Leadership as a Way of Thinking Leadership is only one ingredient school executives need to serve our schools well. DOUGLAS E. MTTCHELL AND SHARON TUCKER L ike most Americans, educators tend to think of leadership as a matter of taking action and getting results. They see real leader ship as a rare and wonderful capacity to take charge and get things done in the face of complex and trying circum stances. Leaders, those who believe in this typically American perspective argue, are people who can over come resistance, shore up the weaknesses of their followers, and produce effective action accom panied by a great sense of accomplishment and satis faction. For public education, this view is doubly wrong. First, the assumption that individual leaders can produce quick and dramatic differences in school performance keeps us from focusing on the importance of teamwork and comprehen sive school improvement. Second, emphasizing the value of melodramatic, media-grab bing, high-profile actions keeps people from providing desper ately needed guidance for ordi nary programs and day-to-day school operations. In urging risk-taking behavior, this view of leadership distorts 30 our understanding of the thought processes and concrete actions that make up the real dynamics of school effectiveness. All too often, today's most popular school improvement policies are based on the assumption that effective lead ership is a matter of effort and exper tise or that legal mandates and formal rules can produce it. While these poli cies certainly do create anxiety and guilt among educators, there is little evidence that they produce effective schools. Perhaps it is time to recog nize that leadership is less a matter of aggressive action than a way of thinking and feeling about ourselves, about our jobs, and about the nature of the educational process. The Spirit of Leadership The thinking that lies behind effective leadership is complex and varied. Contrast the following comments by school superintendents who were asked to describe how they motivate staff to perform effectively. For some, the dominant leadership problem is one of responding to ideas and program proposals put forward by others. With little study or analysis, for example, one superintendent decides to provide major funding to a program proposed by a group of teachers and says of his decision, "Support is the key thing. I wouldn't care if they were trying to turn seawater into ice cream, I would have supported it." A second superintendent, responds to the same situation by saying. EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP