Leadership Metaphors in Public and Organizational Life
Leadership Metaphors Defined
Metaphors open windows onto reality. They identify the unknown from the known, the novel from the familiar. They link the well established with the less well understood.
A metaphor, in short, tells us something new about reality. “A tractor is a machine” is a literal statement about a direct perception. “Life is a machine” is a metaphor. The metaphor anchors a direct experience to something that goes well beyond it.
Different metaphors yield different realities, resulting in different perceptions of what is really going on. Is a business’s orienting metaphor "journey" or is it something else---say a belief that a business is an organic system? Very different ideas and actions will arise from different metaphors.
Six Metaphors for Leadership
by Bob Terry
The six metaphors I have selected are the ones that I believe are shaping current leadership and public policy debates and that I believe ought to shape those debates. Ethical principles and metaphors live in a reciprocal relationship. Principles legitimate actions; metaphors direct and interpret actions.
When our ethical principles are known, we can make preliminary judgments about appropriate metaphors. However, metaphors themselves enrich the ethical principles, bring them to life, and trace out their significance for action. The metaphors I have selected also relate to and inform the generic features of action.
The six metaphors are:
- Life is a gift (existence)
- Life is a market (resources)
- Life is an organic body (structure)
- Life is ups versus downs (power)
- Life is a journey (mission)
- Life is art (meaning)
Leadership Metaphors is available as a downloadable ebook. Includes Discussion Guide.
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Leadership, Metaphors and Authenticity
Each of the six leadership metaphors corresponds with one of the dimensions of the Authentic Action Wheel.
The Action Wheel Manual, PowerPoint presentation and Action Wheel Assessment
will help you and your group or organization make use of Bob Terry's insightful teaching and training on all of the components of authentic leadership action.
Related Links:
Authentic Leadership: Courage in Action
Seven Zones for Leadership
On Being a Secular Theologian
For Whites Only
Leadership Choices
Leadership Metaphors
Leadership Ethics
Leadership Paradox
More leadership ebooks
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