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 LEADERSHIP
THROUGH TRUST
Leveraging
Performance and
Spanning Cultural
Boundaries

Gus Gordon
Leadership through Trust
 Gus Gordon

Leadership through
Trust
Leveraging Performance and Spanning Cultural
Boundaries
Gus Gordon
University of Texas at Tyler
Tyler, TX, USA

ISBN 978-3-319-56954-3 ISBN 978-3-319-56955-0 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-56955-0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017940210

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

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 To my wife, Jaromey, who inspires trust.
And to Thurmon Williams, who demonstrates that perfect balance of
toughness and compassion in leadership.
 Preface

This book merely adds a drop in the ocean of literature already written
on leadership. The difference I hope to make with this book is the con-
nection of the theory of leadership to the practice of leadership as a lived
experience. I have been fortunate in that I have a foot in both worlds
and hope to make a difference with academics who teach and research
leadership, as well as practitioners.
Many books on leadership by, or about, famous and effective leaders
in business, military, and political life relate successful tales of effective
leaders in various situations and contexts. These books highlight lead-
ers’ personality traits and successful strategies for leading organizations
and people toward success. If these books have a deficiency, from an aca-
demic standpoint, it is their lack of grounding in theory.
The result is a varied mix of tales of great leaders in various contexts.
Many readers can relate to these books on the basis of profession, con-
text, and/or personality or character traits. However, unless a reader can
relate to a specific similar profession, context, situation, or personality
and character trait, these books may have limited meaning since they lack
a theoretical underpinning that can provide universal insight and under-
standing to all readers.
Nevertheless, leadership studied purely as an academic concept is
abstract. Often books and research articles are littered with the “dos”
and “don’ts” of leadership and flowery statements grounded in purely
academic terms. Leadership, as practiced in a world chock full of random

vii
viii Preface

events and unpredictable personalities, becomes exponentially more

problematic than theory. Most of these books lack the ability to discuss
the practice of leadership from ground level, where the “rubber meets
the road,” except by relating stories or cases of leaders that the authors
are telling second or third hand.
Academic researchers on leadership have noted that the concept of
effective leadership is not coherently linked to a specific theory, nor is
there agreement among researchers about how the leadership process
functions. Therefore, leadership remains something of a mystery despite
the hundreds of thousands of pages written about it.
Leadership is an art—just like life. It cannot be reduced to a recipe
of dos and don’ts or a set of mechanical behaviors. Nor can it be fully
explained by a theory. My thesis is that there is one key ingredient to sus-
tain effective leadership—trust. However, the construct of trust embraces
a myriad of concepts that are complicated by interaction with varied per-
sonalities and situations encountered in real life.
My intention, as an academic who left academia to co-found and lead
an enterprise that grew from 0 to 700 employees in 15 years, is to bridge
the gap of abstract leadership concepts to practical application and imple-
mentation of leadership, in a non-sterile real world, as a lived experience.
My hope is to enrich the study of leadership by discussing it from both
the academic and the practitioner view point. Accordingly, this book
draws on both my academic research and my active participation as a
leader from a “lived experience” perspective.
Furthermore, as the world shrinks through global commerce, cross-
cultural understanding of business practices, management and leadership
becomes increasingly important. This is true even in a single coun-
try as immigrants enter the workforce. Effective leadership necessitates
the ability to relate across cultures in order to leverage leadership skills.
My experience as founder and CEO of a company located in Southern
Mexico also enables me to bridge the divide between cross-culture the-
ory and practice.

Personal Leadership Motivations

For those who want to become effective leaders, my advice is to begin
with an introspective journey to answer the question: Why do I want to
be a leader? If the honest answer is: to be the “boss”, to occupy the top
of the chain of command, to be respected, to be feared, to be loved, to
 Preface ix

be the decision-maker, or anything similar to these responses—I doubt

you will be successful. All of these responses derive from a malignant
motivation, at least as it relates to effective leadership—ego.
In my opinion, effective leadership cannot be sustained if the motiva-
tion to lead emanates from ego. I know this because I lived it. I began
my leadership journey brimming and throbbing with ego. Initially, my
ego was glowing so brightly that it blinded me to the real objective of
leadership. Clearly, the objective of leadership is the sustained success of
the organization.
As the everyday battle of business illustrated how difficult it is to be
successful in a competitive environment, the glow of my ego began to
wane. I was 51 years old and had left a position as a full, tenured profes-
sor in academia with a relatively high salary and absolutely no risk. By co-
founding a company in a foreign country, I had, perhaps naively, placed
myself in a position of complete risk with no guarantees. I had invested
my last cent in a business in Mexico that was on the verge of collapse.
This situation created several compelling reasons for introspection.

My Personal Introspective Journey

As I began to introspect, I realized I had unconsciously developed a
strong emotional connection to my colleagues at the company. I devel-
oped an enormous respect for what the employees did to live and sustain
themselves economically each day. Many literally lived hand-to-mouth.
This emotional connection stimulated profound thoughts about what I
needed to do as CEO to make the organization successful and what an
awesome responsibility I had to employees who had entrusted their eco-
nomic lives to the decisions I made.
It became clear that there were a handful of key components, for my
part as the CEO, to improve our chances of success as an organization.
First, I believed I had to earn the trust of my colleagues in the company.
This would not be easy, as Mexico is a low-trust country which is built
into the fabric of the Mexican culture. The low trust element of society,
in general, is further complicated by the rather sordid history of worker
exploitation by the patron (owner or boss). Beyond that, I was a for-
eigner which further decreased my odds to earn colleagues’ trust. While
I may have been respected, and even feared, as a result of my position as
CEO, these concepts are not to be confused with trust.
x Preface

In the following pages, I describe my strategies for earning trust in

this low-trust environment. The most important element in earning
trust, I discovered, is working to ensure that every employee at every
level of the organization knows that my job, as CEO, is to facilitate what
they do. Furthermore, all managers in the company were there to do the
same so that facilitation by management became an embedded cultural
trait.
To put a descriptive tag on this concept of facilitation, it is commonly
known in academic circles, at least as I envision it, as servant leadership.
This is a somewhat foreign concept of leadership in Mexico, which is
known for an autocratic style of management.
To assist with earning trust and to provide credibility to my role as a
servant-leader, I was continually selling the idea that we were all in the
same boat. Given the labor relations history in Mexico, which is replete
with exploitation, this was a difficult sell. The concept of “we are all in
the same boat” is often known in academia as stakeholder theory.
Consistent with the emotional connection with followers and the con-
cepts of servant-leadership and stakeholder theory, I felt it was important
to stress the idea of empathy toward all employees at all levels. And to
further the notion of empathy, I promoted the concept that empathy is
a two-way street that should be expressed in both directions in the chain
of command as well as bilaterally. That is, everyone in the organization
owes respect to everyone else, regardless of their position in the organi-
zation. Once again, this was a difficult concept to encourage and diffuse
in Mexico given the natural tendency toward autocratic expression in
labor relations.
It is trite but true to say, “the tone is set at the top.” It was not suf-
ficient for me, as the CEO, to be the only practicant of these concepts. I
had the responsibility to infuse these concepts in the organization down
to the lowest levels of the chain of command.
Finally, a common component of leadership, equity, became an
important construct in building trust. This, of course, goes beyond pecu-
niary rewards to include recognition of employees in various ways.
I believe these components are key to leadership. They were all devel-
oped intuitively as I groped my way through the job of CEO. I had not
studied leadership, but once I returned to academia I found that the
constructs I intuitively discerned were all grounded in academic theory,
but I had developed organically and had been tested under fire, so to
speak.
 Preface xi

