IDENTITY PERCEPTIONS of AUTHENTICITY Stephen Brookfield Jewish Education

IDENTITY & PERCEPTIONS of AUTHENTICITY Stephen Brookfield Jewish Education Project th June 6 , 2018

My Orienting Assumptions • We are all in some way leaders in our communities & organizations • Although we may not acknowledge it, our leadership is imbued with learning • (1) We support the learning of those we supervise – developing their skills, encouraging their sense of agency, helping them learn to negotiate contradictions, problems & dilemmas • (2) We learn about ourselves & our own practice – we reflect critically on how we do our work, clarify & sometimes change the assumptions about leadership driving us, & learn ontologically how to live with contradiction • Stephen Preskill & Stephen Brookfield Learning as a Way of Leading (2008)

We Lead Who We Are* • As community & organizational leaders our formative experiences create an identity that frames how we work • History of academic mediocrity – inner city Liverpool, viewed as average, failed my college track exams, failed my university entrance exams, graduated well in the bottom half of my class, failed master’s degree exam • I’m an impostor & no-one should take me seriously • I need to broaden ways colleagues show me they’re working well • Watching my doctoral supervisor – giving me ‘bad’ inconvenient news in a way that I knew was in my own best interests Ethical exercise of leader power Relational underpinnings to effective leadership *The Courage to Teach Parker Palmer (2017)

Question • How does who you are frame the way you work with colleagues and teens?

Circle of Voices – Groups of 4 -6 • Individuals reflect silently & individually on the discussion topic for 2 -2 3 inutes • Participants go round the circle in order - each person has up to 1 minute of uninterrupted air time to give their viewpoint on the topic. No interruptions allowed. • Move into free discussion with the ground rule that every comment offered must somehow refer back to a comment made by someone else in the opening circle of voices. This need NOT be agreement - it can be a disagreement, a question, an illustration or extension

What do colleagues & learners look for in leaders? * • CREDIBILITY • It’s worth being around you because you have something we can learn from • AUTHENTICITY • We trust we’re seeing who you are – there’s no false presentation of self • *Learning as a Way of Leading Stephen Preskill & Stephen Brookfield (2008)

CREDIBILITY • Expertise – responding well to unexpected questions • Experience – referring to relevant past events/situations • Rationale – thought out reasons for activities

AUTHENTICITY • Congruence – your words & actions are consistent / you walk the talk • Full Disclosure – we know why you do what you do, why it’s important & what you expect from us • Responsiveness – we can raise issues & concerns & know you’ll listen carefully & seriously • Personhood – you disclose your autobiography / narrative in ways that help us learn

Question • When you experience or witness an authentic expression of identity, what does that LOOK, SOUND or FEEL like?

Chalk Talk • Leader circles a question in the center of the board • Silence is declared for 5 minutes • Participants gather at the board and write their responses to the question • Others draw lines to connect postings, or add to postings that have already been made • Ends when board is full or postings cease • Debrief happens as the whole group looks for clusters of agreement & ignored outliers

Let’s Complicate & Complexify • Is there such a thing as a true, core personal identity you manifest? Don’t we have multiple identities as we move through different configurations & stages in our lives? • Is it ever ethically justifiable to contradict an identity commitment – for example, can exercising compassion, humility, gratitude and loving kindness to those dedicated to sabotaging our efforts actually aid them in their efforts? • Is it contradictory for a public, narrative disclosure of identity to be strategically planned & managed. Does my disclosure of my racism, patriarchy, depression become fundamentally inauthentic if it doesn’t happen spontaneously?

Further Reading • Learning as a Way of Leading 2008. Stephen Preskill & Stephen Brookfield (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Wiley) • Let Your Life Speak 1999. Parker Palmer (San Francisco: Jossey Bass/Wiley) • Transformative Learning & Identity 2013. Knud Illeris (New York: Routledge) • Common Fire: Leading Lives of Commitment in a Complex World 1999. Sharon Daloz Parks et. al. (Boston: Beacon Press) • Big Questions, Worthy Dreams: Mentoring Emerging Adults in their Search for Meaning, Purpose and Faith 2011. (San Francisco: Jossey Bass/Wiley)