities) and analyze and evaluate ing in harmony or Synthesized. (Sternberg different courses of action, whether proposed 2003; Sternberg and Vroom 2002). The skills by themselves or others (analytical abilities). necessary for successful leadership are not innate, but may be developed. Wisdom, in- Academic Intelligence telligence, and creativity, with intelligence at Academic intelligence refers to the coa- the base, to some extent, are forms of devel- lescence of memory and analytical abilities oping expertise (Sternberg 1998; 1999a). to constitute the conventional notion of in- telligence—the abilities needed to recall and INTELLIGENCE recognize, and analyze, evaluate, and judge Intelligence, as conceived of here, is not information. These abilities are typically mea- just intelligence in its conventional narrow sured by quintessential standardized tests. sense—some kind of scientific factor (Jensen Research on the relationship between these 1998; Spearman 1927) or as IQ (Wechsler abilities and leadership, which goes back as 1939). If the conventional intelligence of a far as Stogdill (1948), produces ambiguous leader is significantly higher than that of the results. Though a modest correlation seems people he or she leads, the leader may not to exist between these abilities and leadership connect with those people and, therefore, effectiveness (Stogdill 1948), the correlation become ineffective (Williams and Sternberg is affected by the leader’s stress and other 1988). Accordingly, intelligence should be factors (Fiedler 2002; Fiedler and Link 1994). evaluated in terms of the theory of success- Intelligence seems to have a positive correla- ful intelligence (Sternberg 1999c; 2002c). Suc- tion with leadership effectiveness during low cessful intelligence is the ability to succeed stress conditions, but a negative correlation in life, given one’s own conception of suc- when stress is high. cess, within one’s sociocultural environment. Two aspects of this theory are particularly Practical Intelligence relevant: academic intelligence and practical Past literature has focused on academic intelligence (Neisser 1979). A third aspect of intelligence (IQ) in relation to leadership. The Educational Forum • Volume 68 • Winter 2004 108 ISSUES FORUM Some recent theorists have emphasized of knowledge at his or her disposal, but be other aspects of intelligence, such as emo- unable to use this wisdom effectively. A tional intelligence (Caruso, Mayer, and leader particularly strong in analytical skills Salovey 2002; Goleman 1998) or multiple as well as memory skills may be able to re- intelligences (Gardner 1995). Here, the trieve information and analyze it effectively, emphasis is on practical intelligence, which but may lack practical skills needed to con- has a somewhat different focus than emo- vince others that his or her analysis is cor- tional intelligence. Practical intelligence is rect. A leader strong in memory, analytical, part of successful intelligence and a core and practical skills is most likely to be effec- component of leadership. tive in influencing others. A leader strong in Practical intelligence is the ability to solve practical skills, but not memory and analyti- everyday problems by utilizing knowledge cal skills—in conventional terms, “shrewd,” gained from experience to purposefully but not “smart”—may be effective in getting change oneself to suit the environment (ad- others to go along, but may end up leading aptation), change the environment to suit them astray. oneself (shaping), or find a new environment in which to work (selection). A leader uses Tacit Knowledge these skills to manage oneself, manage oth- Much of the knowledge associated with ers, and manage tasks. successful problem solving can be character- Effectiveness in “transactional leader- ized as tacit—not openly expressed or stated. ship” (Avolio, Bass, and Jung 1999; Bass 1998; Individuals typically acquire this type of Bass 2002) is derived, in large part, from the knowledge through their own experiences, adaptive function of practical intelligence. though it can be acquired through formal Transactional leaders are generally adapters, training. Individuals draw on this broad base working with their followers toward the of knowledge in solving practical problems. mutual fulfillment of essential contractual Research on expert knowledge is consistent obligations. These leaders typically specify with this concept; experts draw on a well- role and task requirements and provide re- developed repertoire of knowledge in re- wards based on desired performance. They sponding to problems in their respective do- also may manage by exception, monitoring mains (Scribner 1986). That knowledge tends standards and intervening when standards to be procedural in nature and to operate are not met. outside of focal awareness (Chi, Glaser, and Different combinations of intellectual Farr 1988), as well as to reflect the structure skills engender different types of leadership. of the situation more closely than it does the Leaders vary in their memory