The basic model of leadership promoted by this book is one based

on building relationships. Trust, as the foundation, is fundamental to all
relationships, personal or professional. And leadership is really a social
process as some authors have noted.
I had various degrees of success in adhering to my model of leader-
ship. This is the difference between academic theory and lived experi-
ence. As I mentioned at the beginning, leadership discussed in purely
academic terms is an abstract concept. In practice, the intrusion of ran-
dom variables, ego, and difficult personalities and conditions complicates
the sustainability of effective leadership behaviors identified in academic
research.
I know I failed, and failed miserably, at times to live the proposed
model. But I learned that if you demonstrate good faith, it is the pattern
of sincere good faith that is important. Colleagues are forgiving of mis-
takes, even serious mistakes, if they believe you are authentically engaged
and placing the interests of the organization as the number one priority
and doing so is also in the long-term well-being of employees.

The Good News

Personal experience on the job enabled me to intuitively develop a lead-
ership model. I discovered my intuition about leadership was in fact
grounded in academic leadership theories. But theory alone cannot
explain application and vice versa.
The result is the explanation of a rather unique leadership construct
that melds various theories and styles. It is also unique in the sense that
innovative performance metrics represent an important and explicit lead-
ership lever in the model. Many books on leadership ignore the integra-
tion of performance metrics with leadership.
Furthermore, corporate values should set the behavior parameters by
all employees in their efforts to effectively and efficiently accomplish the
organizational mission. But if the leader does not fully embrace values
in day to day conduct, it weakens the infrastructure of the leadership
model. One chapter is devoted to our strategy to communicate corporate
values and the importance of aligned behaviors of all employees.
Therefore, the proposed model is holistic. A holistic model integrates
organizational culture, values and leadership behaviors to create an inter-
active and reinforcing process to drive the organization toward success.
Sustained organizational success is the measure of effective leadership.
xii Preface

I believe anyone can become an effective leader by authentically and

sincerely adopting the constructs of this model, because the model is
based on trust. Each and every one of us knows how to act in a trust-
worthy manner. This is the good news of the book. The difficulty is
actually acting in a way that is trustworthy in the heat of the leadership
battle.
My hope with this book is to improve academic instruction, research
and understanding of leadership. I also hope to provide practitioners
with greater insight to theoretical groundings of leadership so that their
practice of leadership will improve. I illustrate how leaders in non-profit
and governmental organizations can adopt the leadership principles that
are promoted in the book. Leadership in these types of organizations is
often overlooked, given the bureaucratic philosophy of many of these
types of organizations that nurtures manipulative behavior as opposed to
leadership.

Book Summary
Chapter 1 discusses many of the leadership typologies generally consid-
ered appealing explanations for leadership in academia. Over time one
or more of these theories have occupied a place in academic leadership
research as the fad of the moment while research evolved. Leadership
constructs may manifest themselves slightly differently in specific con-
texts, but I contend that effective leadership must have as its base a rela-
tionship of earned trust between the leader and followers. Furthermore,
categorizing leadership theories is not a realistic strategy to understand
effective leadership. This is because most behaviors of effective leaders
are a mix of academic leadership theories so that the lines become too
blurred to use a specific theory as a recipe for leadership. Nevertheless,
due to the pervasive use of categorized theories of leadership in the lit-
erature, they are discussed in this chapter by leadership typology.
Chapter 2 explores the idea that leadership can have an impact on the
organization’s performance. Anecdotal evidence supports the common
sense idea that leadership does influence organizational outcomes. This
chapter reviews past research on the links between organizational perfor-
mance and leadership. Additionally, some non-academic references about
the impact of leadership on organizational performance are included.
Trust is a foundational element of all types of relationships. The con-
cept of trust is woven through the fabric of leadership, which requires
 Preface xiii

a relationship between leader and followers. Trust, or concepts related

to trust, appears explicitly or implicitly in virtually all leadership typolo-
gies. My own experience, and the model proposed by the book, is that
trust leadership is the crucial aspect to obtaining voluntary followership
and to coordinate all collective efforts toward organizational success.
Accordingly, Chap. 3 reviews and discusses trust leadership, my experi-
ence with it, and how it can be actualized by a leader.
Chapter 3 includes a discussion of behaviors that engender trust.
These behaviors are often subsumed under other leadership theories,
such as servant leadership, stakeholder theory and stewardship. Equitable
behavior from the leader also engenders trust. Therefore, the theoretical
underpinnings of how these theories assist with the development of trust
are included in this chapter, as well as “lived examples” that illustrate the
application.
Chapter 4 discusses the leader’s responsibility for pushing the lead-
ership philosophy to the lowest levels of the organization. How can a
leader reach the lowest levels of the organization in a sense-making way
to promote organizational philosophy and culture that is congruent with
leadership’s vision for organizational values and organizational mission?
This chapter summarizes an approach that functioned well in linking val-
ues and mission and illustrating expectations of all employees at all levels.
The proper strategic vision, given the context at any point in time,
is the first step to organizational success, which is the overarching goal
of leadership. From the vision flows the mission, or purpose. Chapter 5
discusses the leader’s role in this critical aspect to organizational success.
However, an appropriate vision without the ability to communicate in a
sense-making way to employees, may render the vision useless. Ideas on
how to make the connection of vision and purpose are provided.
Chapter 6 illustrates the use of metrics to assist with leadership strat-
egies and how to engage employees through metrics. The focus is on
linking metrics to strategies to determine the efficacy of strategies and
implementation. Given current levels of technology, information over-
load is common. Linking metrics to strategies focuses management
on measurement of what matters and reduces “noise.” Innovative
approaches to measurement and well-designed incentive structures assist
the leader in guiding organizational performance.
Each of Chaps. 1–6 contains a brief discussion of leadership in gov-
ernment agencies. While research has shown that some government
agencies perform effectively and efficiently, there is a general impression
xiv Preface

that the preponderance of government agencies are ineffective and inef-

ficient, with the exception of the military. Research has also shown that
leadership is a key component to those agencies that do operate effec-
tively. Since government agencies are funded by taxpayer resources, lead-
ers in these agencies have a strong fiduciary duty to the public to ensure
effective and efficient operation.
However, since government agencies are established for the purpose
to provide a public good or service, and operate without a profit motive,
the organizational culture is traditionally distinct from corporate cultures
that operate with a profit motive. The discussion in each of these chap-
ters will focus on how leadership concepts discussed in the chapter may
be applied in a government context.
The last chapter includes final thoughts on application of the model.
My hope is that academics and practitioners will take the basic model and
adapt it to their own use and context to become better with respect to
teaching or practicing leadership.

