Leadership and the Liberal Arts: Achieving the Promise of a Liberal Education PDF
Preview Leadership and the Liberal Arts: Achieving the Promise of a Liberal Education
Leadership and the Liberal Arts Jepson Studies in Leadership Series Editors: George R. Goethals, Terry L. Price, and J. Thomas Wren Jepson Studies in Leadership is dedicated to the interdisciplinary pursuit of important ques- tions related to leadership. In its approach, the series reflects the broad-based commit- ment to the liberal arts of the University of Richmond’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies. The series thus aims to publish the best work on leadership not only from man- agement and organizational studies but also such fields as economics, English, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, and religion. In addition to monographs and edited collections on leadership, included in the series are volumes from the Jepson Colloquium, which brings together influential scholars from multiple disciplines to think collectively about distinctive leadership themes in politics, science, civil society, and cor- porate life. The books in the series should be of interest to humanists and social scientists, as well as to organizational theorists and instructors teaching in business, leadership, and professional programs. Books appearing in this series: The Values of Presidential Leadership edited by Terry L. Price and J. Thomas Wren Leadership and the Liberal Arts: Achieving the Promise of a Liberal Education edited by J. Thomas Wren, Ronald E. Riggio, and Michael A. Genovese Leadership and the Liberal Arts Achieving the Promise of a Liberal Education Edited by J. Thomas Wren, Ronald E. Riggio, and Michael A. Genovese LEADERSHIP AND THE LIBERAL ARTS Copyright © J. Thomas Wren, Ronald E. Riggio, and Michael A. Genovese, 2009. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-0-230-61228-0 All rights reserved. First published in April 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-37707-7 ISBN 978-0-230-62014-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230620148 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: April 2009 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 C O N T E N T S Figures and Tables vii Foreword ix Kenneth P. Ruscio Acknowledgments xv Introduction 1 J. Thomas Wren, Ronald E. Riggio, and Michael A. Genovese Part I The Link between Liberal Learning and Leadership One Reinventing the Liberal Arts through Leadership 13 J. Thomas Wren Two The Liberal Arts and Leadership Learning 37 Thomas E. Cronin Three Can Study of the Liberal Arts Prepare Both Effective Leaders and Productive Citizens? 55 Richard Ekman Part II Integrating Leadership into the Liberal Arts and Sciences Four General Education as the Nexus between the Liberal Arts and Leadership Studies 67 Gama Perruci vi Contents Five Learning Leadership Discipline by Discipline: Cultivating Metaphors for Leadership through the Study of the Liberal Arts 81 Elisabeth Muhlenfeld Six Liberal Education, Leadership, and Values 97 Richard L. Morrill Seven Leadership and the Humanities 117 Jean Bethke Elshtain Part III Implementing the Study of Leadership in the Liberal Arts Eight Using Thick Intellectual History to Teach Leadership: Implications of the Carlyle-Mill Exchange 129 Sandra J. Peart and David M. Levy Nine Leadership, Liberal Arts, and the Cultivation of Democratic Citizenship 145 Michael A. Genovese Ten Forever Becoming Leader 163 John A. Roush Eleven Leadership Is the Practice of the Liberal Arts 177 James Maroosis Twelve Assessing the Impact of Liberal Arts-based Leadership Education 203 Ronald E. Riggio Conclusion Leadership and the Liberal Arts: Moving Forward 213 J. Thomas Wren, Ronald E. Riggio, and Michael A. Genovese List of Contributors 217 Index 223 F I G U R E S A N D T A B L E S Figures 8.1 Shooting Niagra: And after? 138 8.2 Dr. Dulcamara in Dublin 139 8.3 Mill’s Logic; or Franchise for Females 140 8.4 Exchange 141 Tables 8.1 The debate over human nature 133 9.1 Views of the public at large regarding the functions of public education 147 F O R E W O R D Kenneth P. Ruscio Early in my career, a philosopher friend of mine explained a liberal arts education to me in these terms: it enables individuals to develop a commitment to something greater than the self. Admittedly, there is much more to be said about an approach to education, which although a relatively recent development in the course of intellectual history, has become the predominant educational influence in the Western world and certainly in American higher education. When all is said and done, however, the success of a liberal arts education can be measured by a simple yet ironic dynamic. An individual discovers his own individu- ality by directing his attention toward others, recognizing a common humanity with people who may seem very different, and realizing that the mark of a life well-lived is what we contribute to the betterment of those around us. It is as good a capsule summary of the meaning and purpose of a liberal arts education as I have found. And I have looked far and wide and continue to do so. When I came to the Jepson School of Leadership Studies in 2002 to begin what turned out to be a four- year tenure as dean, the school was celebrating its tenth anniversary. Its faculty had already made their mark on the field of leadership studies. Its young graduates had compiled an impressive list of accomplishments in business, government, and the nonprofit sector. But for all that ini- tial success, the school’s identity was still taking shape. I recall a con- versation with a trustee soon after arriving at the university. “Jepson needs an elevator talk,” he instructed me. I understood his point, but I prayed that if I ever had to tell the Jepson story during an elevator ride, it would be in a very tall building. It was difficult to explain our philosophy, not because the faculty and students were confused about it, but rather because the concept of leadership itself carried so many x Foreword connotations. You had to tailor the explanation to the preconceived notions of the particular audience you were addressing, whether it was business managers, political officials, community activists, clergy, or any one of a hundred possible groups who knew or thought they knew exactly what the term leadership meant. Adding to the challenge was Jepson’s determination to take a different approach. Leadership educa- tion from the Jepson perspective was not primarily about imparting a set of skills. It was not about introducing students to the top ten lessons of effective leadership. It was not about helping students go through an introspective process of self-discovery. Instead I found myself describ- ing a Jepson education as one that enabled an individual to develop a commitment greater than the self. We had positioned ourselves at the intersection of liberal arts and leadership. We were not alone, of course. Programs such as the Kravis Leadership Institute at Claremont-McKenna College and the Institute for Leadership Studies at Loyola Marymount University became especially close allies, as this volume and the partnership that formed the Keck program make abundantly clear. And indeed it is hard to find any college with a liberal arts emphasis whose mission statement or statement of purpose does not somewhere refer to preparing future leaders for lives of responsibility and for understanding their obligations to others. But those statements had become boilerplate platitudes, lofty aspirations carved into the rhe- torical monuments of catalogs and brochures and far removed from the reality of day-to-day practice. Spinning off in one direction were the liberal arts disciplines, separated into their departments, becoming more and more balkanized, driven less by broad intellectual and educational goals such as critical and ethical reasoning and more by demands of the discipline and the academic profession. Spinning off in another direc- tion were various professional or even “applied” programs that drew their inspiration instead from the problems and issues of certain voca- tional domains. In the cross currents, multidisciplinary and interdisci- plinary subjects, such as leadership, were difficult to address. Historic liberal arts goals, such as preparing students for lives of consequence and meaning, were overwhelmed by the narrow questions of the disciplines or the pressing problems of the day confronted by those in professions such as law or business. One of the purposes of this project and this vol- ume in particular is to provide at least one small but hopefully signifi- cant corrective. In 2005, the W.M. Keck Foundation awarded Jepson, the Kravis Institute, and the Institute for Leadership Studies a three-year grant, the goal of which was to add courses with a major new focus to our curricula, and to engage and assist other colleges interested in
The list of books you might like
