I've decided to enroll with Professor Rodney Muth for this course. I will reproduce here Professor Muth's approach to leadership and innovation in his own words:

"I am a pragmatist whose past reviews of leadership research in educational leadership have found the nature, assumptions, and questions of this research wanting. My perspective is that leaders emerge, are not imposed, and differ significantly from "heads" who occupy authoritative (sometimes) positions but are too often said to be "leaders." . . . The purpose of leadership is a significant determinant of how leader-follower-leader relations emerge and are transformed. And relationships are critical! . . .

The texts that are required to be read for the seminar are listed on the other links.

My first PP presentation to colleagues on September 16, 2002 provides an interpretation of a definition of leadership as 'a dynamic function of relationships that may not always correspond to formal roles or job titles'. The hypothesis that I articulate here stems from my limited understanding of humanistic psychology based on the writings of Carl Rogers. Cashman's (1998) book, Leadership from the Inside Out, has its foundations on the principles of interpersonal relationships enunciated by Carl Rogers since his first writings in 1937-1938. Unlike the 'name dropping' technique used by Cashman to validate various ideas in his book, Rogers' (1980, p. 39) 'home-grown brand of existential philosophy' provides the "necessary and sufficient conditions" for significant personality change. His ideas on relationship and its importance for the growth and development of individuals were built over years of genuine self-reflection and observation of his interviews with his clients. Rogers has repeatedly highlighted the importance of personal attitudes over professional training in these writings. Although these characteristics such as genuineness, caring and empathy might be thought of as being subjective, relationship inventories designed by Barrett-Lennard (1962, quoted by Rogers, 1969, pp. 116-117) have found that individuals who possess high degree of these traits score high on these inventories and are able to bring out the best in people they interact with.

Cashman (1998, p. 15) in his introduction to his book proposes that the reader 'will take a reflective journey to foster the personal awakening needed to enhance our leadership effectiveness'. The humanistic school that became popular since 1960s with the writings of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow has encouraged the development of the individuals and their self-actualization. I will elaborate below my readings of Rogers to validate this statement.

In his very first book Counseling and Psychotherapy in 1942, Rogers underscores his conviction that the potential for enriching oneself lies with the individual. Rogers (1942, p. 436) concluded that among other changes, the client "of his own choice selects the 'more weighty satisfactions', around which he can integrate his activities, implements his new choices by means of positive plans and acquires the confidence in his ability to direct his own life".

He developed his ideas on non-directive counseling further with his numerous publications and shifted the focus away from tests, cumulative records and counselors to the learner and conditions that can facilitate learning. In the book Freedom To Learn published in 1969, Rogers (1969, pp. 105-304), argues that the aims of education should be the facilitation of learning and development of individuals who are open to change. At the present time, a knowledge-based economy that relies more on globalization and efficient dissemination, access and analysis of information has replaced the old industrial economy based on assembly-line production. By focusing on personal change and growth, leaders and individuals will be able to cope reasonably with the challenges of this information era.

This paradigm shift globally, away from an industrial era, makes these Rogerian principles, which enunciate the concepts of interpersonal relationships, human development and significant learning assume added significance because they attempt to develop the whole person. In his book A Way of Being, Rogers (1980, pp. 194-195) argues that the values that individuals experience are likely to be enhanced over those which are imposed. Instead of seeking to control by authority, if individuals are provided the right conditions, they will be 'more effective and constructive'. (ibid, p. 201).

For the references, please see the Annotated Bibliography.