Tyler, Texas, USA Gus Gordon

 Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge my colleagues at Operadora Ganso Azul for all of

their patience and all they taught me over the years, especially about the
human essence of us all.

xv
 Contents

1 Basic Academic Theories of Leadership  1

2 Leadership as It Relates to Organizational Behavior

and Performance  17

3 Applied Trust Leadership  23

4 Guiding Organizational Culture  53

5 Communication, Vision, and Mission  63

6 Leadership and Metrics  71

7 Concluding Thoughts  83

Bibliography 
87

Index 
95

xvii
 List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 Leader/Follower Social Network  31

Fig. 3.2 Trust Leadership Model  34
Fig. 4.1 The Philosophy Bridge  56
Fig. 5.1 Communicating and Implementing Vision and Purpose  67
Fig. 6.1 Mission-Aligned Performance Drivers  76

xix
 List of Tables

Table 4.1 Organizational values  57

xxi
 CHAPTER 1

Basic Academic Theories of Leadership

Abstract Over time one or more theories has occupied a prominent

place in academic leadership research. While leadership constructs may
manifest differently in specific contexts, trust usually is a part of any spe-
cific theory, either explicitly or implicitly. Categorizing pure academic
leadership theories may not be a realistic strategy to understand effective
leadership since most behaviors of effective leaders are a mix of academic
leadership theories so that lines become too blurred to use a specific aca-
demic theory as a recipe for leadership. Nevertheless, due to the perva-
sive use of categorized theories of leadership in the literature, they are
discussed in this chapter by leadership typology.

Keywords Leadership typologies · Transactional leadership

Transformational leadership · Leader-member exchange
Trust leadership · Cross-cultural leadership issues

Authors have written about leadership for centuries. In the process, hun-
dreds of thousands of pages have been written on leadership. An entire
industry on leadership development has been spawned. Spending on
leadership programs is said to be above $15 billion dollars per year in the
USA.1 And, yet, the secret of effective leadership remains something of a
mystery.

© The Author(s) 2017 1

G. Gordon, Leadership through Trust,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-56955-0_1
2 1 BASIC ACADEMIC THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

Research may be confounded by the fact that effective leaders surface

in many different contexts and come from varied socioeconomic back-
grounds. Psychologists who study leadership note that the cognitive
component of leadership is something of a black box that can make lead-
ership characteristics and traits opaque (Hambrick et al. 1993).
Nevertheless, over time various academic theories of leadership have
developed. What follows is a quick overview of the major theories. The
purpose is to provide the reader with some academic perspective of what
researchers have developed as theoretical underpinnings of leadership.

Transactional Leadership
The early leadership research was almost exclusively focused on transac-
tional behaviors. Burns (1978) indicated that transactional behaviors are
based on exchange processes in which the leader enables a subordinate
to earn rewards based upon the subordinate’s efforts. Transactional lead-
ers articulate what is expected from their followers, provide constructive
feedback on followers’ progress toward objectives, and explain how they
will be rewarded (Vera and Crossan 2004).
By goal-setting for employees, transactional leaders are able to con-
nect subordinate behaviors to desired outcomes and rewards. It is
thought that in this way a leader can effectively provide a roadmap to fol-
lowers enabling them to reach individual, as well as organizational goals.
It is commonly understood that a transactional leadership para-
digm establishes three constructs: contingent reward, active manage-
ment by exception and passive management by exception (Judge and
Piccolo 2004). The contingent rewards construct is the process of set-
ting and clarifying goals for which the subordinate is rewarded if goals
are achieved. Active management by exception is a process whereby the
leader is constantly monitoring the subordinates’ progress toward pre-
established goals. On the other hand, passive management by exception
is a philosophy that requires the leader to intervene only if subordinate
behavior has led to a possible exception with regard to achievement of
pre-established goals.
According to Avery (2004), transactional leaders often adopt a con-
sultative style, yet do not empower followers. A transactional leader
focuses on processes as a means of maintaining control and pays close
attention to efficiency (Bass 1985). As a result, transactional leadership is
usually more effective in stable and predictable environments.
 TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP 3

The focus on processes, rewards, and management by exception may

inhibit transactional leaders’ ability to develop a forward-thinking vision.
Consequently, transactional-type leadership may lack the ability to lead
change.

Transformational Leadership
Many researchers believe that transformational leadership is a natural
extension and evolution of transactional leadership. Transformational
leadership, also known as visionary or charismatic, is represented by
leadership behaviors that are associated with promoting a transform-
ing vision for the organization and involving an emotional commitment
of employees in the process (Jing and Avery 2008). It is thought that
transformational leaders inspire increased enthusiasm and commitment
to organizational goals. Transformational leadership is based on the idea
that a leader can transform or change subordinates’ values and attitudes
so that they perform beyond expectations.
Transformational leadership is clearly a higher level leadership than
transactional leadership in that it appeals to employees on a higher plane
than transactional leaders because it focuses on something beyond mere
rewards and processes. A transformational leader will offer an inspiring
mission and vision for the organization and its employees.
Normally transformational leaders empower employees to a greater
extent than in transactional leadership. However, transformational
leadership can create disappointment in followers if goals are not met
because of the amount of emotional investment that a transformational
leader has stimulated in followers.
Podsakoff et al. (1990) identified six behaviors that are associated with
transformational leadership: articulating a vision, providing a behavioral
role model, fostering group goals, setting high-performance expecta-
tions, providing support of individual subordinates, and intellectual stim-
ulation. Podsakoff et al. (1990) empirically tested the results of a sample
of managers in a multinational firm and found that transformational
leader behaviors impact organizational citizenship behaviors in an indi-
rect manner and that the effects are mediated through followers’ trust in
their leader.
In research on transformational behaviors, Kouzes and Posner (1993)
found five factors that were related to leadership: risk taking, inspiring a
shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way, and encouraging
4 1 BASIC ACADEMIC THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

the heart. Kent et al. (2001) in similar research found the following five
factors related to leadership behaviors: visualizing greatness, empower-
ing the “we,” communicating for meaning, managing one’s self, and care
and recognition.
Transformational leadership is more focused on visionary and inspira-
tional behaviors than transactional leadership. Accordingly, it is posited
this type of leader will function better in an environment where organi-
zational change is required.
Vera and Crossan (2004) indicate that, as a practical matter, lead-
ers demonstrate both transactional and transformational behaviors. In
a meta-analytic test of the validity of transformational and transactional
leadership theories, Judge and Piccolo (2004) found that both theories
are highly related, and it is difficult to separate their impact. In other
words, even though academic researchers have identified different pure
theories, in practice the lines are blurred, as leaders display both sets of
qualities.