skills, analyti- structure of formal, disciplinary knowledge cal skills, and practical skills. A leader par- (Groen and Patel 1988). ticularly strong in memory skills, but not The term “tacit knowledge” has roots in other types of skills, may have vast amounts works on the philosophy of science (Polanyi 1966), ecological psychology (Neisser 1976), Robert J. Sternberg is IBM Professor of and organizational behavior (Schön 1983), Psychology and Education in the Depart- and has been used to characterize knowledge ment of Psychology at Yale University and that has an implicit, unarticulated quality and Director of the Yale PACE Center. He also is the 2003 President of the American that has been acquired from everyday expe- Psychological Association (APA), as well riences. This knowledge is necessary to suc- as Editor of The APA Review of Books: ceed in a job, but is not explicitly taught. The Contemporary Psychology. role of tacit knowledge in everyday problem The Educational Forum • Volume 68 • Winter 2004 109 STERNBERG solving is often reflected in the common lan- people by their ability to influence rather guage of the workplace as people attribute than their agenda. successful performance to “learning by do- A confluence model of creativity ing,” “professional intuition,” or “instinct.” (Sternberg and Lubart 1996) suggests that Tacit knowledge is an aspect of practical creative leaders show a variety of character- intelligence that enables individuals to adapt istics. These characteristics represent not in- to, select, and shape real-world environments nate abilities, but, largely, a decision to be cre- (Sternberg and Horvath 1999; Sternberg, ative (Sternberg 2000). These leaders exhibit Forsythe, Hedlund, Horvath, Snook, Wil- a creative attitude toward life, and among liams, Wagner, and Grigorenko 2000; Wagner their attributes, they often: and Sternberg 1985). It is knowledge learned •are willing to defy the crowd; from experience and applied in the pursuit •are courageous and stand up for their of personally valued goals. Research by convictions; Sternberg and his colleagues (Sternberg, •redefine problems; Wagner, and Okagaki 1993; Sternberg, •recognize how knowledge can both Wagner, Williams, and Horvath 1995) help and hinder creative thinking (Frensch showed that tacit knowledge has relevance and Sternberg 1989; Sternberg 1985); in understanding successful performance in •take sensible risks; a variety of domains and tends to: •surmount obstacles; •increase with experience—though •believe in their ability to accomplish what matters is not necessarily the amount the task at hand (self-efficacy) (Bandura 1997); of experience but rather how well one takes •tolerate ambiguity; advantage of it; •find extrinsic rewards for things they •correlate only modestly, if at all, with are intrinsically motivated to do; and traditional measures of intelligence and per- •continue to grow intellectually rather sonality; than stagnate. •predict job performance as well as or The creative leadership one exercises can better than conventional tests of intelligence; be of different kinds (Sternberg 1999b, and Sternberg 2002a; Sternberg, Kaufman, and •predict job performance incrementally Pretz 2002), as described in the following over conventional tests—that is, provide sig- paragraphs. nificant prediction beyond what can be ob- Replications. Leaders who are replicators tained from such tests. basically work from someone else’s script. They recycle existing ideas, largely in their CREATIVITY original form, and adapt them to new situa- Creativity refers to skill in generating tions. They imitate someone or otherwise do ideas and products that are relatively novel, what has been done in the past. A university high in quality, and appropriate to the task administrator, for example, might simply at hand. Because creativity generates ideas decide to continue the policies of his or her that others will follow, it is an important predecessor with as little modification as component for leadership. A leader who is possible. practically intelligent may get people to go Redefinitions. This type of leader uses ex- along with ideas, but those ideas may be isting ideas in a new form or way. Redefiners inferior or stale. Many leaders who are in- typically accept the status quo, but may give telligent academically and even practi- it a new name or description. They also may cally—but are uncreative—essentially lead view existing ideas differently than others. The Educational Forum • Volume 68 • Winter 2004 110 ISSUES FORUM Redefiners are sometimes described as going, but beginning at a point that most people who present old wine in new bottles, people had long ago abandoned. Regressive because their ideas are repackaging of already redirectors argue that a past system of man- existing concepts. A university administra- agement or government was superior to the tor, for example, might give a new name to present one, and lead on the basis of that an existing program, or continue the program earlier system. A college administrator for reasons