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Shares perspectives from twelve successful women school superintendents.
Women who seek to be school superintendents or who want to improve their chances for success in the superintendency can clearly benefit from the insights and cultural wisdom of women who have attained the position. Principles of Power shares perspectives from twelve successful women superintendents and puts them in a cultural context that highlights what they can teach us about their methods for success.
To illustrate the underlying behaviors that helped them succeed, Brunner uses as a framework the system of beliefs gathered by Carlos Castaneda from Yaqui Indian warrior training. Castaneda calls this system the "riddle of the heart." To understand the riddle of the heart, women must be able to simultaneously comprehend and use two different perceptions of the world: that which is and that which is becoming. To be able to solve the riddle, warriors develop mind set and a discipline that allow them to get the best out of any conceivable situation. This book is the story of these warriors-twelve women superintendents-and how they have solved the riddle of the heart.
"The application of Carlos Castaneda's notions is novel and refreshing. Brunner uses metaphors to highlight sensitive areas of school administration. For example, the use of 'knowing the battleground' to demonstrate how educational administration is experienced by women downplays explanations lodged in politics while it provides insights into how relationships guide action." — Flora Ida Ortiz, author of Schoolhousing: Planning and Designing Educational Facilities
"Practitioners will appreciate the inspiring tone and the pervasive messages that quality school leadership skills can be acquired, that problems typically confronting women administrators can be understood and remedied." — Jackie M. Blount, author of Destined to Rule the Schools: Women and the Superintendency, 1873–1995
Foreword
Charol Shakeshaft
Acknowledgments
Part One
Mystery: Intangible Insights
Chapter 1
Mystery and Metaphor: Introduction to Part 1
Raymond M. Olderman
Chapter 2
Gathering Intangible Data: The Women Superintendents and the Assembly
Chapter 3
Embodying Intangible Data: The Women As Warriors
Part Two
Metaphor: Articulating Intangibles
Chapter 4
The Warrior's Path: The Riddle of the Heart and the Seven Principles of Power
Chapter 5
Principle One: Knowing the Battleground
Chapter 6
Principle Two: Discarding the Unnecessary
Chapter 7
Principle Three: Choosing Battles
Chapter 8
Principle Four: Taking Risks
Chapter 9
Principle Five: Seeking Retreat
Chapter 10
Principle Six: Compressing Time
Chapter 11
Principle Seven: Exercising Power
Part Three
Motion: Intangibles in Action
Chapter 12
Impeccable Practice: Three Results
Chapter 13
First Result: Laughing at Self
Chapter 14
Second Result: Patience without Fretting
Chapter 15
Third Result: Improvisation
Chapter 16
Castaneda and Me
About the Author
Notes
References
Index