Leader Member Exchange (LMX)

Another stream of leadership research is focused on the dyadic rela-
tionship between the leader and subordinate, known as leader member
exchange (LMX). LMX was derived from vertical dyad linkage theory,
which proposed that leaders differentiate between their subordinates in
the way they are supervised (Brower et al. 2000).
LMX theory proposes that the quality of the dyadic relationship will
influence the performance of subordinates. Characteristics of the LMX
relationships usually center on trust and respect and often result in social
relationships, as well as professional. Often LMX relationships develop
into mentor-type situations which result in strong mutual respect and
trust.
LMX research describes the process for relationship development, and
strong LMX relationships are represented by mutual trust and loyalty
(Bauer and Green 1996). Brower et al. (2000) refine these concepts into
a relational model of LMX and interpersonal trust where the leader and
subordinate evaluate the ability, benevolence, and integrity of each other
as antecedents to mutual trust. According to LMX theory, each relation-
ship between a leader and followers is considered as a different dyad with
distinct characteristics (Gerstner and Day 1997).
 TRUST LEADERSHIP 5

Trust Leadership
Trust and related concepts are intuitively woven through the fabric of
leadership. Trust has been empirically validated as an important variable
through leadership research. Trust is generally considered to be defined
through some notion of risk and/or willing vulnerability to the actions
of others (Rousseau et al. 1998).
As mentioned above, both transformational and LMX research rely
on trust as an important component to effective leadership (Kirkpatrick
and Locke 1996), whereas transactional leaders focus on equity through
a system of rewards (Dirks and Ferrin 2002). It would seem obvious that
creating trust relies on a type of social process that is related to LMX. In
fact, it has been theorized that trust can be gained by the leader through
establishing a social exchange relationship and showing concern and
respect for subordinates (Jung and Avolio 2000).
Mayer et al. (1995) developed a model reflecting a subordinate’s
propensity to engage in behavior that puts he or she more at risk. They
found that trusting behavior is based on the subordinates’ perceptions of
the leader’s integrity, capability or benevolence. Conversely, Mayer and
Gavin (1999) propose that subordinates will be detracted from perfor-
mance if they believe they cannot trust their leader.
Furthermore, trust is considered to be reinforced through iterative
processes (Butler 1991) and concepts of benevolence and caring are con-
sidered to be part of the process that builds trust (Mayer et al. 1995;
Jung and Avolio 2000). Gillespie and Mann (2004) concluded that vari-
ous transformational leadership behaviors, including acting in a manner
designed to build respect and confidence in employees, accounted for
the majority of trust that employees felt toward their supervisor.
Tyler (2003) notes that trust enables cooperation, and Bijlsma and
Koopma (2003) claim trust facilitates discretionary effort on the part
of subordinates. Sharkie (2009) argues that discretionary effort, or per-
formance beyond organizational expectations, is critical due to the fact
that employment contracts cannot contemplate all of the future demands
on subordinates. Accordingly, trust is considered an important aspect in
leader-follower relationships.
In fact, Martin (1998) believes the most important component for
leadership is the ability to engender trust in followers. Subordinates who
feel trusted are more motivated and energized (Fairholm 1991).
6 1 BASIC ACADEMIC THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

Martin (1998) defines “trust leadership” as essentially based on a

series of attitudes, relationships, and a sense of self. Martin further pro-
poses that trust leadership requires the leader to influence followers by
plugging into their value system to build trust, to develop genuine per-
sonal relationships and for the leader to continually introspect. Trust
development is accomplished through communication, the leader keep-
ing their word and first demonstrating trust in followers.
Dirks and Ferrin (2002) conducted a meta-analysis for trust and
leadership. Their analysis led them to conclude that trust in leadership
resulted in favorable relationships with work attitudes, citizenship behav-
iors, and job performance. With respect to their findings regarding the
antecedents to trust, they found strong relationships with transforma-
tional leadership behaviors, organizational support, and interactional jus-
tice. Additionally, they did find some empirical support for transactional
leadership behaviors. These results once again support the notion that
theoretical lines are blurred, as competing leadership theories appear to
overlap.
Burke et al. (2007) developed an integrative model of trust in leader-
ship to propose characteristics in leaders that foster trust. The behaviors
were categorized into three groups: ability, benevolence, and integrity.
These groups of behaviors generally fit into the transformational leader-
ship and LMX categories.
Behaviors that create trust in followers are at the heart of leadership.
Sitkin et al. (2007) conducted research on behaviors that foster trust.
They found that relational leadership behavior is the central driving fac-
tor to creating trust. Personal leadership behavior was also significant and
interacted with relational leadership behavior.
Apparently, behaviors that elicit trust in leaders are a part of other
leadership theories, such as servant leadership and stakeholder theories.
This would suggest interaction between theories or even a blurring of
the distinction in leadership theories, but certainly a reinforcement
between behaviors.
For example, relational behaviors, as Sitkin et al. (2007) define them
include concern and respect. Concern and respect on the part of the
leader for followers are akin to the concept of servant leadership first
introduced by Greenleaf (1977), who believed that by placing the needs
and interests of followers above those of the leader represented a path to
true leadership. De Pree (1989) noted that effective leaders lead by assist-
ing followers to become all that they can. Twenty separate behaviors have
 TRUST LEADERSHIP 7

