Chapter 10: Probing Leadership from Racio-Ethnic Perspectives in Higher Education: An Emergent Model of Accelerating Leader Identity

This study probes academic leadership through the intersection of authentic leadership with relational dialectics and organizational diversity. Authentic leadership places the origin of leader development on the selves of racio-ethnic leaders. The frameworks of relational dialectics and organizational diversity account for the depth and complexity of leadership identity from racio-ethnic perspectives.

This qualitative study involved interviews with distinguished educators from differing racio-ethnic and gendered backgrounds. Also, semistructured interviews with the educators’ colleagues and mentees were conducted. The transcript data of nearly 300 pages were analyzed by a team of researchers using grounded theory.

Four areas emerged that lead to a model for accelerating leader identity. These leaders were guided by an internal sense of identity growing from their lived experiences and shaping their behavior as they faced challenges in their careers. The four areas of the model appear to hold constant though they manifest differently within the cultural contexts of the leaders.