The Leader Reader: Narratives of Experiences

Our book begins with a question. What was your leadership moment? And from that leadership moment emerges a leadership narrative often followed up with an individual or collective realization that the leadership trajectory represents an ongoing, iterative process of learning leadership lessons from leadership moments. We learn leadership by engaging in leadership and by sharing our narratives. We connect leadership theories to leadership practices while becoming scholar-practitioners and, over time, we develop an extensive inventory and repertoire of leadership skills, knowledge, traits, and principles. Leadership moments become the leadership lens through which we engage with colleagues, community, and organizations; they demonstrate a deep commitment to bigger picture, longer term, and greater good goals. Leadership is a process whether we are engaging with others formally or informally. Someone very influential in my career trajectory often framed leadership as a paradoxical combination of energy, tenacity, joy, and passion. The superbly crafted insights from contributors to this volume demonstrate these attributes in abundance.