been identified as associated with leader servants including trust (Russell

and Stone 2002). Farling et al. (1999) developed a model of servant
leadership that includes vision, influence, credibility, trust, and service.
Servant leadership may assist in a bonding between leader and follow-
ers so that followers do not see leaders as apart from the rest of organiza-
tional employees, or as elites. In other words, leaders can be considered
as in the same boat as all other employees in the organization. That is,
both leaders and followers are stakeholders in organizational success.
Conti (2004) explained the importance of employees as stakeholders
as a critical factor for organizational excellence. He believes employees
can only perceive themselves as stakeholders if leaders are able to create
deep and shared values among and between leaders and followers.
Closely associated with the idea of employees as stakeholders is the
notion that employees can become psychological owners. Psychological
ownership is a state of mind that creates a feeling in employees that
causes them to think of themselves as part of the legal ownership of the
entity (Wasserman 2006). Theoretically, psychological ownership can
create beneficial results for the organization (Pierce et al. 1991, 2001).
The employee as stakeholder/psychological owner concept can be
associated with stewardship. In this context stewardship can be con-
sidered an outcome of leadership behaviors that fosters the long term
well-being of the organization. Davis et al. (1997) note that stakehold-
ers essentially become stewards through the process of identification.
That is, if managers accept the organization’s mission and vision, they
define themselves as pertaining to that organization and take comments
about the organization personally, vicariously taking credit for successes
and feeling frustration for failures. This could be interpreted as a type of
psychological ownership. Davis et al. (1997) further note that through
identification, managers are more motivated to make the organization
succeed. Hernandez (2008) hypothesizes that trust in the leader and the
organization is an important variable in promoting stewardship.
Presumably, stakeholders and stewards will be constantly interacting
with the overall intention of improving the well-being of the organiza-
tion. As a result the theory of complex responsive processes in organi-
zations could be at work. The central premise of this theory is that
leadership is a process of lived experience whereby leaders influence fol-
lowers within their organization through constant interactive participa-
tion in the operational processes of the entity (Griffin and Stacey 2005).
Therefore, leadership is a social process (Griffin 2002).
8 1 BASIC ACADEMIC THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

In social processes, social capital can be developed. Social capital is the

goodwill developed through social interaction that enables and facilitates
action (Adler and Kwon 2002). Putnam (1993) asserts that trust is a
source of social capital. Portes (1998) believes that social capital is cre-
ated not only through trust but also through a shared destiny, clearly a
stakeholder concept. Furthermore, trust has been equated by some with
social capital (Fukuyama 1997).
Some authors have suggested that phronesis, the Greek word for practi-
cal wisdom, will assist in the trust-building process (Shapira 2013; and
Schweigert 2007). Phronesis encompasses judgment and ethics and refers
to the ability to understand what to do, given a specific context, how to
do it, and what should be said and left unsaid. Underpinning phronesis is a
general sense of ethics and morality, which includes the concept of equity.
A leader can enhance trust in the social process of leadership by engag-
ing in problem solving with subordinates (Shapira 2013). Furthermore,
demonstrating Phronesis, will also build trust with followers (Shapira 2013;
Schweigert 2007).
Through a social process, Shapira (2013) suggests that leaders who
demonstrate a desire to learn through “vulnerable involvement” with
subordinates will earn their trust. Vulnerable involvement is the leader’s
willingness to expose his or her ignorance for the sake of learning and
the good of the organization. Consequently, subordinates will share their
knowledge and expertise with the leader if they perceive the leader’s
good faith toward the well-being of the organization as a whole.
Authentic leadership is a relatively new area of academic research on
leadership that is closely related to trust leadership. The idea behind
authentic leadership is that it emphasizes the leader can create greater
legitimacy with followers by establishing honest relationships, creating
trust and promoting positive environments in the workplace (Gardner
et al. 2011). Gill and Caza (2015) empirically tested the effects of
authentic leadership on followers and found that it improved positive
social exchange relationships and trust.
In summary, trust has been shown to be an important factor in effec-
tive leadership. Trust must be earned and is earned in a social context.
Leadership requires personal interaction, and as such is considered a
social phenomenon. The theories of stewardship, stakeholder, and social
capital play an integrative role in social interactions. Since trust is noted
as a contributing factor to the positive results of these theories, they can
be integrated with trust to further leverage a leader’s effectiveness.
 CROSS-CULTURAL LEADERSHIP 9

Cross-cultural Leadership
The seminal study on the effects of culture on management and leadership
was conducted by Hofstede (1980). He found three reasons for cultural
differences between countries: political, sociological and psychological.
Political differences arise because countries have different political institu-
tions and legal systems. Sociological differences arise because citizens from
different countries identify with their home country and their local society
and mores. Psychological differences result from early life experiences that
are partially produced as a result of the other two differences.
He concluded that employee values reflected consistent differ-
ences between countries. The criteria identified with the cultural values
between countries that differed were individualism versus collectivism,
power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity versus femininity.
Clearly, this conclusion has important implications for leaders managing
in cross-cultural contexts.
In a study similar to Hofstede, Laurent (1983) surveyed 817 man-
agers from 10 different countries and also found that national culture
affects perspectives concerning a manager’s role, creating clear implica-
tions for leadership. However, Laurent’s and Hofstede’s research could
be of limited relevance today. That is, globalization was in its nascent
stages at the time of the surveys and vestiges of cultural distinctions
could be stronger in the 1970s and 1980s than they are currently.
Nevertheless, more recently Meyer (2014) developed scales utilizing
eight dimensions to illustrate cultural differences. Like Hofstede, she
believes that historical factors within a country can impact an individual’s
values and distinguish individuals’ perceptions from those of different
countries. While she believes that human needs and motivations may be
universal, their cultural perspective will cause those in different cultures
to understand the world in different ways. This will clearly have implica-
tions for leading and managing across cultures.
Accordingly, global leadership has emerged as a separate stream of
research due to globalization. Wanasika (2009) developed a conceptual
framework based on previous research that purports to capture the essen-
tial characteristics of a strategic leader in a global, or cross-cultural, envi-
ronment. Those characteristics are propensity to act, propensity to take
risks, absorptive capacity and future orientation. He argues that these
characteristics are necessary to lead an organization toward a strategic
focus when faced with global competition.
10 1 BASIC ACADEMIC THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

Morrison (2000) reviewed the extant literature on global leadership

and proposed a framework for the development of a company-specific
competency model for leaders. He noted that during the 1990s many
multinational firms began to seek company-specific attributes that could
be applied internationally in order to create a human resource tool to
identify internal candidates for overseas leadership assignments. He dis-
covered several multinational companies had developed their own com-
pany-specific approaches. The models contain anywhere from eleven to
as many as 250 attributes (Morrison 2000).
More recent research on global leadership competency was conducted
with a survey for respondents in 50 different multinational companies
and found that about two-thirds of the characteristics of effective global
leaders are generalizable and the remaining are context-specific (Black
et al. 1999). According to the study, traits that can be generalized are
savvy, character and perspective.
Reilly and Karounos (2009) found in cross-cultural environments that
emotional intelligence was more important than technical and cognitive
abilities. However, they also note cultural differences are important.
Early (2002) hypothesized that cultural intelligence exists and is dis-
tinct from emotional intelligence, which is culture bound. Early defines
cultural intelligence as an individual’s ability to adapt to different cul-
tures and noted that this ability has three facets: cognitive, motivational
and behavioral.
Johnson et al. (2006) theorized that cultural competence and intel-
ligence would play an important part in effective cross-cultural leader-
ship. Ethnographic research in a cross-cultural environment supports the
conclusion that cultural competence is valued by subordinates (Gordon
2010).
Similarly, Meyer (2014) notes the importance of cultural fluency when
managing in a foreign country. Cultural fluency enables one to better
understand contextual cues of the culture that creates the ability to com-
municate and adapt in ways that produce increased understanding to and
from subordinates.
Conclusions from Hofstede’s original research on cross-cultural
values imply that a universal leadership theory across cultures will not
work. However, given how the world is shrinking through the inter-
net, the preponderant availability of television in lesser developed
countries, some studies conclude the effect of cross-cultural differences
is diminishing.
 A CAUTIONARY NOTE ON ACTUALIZING ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP THEORIES 11