different from might decide, for ex- those for which the program ample, that the more tra- was initiated. ditional curriculum for- Forward incrementations. merly offered by his or This type of leadership in- her college is superior to volves moving things the Practical intelligence is the modern offerings, next step in the direction in and revert to former which things have been part of successful educational programs. moving. Leaders who use Reinitiation. A leader intelligence and a core forward incrementations who reinitiates starts adhere to old patterns, but component of leadership. from a point beyond do not necessarily replicate where things are pres- them. A university admin- ently, and moves for- istrator, for example, might ward in a different direc- lead people toward the tion. Reinitiators do not next step in the reform accept the current direc- policies set by a predecessor. tion, nor the current starting point or basic Advance forward incrementations. This in- assumptions. Such leaders accept practi- volves moving things forward in the current cally nothing from the past and tend to direction, but also advancing several steps shake things up as they move in a direc- forward—often beyond where others are tion they alone have set. A university ad- ready to follow. Leaders who use advance ministrator might decide, for example, to forward incrementations try moving so far, try to privatize a public institution. very fast, so quickly that they sometimes lose Syntheses. Synthesizers put together ideas their followers in the process. For example, a from different paradigms or ways of think- university administrator might decide to in- ing that previously have not been integrated. crease drastically research productivity ex- These leaders see value in integrating mul- pectations from faculty members who are tiple existing procedures or techniques of inadequately trained or constrained by time. other leaders to generate new approaches. A Redirections. Redirectors are unhappy university administrator might decide for with where things are going, so they attempt instance, to combine aspects of traditional to steer followers in another direction. A uni- and modern curricula rather than emphasize versity administrator, for example, might one or the other. decide at any given point to eliminate a com- While some leaders transform an orga- petitive intramural athletics program, or to nization through their creative contributions, begin weighing teaching experience more others do not. Though transformation is not seriously in tenure consideration where only necessary in every leadership situation, lead- research mattered previously. ers who are long remembered, in most cases, Regressive redirection. This involves are those who transformed organizations or changing the direction in which things are ways of thinking. The Educational Forum • Volume 68 • Winter 2004 111 STERNBERG A transformational leader always will be he or she uses successful intelligence and creative to some degree, but may or may not experience, moderated by values, to (a) be particularly wise. Transformational lead- seek to reach a common good; (b) balance ers who are low or lacking in wisdom are not intrapersonal (one’s own), interpersonal in any sense “pseudo-transformational” as (others’), and extrapersonal (organiza- opposed to “authentically transformational.” tional/institutional/spiritual) interests They genuinely may effect transformations, over the short and long term; and (c) adapt but not wise ones. For example, some Afri- to, shape, and select environments. can leaders in the latter half Wise leaders do not of the 20th century adopted look out just for their Marxist-Leninist ideas that, own interests, nor do poorly implemented, drove they ignore those inter- economically marginal Wise leaders do not look ests. Rather, they skill- countries into profound im- fully balance interests of poverishment. These leaders out just for their own varying kinds, including authentically transformed their own, those of their interests, nor do they their countries, but for the followers, and those of worse, as have many unwise ignore those interests. the organization for corporate leaders in the which they are respon- United States. Wise transfor- sible. They also recog- mational leaders are rare. nize the need to align the Nelson Mandela, one such interests of their group uncommon leader, imple- or organization with mented a largely successful policy of forgive- those of other groups or organizations be- ness and reconciliation that is practically cause no group operates within a vacuum. unique among modern heads of state. Further, wise leaders realize that what may Research on creativity (Lubart and appear to be a prudent course of action over Sternberg 1995) has yielded several conclu- the short term does not necessarily appear sions. First, creativity often involves defy- so over the long term. ing the crowd. Creative leaders are good Less successful leaders often have ig- investors, buying low and selling high in nored another set of