Metaphors and images have been vital in defining the term leadership and how it shapes the organization towards meeting the set goals. In the field of leadership, metaphor is becoming powerful tools and instruments in defining the outcome of leadership as they are generative and come out of imaginations. The use of images and metaphors creates room for visual imaginings, and this allows room for interpretation, it will enable one to open their minds, and the urge to be creative also creates room for other people to discover complementary meanings. Note that creativity is one of the most critical elements of leadership ( Van Buskirk, London & Plump 2015). A leader has to come up with a definable project, develop strategies, and also a solution to target the attainment of such a project. Such milestones thus demand a high degree of creativity on the part of the leader. With metaphor, a leader, therefore, has the will to open the mind, think, and enhance images to develop goals and achieve them. The discussion in this article aims to elaborate and extensively show how leadership metaphors are of importance to excellent leadership and also to learning.
Part One: Critique of videos related to leadership metaphor
From the research, numerous videos elaborate not only on the importance of the metaphor on leaders but also on ways through which leaders can utilize metaphors to be productive in their undertakings. The first video that showcases the idea about metaphor is by Peter Fuda. The fire metaphor: from a burning platform to burning ambition is a video related to a leadership metaphor. The video brings to life different aspects of leadership metaphor as its main content drives the need not only to define but also to drive the leadership metaphor in the organization. In the video, the producer describes the forces that initiate and sustain the effort of the motivation. The producer also is specific on leadership metaphoric themes, which burning platform and burning ambition, all of which are driving a prosperous leadership in the organizational. Talking about the theme of motivation as a burning desire of the metaphoric leaders, Fuda shares the same idea with Norris (2017), in this case. According to Norris (2017) , what differentiates such a leader with traditional leaders is their desire to engage with their staff in an interactive way that does not only get the best out of the workers but also motivates them to work better in the organization.
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The next video is dead poetry by Peter Weir. It is a video that has many incidences of leadership metaphors. Neil Perry is an example of a character that demonstrates the use of leadership metaphor in the video. Neil Perry is a student who excels in his studies in addition to being one of the most charismatic individuals in the entire film. The film has different themes that also demonstrate the effectiveness of leadership metaphors in the organization, such as authoritarians, and charisma which dominate the entire film. The film producer also uses metaphoric images to enhance the leadership environment.
The use of self-sacrifices and the risk-taking by different characters in the film all showcase the need to build leadership around metaphors in the organizations. Neil Perry is mostly used to showcase the use of symbolism, mostly when talking about dead society as the film unfolds. The use of images and metaphoric word in the movie are significance as they showcase the need to have a leadership that is anchored on metaphors to change the school environment and make the right student individual in the society. This video also shows the aspect of the human race has passion. From Ashcraft &Muhr's (2018) point of view concerning the definition and the mindset of a metaphoric leader, such leaders have their strengths on charisma, which makes them stand tall among the staff and thus enhance influence that triggers their performance in the organization.
The next video is the art of the metaphor by Jane Hirschfield. In this film, the author takes the audience through a different aspect of metaphor, intending to define and makes it means clear before demonstrating the best ways to have a metaphoric leader in the organization. From the producer’s viewpoint, metaphoric leadership assumes an equitable or collaborative sense of relationship rather than a boundary or rank ordering between leaders and followers. From the perspective of the producer, as it comes out from the video, Distributive leadership is an example of leadership that reflects the dynamics of a wireless metaphor in an organization ( Van Buskirk, London & Plump 2015). In this sense, the producer in this film shares the same notion with Schechter, Shaked, Ganon-Shilon&Goldratt, (2018) concerning leadership metaphors that such leaders assume a sense of equity in addition to being relationship-oriented with the staff.
Part Two: The process to construct a leadership metaphor
Notably, a leadership that uses metaphors is constructible because metaphor is a figurative speech that describes an action or an object. Therefore there is a process through which a leader can follow to construct a leadership metaphor. From Netolicky (2019), point of view on leadership metaphor, the first step towards understanding the metaphor is the need to understand the figurative speech, and also understand the symbols in the leadership environment that constitutes ideas about metaphors. Such would help the leader to understand the practices that constitute the metaphoric leadership model in the workplace, thus implementing the model in the working environment would be easier and better for the leader.
The first step is also critical in this case because it does away with the different steps that implicate metaphoric leadership, yet they are less-metaphoric. Note that there are numerous figures of speech that seem like metaphors, yet they are not in any way definable as metaphors. A simile is an example of such a figure of speech that can lead to confusion in this case ( Brandão, 2016). The second step is to understand the types of leadership metaphors, as this would help in deciding on the best use. The third part is having a recognition of mixed metaphors to reduce confusion, and the last one is to understand the purpose of the metaphor. These are critical processes that the leader must understand to construct a leadership model that has its foundations on the metaphor ( Ashcraf & Muhr, 2018).
An original personal leadership metaphor
At home, my mother bought a computer which to some of my family members, was prone to breakdown. But it was the best in my view comparable to the one we had in the house. However, convincing my family members to accept it needed excellent leadership skills. The next day, which was the day it was supposed to be returned to the shop so that we could continue operating with the old one, I gathered my family members and asked them this question, " if our old computer system was a phone, what make and model of the phone would it be?”After the answers, I then ask them, "what of the new one?" most of them labeled the old computer old models of phones and the new models of phones. I then told them that let us prefer the new model, and we will be keeping it under maintains until it will be familiar for all of us. It was how I won them.
Conclusion
From the discussion, it is evident that the leadership metaphor is an excellent tool for leadership. From the videos and the scholar articles, developing a leadership metaphor is thus a critical tool in enhancing a productive environment for nurturing great leadership.
References
Ashcraft, K. L., &Muhr, S. L. (2018). Coding military command as a promiscuous practice? Unsettling the gender binaries of leadership metaphors. Human Relations , 71 (2), 206-228.
Brandão, C. (2016). The excellent parent metaphor: contributions to understanding leadership processes. LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT .
Netolicky, D. M. (2019). Redefining leadership in schools: the Cheshire Cat as an unconventional metaphor. Journal of Educational Administration and History , 51 (2), 149-164.
Norris, S. E. (2017). Examining the Strategic Leadership of Organizations Using Metaphor: Brains and Flux-Interconnected and Interlocked. In Encyclopedia of Strategic Leadership and Management (pp. 1337-1353). IGI Global.
Van Buskirk, W., London, M., & Plump, C. (2015). Poetry and poetic metaphor in teaching leadership and ethics. Journal of Leadership Studies , 9 (1), 56-62.
Schechter, C., Shaked, H., Ganon-Shilon, S., &Goldratt, M. (2018). Leadership metaphors: School principals’ sense-making of a national reform. Leadership and Policy in Schools , 17 (1), 1-26.