For example, Gordon (2010) notes the possibility of cultural con-

vergence as a consequence of the internet and television. Peterson et al.
(2003) note that research on cultural differences, such as Hofstede’s,
could be suspect because it does not capture all of the cultural interac-
tions that occur within and between cultures.
The GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Effectiveness) Research Program, which involved 62 different cultures,
found that transformational leadership behaviors are strongly endorsed
across cultures (cited in Quesada et al. 2008). The GLOBE project did
determine that there are certain culture-specific behaviors that facilitate
leadership.
Quesada et al. (2008) empirically tested a model of transforma-
tional behaviors that had been previously validated in the USA. Their
data came from a survey of respondents from the USA, Costa Rica,
and Spain. Contrary to Hofstede, they conclude that small differences
between cultures exist, but overall the model supported a common set of
transformational leadership behaviors.
In summary, the initial research into cross-cultural leadership indi-
cated strong cultural differences between countries, which had impor-
tant implications for leading across cultures. However, after decades of
globalization, some research indicates that while cultural differences can
play a part in developing leadership strategy, leadership across cultures
may be generalizable and have more in common with single-culture lead-
ership than originally thought.

A Cautionary Note on Actualizing

Academic Leadership Theories
Jeffrey Pfeffer in Leadership BS goes so far as to say that most work envi-
ronments are horrible due to poor leadership, and the result is a toxic
organizational culture. He claims most leadership development programs
are more a form of lay preaching that discusses wonderful prescriptive
platitudes about leadership, rather than actual leadership development.
Models and prescriptive solutions always work beautifully in the sterile
environment of a classroom or seminar. In the classroom, nothing can
occur outside of the constructs of the model. However, there are many
random variables floating around in the real world that cannot be mod-
eled. Therefore, sometimes a theoretical model becomes invalid for spe-
cific situations encountered in competitive business life.
12 1 BASIC ACADEMIC THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

Willink and Babin in Extreme Ownership discuss how leaders are

forged in the military, not through classroom theory, but through hands-
on, practical experience. Leading in a business environment does not
involve physical life and death, as in the military, but can represent finan-
cial and/or career life and death, if not successful. The point is that the-
ory does not always work and does not always work in every context and
situation. It requires understanding leadership more as art, than science.
As mentioned in the preface, while academic leadership theories have
merit in helping explain how and what makes for good leadership, prac-
ticing good leadership in a world full of egos and difficult personalities
often becomes a very difficult challenge. Clearly this is the case, or after
so many pages written on leadership and seminars and workshops given
on leadership, the mystery would have already been solved and everyone
would be a good leader.
Goleman (2013) provides a compelling argument based on research
in neuroscience that enables leaders to overcome the gap between theory
and practice. The brain’s executive function is controlled by an area in
the prefrontal cortex that enables cognitive control. Cognitive control is
what guides an individual’s focus on goals without becoming distracted.
This area of the brain also manages emotions and keeps them in control
during a crisis situation. The ability to control emotions and maintain
focus on goals is what Goleman believes holds the key to effective leader-
ship.
Understanding the overarching goal as success of the organiza-
tion, and orchestrating your own and all colleagues’ actions toward
that overall goal, will create a climate of performance in the organiza-
tion. However, without cognitive control, the leader’s emotions can take
control of any particular tense or critical situation on any particular day
and result in a disaster. So while theories can produce insightful perspec-
tive, they are not sufficient to create effective leadership, except in the
abstract.
All this to say that reading a book, including this one, is only a small
step toward understanding effective leadership. Leadership is simple, but
difficult to implement effectively if the leader does not keep the overall
objective as the priority—organizational success.
The next chapter will discuss the linkages between leadership and
organizational success. Organizational success is not random, but inten-
tional.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 PLANT OR ANIMAL?

D ID you ever stop to ask yourself, “What is the difference

between a plant and an animal?” because this is the place
where that question should be answered.
“Why, an animal is altogether different from a plant,” you answer,
perhaps a little scornfully. “I have no trouble in telling which is which.”
It is very natural that you should feel this way. A cow or a horse,
for example, is not at all like a tree; and when you think of animals,
you think of the ones you know best, and likewise of plants.
But wise men have discovered plants that look and act so much
like animals, and animals that look and act so much like plants, that
at one time they say, “Now, these are animals, surely,” and a little
later exclaim, “No, after all, these are plants;” and they take a long
time to make up their minds as to whether certain objects are plants
or animals.
And already even you children have discovered that the plants you
know best belong to families, and have children, and care for them in
a very motherly fashion; that they drink earth food with their roots,
and eat carbon food with their leaves; and soon you will find that
they do many other things which once upon a time you would have
thought it a great joke to be told a plant could do.
You remember my telling you of one little plant cell that could
swim; and there are some animals, you know, that are rooted to one
spot as we usually think only a plant is rooted.
What, then, is the difference between a plant and an animal?
Leaf Green and Sunbeam between them put life into what had no
life before; and the living plant matter, which they help to make, is
that which animals cannot make themselves, yet which they cannot
live without, for this living matter is absolutely necessary to them as
food.
 And the one real difference between a plant and an animal is this,
—a plant can make out of certain dead substances the living matter
that all animals must have for food; an animal cannot do this.
HOW WE ARE HELPED BY LEAF GREEN AND
SUNBEAM

T HE cell in which Leaf Green lives has no little mouths such as

we saw in the picture some time ago.
Its walls are so delicate that the carbonic-acid gas passes through
them quite easily,—as easily as the gas escaping from an unlighted
jet in the schoolroom could pass to your nose even if you wore a veil,
or as easily as water would pass through a piece of muslin.
But between Leaf Green’s cell and the outer air are other cells,—
those which make up the outer covering or skin of the leaf. These
are arranged so as to form the openings or mouths about which we
have read. By means of these mouths the gas makes its way
through the leaf’s thick skin.
The plant needs as food the carbon in this gas, and so keeps fast
hold of it; but the oxygen is not needed for this purpose, and so it is
pushed back into the air.
Now, we learned in the last chapter of one very great service
rendered to animals by plants. We learned that plants took carbon
from the air, and turned this into food for animals.
But there is still another way in which plants serve animals. And
once more it is the work of Leaf Green and Sunbeam that is of such
importance to us; for when they take hold of the carbon, making it
into living food for man and beast, they take from the air the gas that
is poisonous, and send back into the air the gas which gives life and
health.
This poisonous gas which they lay hold of, you remember, is
carbonic-acid gas; and carbonic-acid gas is what we animals send
out of our bodies with every breath, for it is the part of the air which
poisons us. When the schoolroom is so close that our heads ache, it
is because so many children have been breathing out this gas, and
we are forced to take it back into our bodies again.
 But when this gas is stolen by the plant, and robbed of its carbon,
it is no longer carbonic-acid gas. Nothing of it is left but the oxygen
which is pushed out through the cell walls; and this oxygen is as
good to breathe as the other gas (carbon and oxygen mixed) is bad.
So the plant finds good what we find poisonous. It takes in and
keeps that which hurts us (the carbon), and sends out that which
helps us (the oxygen).
So you see that our lives depend on the lives of plants in two
ways:—
1. The plants give us the food we need for life.
2. The plants take from the air the gas that poisons us, and give to
the air the gas which we need for life and health.
And in both cases it is Leaf Green and Sunbeam who are making
life possible for us.
Remember the great services of these two fairies when next you
pass a green tree which is bathing itself in sunshine.
 HOW A PLANT BREATHES

P ERHAPS you have heard people say that it is not good to sleep
in a room with plants.
They say this, because they have heard that at night the plant
does not give out oxygen, but that it does give out the poisonous
carbonic-acid gas.
Now, you children know that part of this statement is true.
You know that the plant cannot give out oxygen at night, because
at that time there is no Sunbeam about to help Leaf Green tear apart
carbonic-acid gas and send the oxygen back into the air.
But how about the other part of the statement?
Is it true that at night plants give out the poisonous carbonic-acid
gas?
Both day and night, plants give out carbonic-acid gas; for though
plants, save in the sunlight, cannot eat by means of their little green
cells, they can breathe through the tiny mouths (Fig. 137) on the
under side of the leaf by night as well as by day.
And when either a plant or an animal breathes, it takes the life-
giving oxygen from out the air mixture, and keeps it for its own use.
But poisonous carbonic-acid gas is sent back into the air. Now, the
question is, whether a plant does most good or most harm to the air
by taking in and sending out the different gases.
Of course, it does good when it lets the oxygen out through its cell
walls, and stores away the carbon within itself; and it may seem to
do harm when through its leaf mouths it breathes in oxygen and
breathes out carbonic-acid gas.
There is only one key to unlock the matter, and that is this,—to find
out whether the plant does most towards poisoning or towards
purifying the air.
And that has been found out already.
 Wise men say that Leaf Green and Sunbeam do much more good
to the air than the little breathing mouths do harm. The two good
fairies take away a great deal of poison, and send back a great deal
of the helpful oxygen; while the tiny mouths neither rob the air of
much oxygen nor give it much poison. Indeed, the harm they do is so
small compared with the great good accomplished by Leaf Green
and Sunbeam, that even at night you need not worry at the thought
that you have plants in your room.
Perhaps you wonder that a plant does these two things that are so
exactly opposite to each other.
But a plant must breathe as well as eat; for when it breathes, it
takes in the precious oxygen which is just as necessary to its life as
to ours.
In summer, by the dusty roadside, you see plants almost white
with dust, looking quite ill and lifeless.
And they are both ill and lifeless; for their little leaf throats are so
choked that they cannot breathe in the oxygen they need, and in
consequence they are being slowly suffocated.
 THE DILIGENT TREE

N OW we have learned three things about plants, and especially

about leaves. We have learned—
1. That they perspire.
2. That they eat and drink.
3. That they breathe.
They perspire when the water passes through the leaf mouths into
the air.
They eat when Leaf Green and Sunbeam together manage to take
the carbon out of the carbonic-acid gas which has made its entrance
through the leaf mouth and the cell wall. They drink when the roots
suck in water and earth broth.
They breathe when the leaf mouths take from the air the oxygen,
and give back to it carbonic-acid gas.
The veins and veinlets, of which you see so many running through
a leaf, act in something the same way as the water pipes of a city;
for through these veins the watery food, the earth broth, is carried to
the different cells.
When one knows all that we know even now about a plant, one
looks at a tree covered with leaves with a good deal of admiration.
Just think of what is being done inside that quiet-looking tree!
Think of the millions of cells that go to make it up, each cell having
its own work to do! Think of the immense amount of business being
carried on within the trunk, inside the branches, and especially in
each green leaf! And when you have the chance, notice how hard
each leaf tries to get just as much sun and air as it possibly can.
In the first place, the thin, flat leaf blades are so spread out that
every part is exposed to the light and air.
 Then notice how the leaves are placed in reference to one
another.
Almost every single one is fastened to the tree so as to get its fair
share of sunshine.
When you think of the many thousands of leaves borne by one
tree, it astonishes you to see how seldom one leaf gets in another’s
light.
And the shapes of leaves are always suited to their arrangement
on the tree.
If you should take the leaves of a chestnut tree and replace them
by the leaves of a maple, you would find the maple leaves all getting
in each other’s way, or else you would see that they were taking up a
great deal more room than necessary.
But when a leaf is studied on its own tree, one sees that its shape
is the very best that could be imagined for its position.
And in the smaller plants we notice this same thing.
And when you remember that Leaf Green cannot feed the plant
unless Sunbeam comes to her assistance, you realize how
necessary it is that each leaf be within the reach of Sunbeam’s visits.
 LEAVES AND ROOTS

Y OU will be surprised to learn that the way in which a plant’s

leaves grow tells us something of the way in which its roots
grow.
Many of you have been overtaken far from home in a rainstorm,
and have sought shelter under a spreading tree. The ground directly
beneath the tree has kept almost dry even after some hours of rain,
but the earth just under the tips of the spreading branches got very
wet: for the great tree acted like a large umbrella; and when the
raindrops fell upon the smooth leaves, which sloped outward and
downward, they rolled from leaf to leaf till they reached the very
lowest, outermost leaves of all. From these they fell to the ground,
just as the drops that gather upon your umbrella run outward and
downward to the umbrella’s edge, and then off upon the ground.
So you can see that the circle of earth which marks the spread of
the branches above must be specially wet, as it received a great part
of the rain which fell upon the whole tree.
And whenever you see a tree which sheds the rain water in such a
circle, you can be pretty sure that, if you should dig into the earth a
ditch which followed this circle, you would soon reach the tips of the
new root branches of the tree.
You know that the root does the drinking for the plant; and only the
newest parts of the root, the fresh root tips, are really good for work
of this sort. You remember that the earth food is carried up the stem
to the leaves in a watery broth; and that if the water supply should
give out, the new plant cells would not get the broth which helps
them to grow, and to put out other cells, and so to build up the plant.
Now, as only the new root branches, near their tips, are able to
drink, if the water should leak through the earth in equal quantities
everywhere, much of it would be wasted; but when this water is
collected in certain spots within reach of the new root branches,
there is good reason to believe that these will be able to satisfy their
thirst.
By the shedding of the rain from the tips of the spreading branches
above, the water is collected in a ring, and so sinks into the earth;
and the root branches below spread out in just the same direction as
the tree branches above, till they find what they need, and drink their
fill.

