Leadership is like the Abominable Snowman, whose footprints are "

.everywhere but who is nowhere to be seen" (Bennis and Nanus,1985)

The above statement paved me the road to write my first statement of

educational leadership philosophy. I believe that a good leader is
someone who has certain traits and characteristics that aid him/her in
his/her leadership journey and definitely a group of circumstances and
personal/social experiences that power his/her vision to be an
.understanding ,motivating, and inspiring leader

From my point of view, a good leader must first have a vision of his/her
organization or faculty that relies on shared beliefs and goals among the
whole faculty society. This vision will only come out of shadows when
the leader does his/her best to involve all stakeholders and make sure
that they all share the same beliefs and goals in order to put the right
strategies and be confident that all stakeholders will collaborate to
.achieve the desired goals

Also it is very important to prove to all members of the faculty that

achieving the goals and implementing new strategies do not mean that
the leader is pushing them to the edge of success regardless of their
personal challenges. A leader should emphasize that a good team acts as
one unit, where all members should support, cooperate and collaborate
to implement their shared vision. But at the same time no one should
expect a leader to be an idol, although I believe that a leader should try
to be a one through showing all members whether teachers, admins,
supporting staff or parents that no one in the faculty will be dis-
respected or underestimated, such a behavior will build a strong
.foundation for a good teamwork

Moreover the team members should believe that their leader listens and
cares for all the problems they are facing, their requirements and all the
challenges that might emerge while achieving their objectives and help
them possess an ownership behavior which is believed to drive the
.success of any faculty

According to Mintzberg, 1973 a good leader should also be a good

manager, he concluded that leadership is just one dimension of a
multifaceted management role, which means there is no clear
distinction between the two roles, rather the two roles are
complementary and separating them is dangerous as stated by Gozling
.and Mintzberg, 2003 especially in practice

Indeed a leader should not only be a good manager, but also the one
who inspires and motivate the whole team particularly when working
under stress of financial and economic challenges and even when it is
hard to meet important deadlines with difficulty. For this type of
accomplishment the leader in addition to putting strategic plans and
implementing new strategies that sometimes could be dramatic, but
also should support the innovative ideas of the team and put their
.suggestions into action after fully discussing them with all stakeholders

Putting a statement of leadership philosophy is much beyond writing a

long essay, it is something that summarizes the leader, s beliefs,
thoughts, charisma, and a whole life experience, as I am convinced that
all those factors and even more are mixed together to build a good
leader. Specifically in education a leader with a vision is the one who
understands that learners have different needs, backgrounds, and
mentalities, and that the school is the right place to that should meet
the needs of all the learners whether those needs are academic, artistic,
psychological or simply just life skills, and the most important is to meet
.those needs with high level of respect, understanding and patience
 References

Bennis, W. and Nanus (1985) Leaders: TheStrategies for Taking Charge.

New
York: Harper and
.Row

Gosling, J. and Mintzberg, H. (2003) The FiveMinds of a Manager,

Harvard Business Review, November.

Mintzberg, H. (1973) The Nature ofManagerial Work. New York: Harper

and Row.