Leadership and Social Justice

Leadership and Social Justice are two highly relevant and interlinked terms, concepts, and mental models. More than ever. I have critically looked at both with the help of some insightful articles quoted in the text and at the end, as I think we′re not reflecting enough on the two of them in an integrated manner. I′m very curious about hearing your thoughts! Please join my below discussion and review and share your opinion with us.

Academic Discussion

According to Bell et al (2007), social justice is both a process and a goal. The goal of social justice is a society consisting of members who have full and equal participation to meet their needs. Resources are equally distributed and all members are self-determining, interdependent, safe, and secure. Eacott (2016) argues that (educational) institutions play an important role to propel social and economic advancement. According to him, and I found this argument positively provocative, programs which seek to improve educational leadership and leaders such as professional Master of Business (MBA) programs, doctorates like the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), etc. have not yet delivered the required stimuli and change to create more social justice, since they miss applying a critical lense and creating new knowledge to generate innovative solutions which would challenge the status quo. 

Lumby and Coleman (2007) focus on diversity and its relationship with leadership in education. Leadership, they continue, is defined as the conduct of emotions, thought and actions which are designed to influence others in a chosen direction. I would like to add to this definition, that – in my opinion - leadership should not only influence others in a chosen direction, but moreover in such a way as to achieve a common goal in a sustainable and rewarding manner. Otherwise, and I can observe that often both in professional and private circumstances, people will not buy in and will not be truly engaged and motivated. For good reasons, the role of leadership in relation to diversity is progressively more under scrutiny, as multiple analyses stress that diversity is related to inequity because of differences in the distribution of power and resources. Stovall (2006) argues critical race theory (CRT) as an appropriate theoretical model to address issues of social justice in education. He reasons that communities should engage people through schools and other institutions to utilize CRT where applicable.

Practical Assessment

I′d like to define leadership as a process of social influence towards the achievement of a common goal by leveraging accessible resources in an adequate, sustainable, and responsible manner. Social justice, and here my definition is inspired by the one of Bell et al (2007), strives to create a society consisting of members who have full and equal participation to meet their needs in a democratic, inclusive, and empowering way.

Based on my own professional and personal experience, and in-line with the thinking of Lumby and Coleman (2007), diversity aspects are very relevant to leadership and social justice. A strong concern with diversity is the broad gap between good intentions and actual results; showing that mere goodwill is not good and sufficient enough. Still, and although there is a risk of failure, I reject a pessimistic attitude which would hold me back from questioning and acting. Ultimately, only action can lead to change and improvement. To better succeed, responsible managers and leaders need to appreciate the importance of diversity, thoroughly analyze and understand the various cause-effect cycles which hinder diversity, engage critically and with humility, and postulate diversity in their organizations and teams.

Leaders need to realize that organizations permanently change. Resulting in many diverse and fluid ways of working (Lumby and Coleman, 2007). As a result, leaders – as well as leaders as coaches - are required to lead and coach in different ways in the future. For example, by conceiving leadership as a less hegemonic and a more democratic style. In my understanding, leadership isn′t any longer about generating followers; instead it is about creating communities and to empower its members.

Finally, leaders should abandon false notions of consensus and rather assume ongoing disagreement and discussions as an essential building block of leadership. Leaders as coaches should aspire to become incubators for social justice, they should develop and cultivate a new leadership coaching approach, guiding their team members to question limiting standards, to resist external pressure, and to motivate them to ask the tough questions to evaluate underlying patterns and to challenge injustice. All of that in order of being focused to change the status quo and to strive for social justice in a dynamic and relationship-driven world.

What are your thoughts on Leadership and Social Justice? Thanks for sharing with us by leaving a comment below.

Best,

Andreas

References

Bell, L. A. (2007). Theoretical foundations for social justice education. In M. Adams, L. A. Bell & P. Griffin (Eds.), Teaching for diversity and social justice (2nd ed., pp. 1-14). New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor, and Francis Group.

Coleman, M. (2012). Leadership and diversity. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 40(5), 592-609.

Eacott, S. (2016). Disruptions in production. In A. L. Ellis (Ed.), Ed.D. programs as incubators for social justice leadership (1-13). Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Stovall, D. (2006). Forging community in race and class: Critical race theory and the quest for social justice in education. Race Ethnicity and Education, 9(3), 243-259.

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Andreas von der Heydt is Director of Talent Acquisition & Recruiting at Amazon. Before he held various senior management positions at Amazon and L'Oréal. He's a leadership expert and management coach. Andreas worked and lived in Europe, Australia, the U.S. and Asia. Currently he lives with his wife and daughters in Seattle, USA. Andreas enjoys blogging as a private person here on LinkedIn about various exciting topics. His latest book is about what makes a future leader. All statements made, opinions expressed, etc. in his articles only reflect his personal opinion.

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