Fig. 138

So by the way in which a tree sheds the rain, you can tell just
where its root branches reach out underground.
In smaller plants you see much the same thing. Fig. 138 shows a
plant called the Caladium. You can see that the raindrops must roll
outward down these leaves, and fall upon the earth just above the
tips of the root branches.
Fig. 139 shows you the rhubarb plant. This has quite a different
sort of root. Now, if the rhubarb leaves were like those of the
Caladium, unless the rhubarb root-branches changed their direction,
these root-branches would grow very thirsty indeed.
 Fig. 139

But as it is, the water pours down these leaves toward the center
of the plant, and reaches the ground almost directly over the straight,
fleshy root, with its downward-growing branches; and we see that
these root-branches are watered by the leaves above just as
carefully as are those of the Caladium.
By knowing one thing about a plant, often you can guess that
another thing is so.
You understand now that when the leaves of a plant shed rain
water after the fashion of the Caladium, the chances are that its root-
branches spread out as far as the drip of the water; and that the root
of the rhubarb points almost straight downward, is told you by the
drip of water from the rhubarb leaves.
 LEAF VEINS

S OME time ago you learned that from the stem of a plant you
could guess the number of seed leaves which it brought into the
world, and that in the same way from the seed leaves you could
guess what kind of a stem it would build up.
From the way in which a leaf is veined you can guess both of
these things. You can guess what sort of a stem belongs to the plant,
and with how many seed leaves it began life.
When the little veins run in and out, forming a sort of network, we
say that the leaf is “net-veined.”

Fig. 140
 Fig. 141

Fig. 142

These leaves of the quince (Fig. 140), the maple (Fig. 141), and
the basswood (Fig. 142) are all net-veined.
Net-veined leaves are borne by plants which brought into the
world more than one seed leaf; and with the net-veined leaf we can
expect to find that stem which comes with more than one seed leaf,
—a stem where the skin or bark, the woody rings, and the soft
central pith, are clearly separated one from another.
 Fig. 143

Fig. 144

But a leaf such as that in Fig. 143 or that in Fig. 144, where the
veins do not branch off in a network, but run in unbroken lines side
by side,—such leaves as these tell you that they are borne by plants
which started life with only one seed leaf, and which have such a
stem as the cornstalk, where you see no woody rings or central pith.
These leaves are called “parallel-veined.”
I fear that you find all this a little difficult to understand and to
remember; but if you read it patiently, when you study the botany for
older children, I think it will come back to you and make your lessons
easier.
 LEAF SHAPES

A S I told you before, we should notice always the shape of a leaf.

Fig. 145
 It is much easier to describe some new plant we have met on our
walks if we remember the shape of its leaves.
Next summer I hope you will make a collection of leaves, pressing
and keeping them. I think you will be amazed at their great variety in
shape.

Fig. 146

Some you find long and narrow, others almost round. Some are
arrow-shaped, others star-shaped, others needle-shaped (Fig. 145).
Some are three-pointed like the maple leaf (Fig. 146); others deeply-
parted, like the oak leaf (Fig. 147).

Fig. 147
 Sometimes a large leaf is cut up into several little leaves. These
little leaves are called “leaflets.”

Fig. 148

The clover leaf (Fig. 148) has three leaflets.

Fig. 149

The locust leaf (Fig. 149) is cut into a great many leaflets.
The edge of one leaf (Fig. 150) is smooth, while that of another is
cut into little teeth (Fig. 151) like the teeth of a saw.
 Fig. 150

Fig. 151

I should like to know how many of you children, without looking

even at a picture save such as you carry in that little gallery in your
head, could describe correctly the shapes of some of our common
leaves. I should like to ask you to draw on the blackboard the rough
outlines of any leaves that you remember. If you think you could not
do this, will you not try, when next you see a leaf, to carry off in your
mind such a picture of it as to enable you to outline it on the
blackboard when you go back to the school room?
Really it does not take any more time to see a thing correctly than
to see it incorrectly. It takes a little more sense, that is all.
It takes some sense to give even one minute of honest thought to
the thing you are looking at.
You know some children who never seem to have all their
thoughts in one place at a time, and who in consequence never see
anything really well.
 It is better to stop doing a thing altogether than to do it in a foolish
sort of way; and it is foolish to start to do even the smallest thing,
and yet not do it.
The child who looks at even a leaf in a way to make it possible for
him to draw the outline of that leaf five minutes later, is likely to be
the child who goes in for both work and play with all his heart, and
who comes out as far ahead on the playground as he does in the
schoolroom.
Now, after that lecture, which some of you need badly enough
(and which I will tell you, as a great secret, I need not a little myself),
I want to point out a few more of the things that are worth noticing in
a leaf.
But perhaps it is better to save them for another chapter.
 HAIRY LEAVES

N OTICE always whether a leaf is smooth or hairy. Do you

remember the mullein that sends up its tall spires over the hill
pasture? The grayish leaves of this mullein are so hairy that they feel
almost like wool. What is the use of all this hair? It is not likely that a
plant would wrap itself in this hairy coat except for some good
reason.
It is believed that this coating of the mullein prevents animals from
eating the leaves, and so destroying the plant. In the mouth, these
hairs slip from the leaf blade, and cause a most unpleasant
sensation.
But usually the hairs on a leaf are helpful because they prevent
too much perspiration or giving-off of water. The more freely the hot
sun beats upon a leaf, the more quickly the water is drawn away
from it. You can see just how this is by hanging a wet towel in front of
the fire. In a very short time the heat from the burning coals draws
the water from the towel. But put a screen between the fire and the
towel, and the water passes off more slowly.
Now, the hairs on that side of the leaf which faces the sun act as a
screen from its fierce heat. We have learned how important it is that
the leaf should not part with its water more quickly than the roots can
make up the loss. We know that when a leaf does this, it wilts just as
a leaf wilts when it is picked and cut off from its water supply, on
account of the collapse of the walls of the many little cells which are
emptied of water.
So you can understand that plants which grow in dry, sunny
places, where there is little drinking water for the roots, and where
the sun beats constantly on the leaves, must take every care that
there is no waste of water.
And if you keep your eyes open, you will discover that many of the
plants which grow in such places screen themselves from the full
heat of the sun by a coat of hairs.