interests. For example, the world of ideas. Second, creativity is rela- Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, in their re- tively domain specific. Third, creativity is spective cover-ups, not only failed to fulfill weakly related to academic intelligence, but the interests of their country, but also failed is not the same thing. In general, there ap- to fulfill their own interests. Their cover-ups pears to be a threshold of IQ for creativity, bogged down their administrations in scan- but it is probably about 120 or even lower dals and stood in the way of positive accom- (Sternberg and O’Hara 2000). plishments. Freud was a leader in the fields of psychiatry and psychology, but lost the WISDOM support of his disciples by insisting they con- A leader can have intelligence and cre- form to his own system of psychoanalysis. ativity and still lack arguably the most im- Motivated more by hubris than by France’s portant, but perhaps the rarest, leadership need to have Russia in its empire, Napoleon’s quality—wisdom. According to a proposed invasion of Russia partially destroyed his balance theory of wisdom (Sternberg 1998; reputation as a successful military leader and 2000), an individual is wise to the extent paved the way for his later downfall. The Educational Forum • Volume 68 • Winter 2004 112 ISSUES FORUM Indeed, relatively few leaders at any other people, and wisdom to make the ideas level are particularly wise. Yet, the few lead- work for everyone’s benefit. If even one of ers who are notably so—Nelson Mandela, these ingredients is lacking, the leader dimin- Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, ishes his or her favorable position to lead ef- and Winston Churchill—left an indelible fectively. Leaders who do not have high lev- mark on the people they led and on his- els of all these skills need to capitalize on their tory. It is important to note that wise lead- strengths and find ways to compensate for ers usually are charismatic, but charismatic their weaknesses, usually through the assis- leaders are not necessarily tance of able advisors. wise as demonstrated by Hitler, Stalin, and certain A leader can have FINAL THOUGHTS other charismatic leaders. No model of leader- intelligence and Unsuccessful leaders ship fully captures all often display stereotypical creativity and still have the many facets—both fallacies in their thinking; internal and external to arguably the most five such flaws (Sternberg the individual—that 2002b) should be consid- make for a successful important but perhaps ered. The first, unrealistic- leader. The WICS model optimism fallacy, occurs the rarest leadership may come close, how- when leaders think they are ever, in capturing im- quality—wisdom. so smart and effective that portant dimensions. they can do whatever they The WICS model, please. The second, “ego- which is related to centrism fallacy,” describes successful lead- many other models, incorporates elements ers who think that only they matter, not the of transformational as well as transactional people who rely on them. The third, “om- leadership (Bass 1998; Bass and Avolio niscience fallacy,” occurs when leaders 1994), emotionally intelligent leadership think they know everything, and lose sight (Goleman 1998), visionary leadership of their own limitations. The fourth, “om- (Sashkin 1988), and charismatic leadership nipotence fallacy,” portrays leaders who (Conger and Kanungo 1998; Weber 1968). think they are all-powerful and can do Eventually a model of leadership will whatever they want. And the fifth, “invul- emerge that integrates all the strengths of nerability fallacy,” happens when leaders these various models. In the meantime, the think they can get away with anything, con- WICS model seems like a starting place. sider themselves too clever to be caught, and even if caught, figure they can get away The preparation of this article was sup- with it because of who they imagine them- ported by Contract MDA 903-92-K-0125 selves to be. from the U.S. Army Research Institute. Cor- respondence about the article should be SYNTHESIS sent to Robert J. Sternberg, PACE Center, The elements of the WICS model work Yale University, Box 208358, New Haven, together. A successful leader, according to Conn. 06520-8358. All work done at the the model, needs creativity to generate PACE Center represents the cumulative good ideas, academic intelligence to ascer- input of many people over a period of tain whether those ideas are good, practi- many years. I am grateful to all my col- cal intelligence to know how to persuade leagues for their collaborations. The Educational Forum • Volume 68 • Winter 2004 113 STERNBERG REFERENCES Avolio, B. J., B. M. Bass, and D. I. Jung. 1999. Reexamining the practical thought. In Practical intelligence: Nature and ori- components of transformational and transactional lead- gins of competence in the everyday world, ed. R. J. Sternberg ership using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. and R. K. Wagner, 13–30. 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