A Review of Northouse and Reflection Questions from Oxford
“Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”[1] This is the definition that Peter Northouse gives after discussing the previous 120 years of defining leadership and concluding that leadership scholars really cannot “come up with a common definition for leadership.”[2] Northouse said his definition consists of the central components conceptualizing leadership.
Where does one start when writing a post about a textbook on leadership? When I wrote this last month, I considered picking a theory or two, completing the leadership instrument and discussing my results. Instead, I decided to start by giving my personal review of the textbook and then reminding us of some reflections questions that were posed to us in Oxford last year.
I have not given many reviews of the books we have read thus far in the program. As both a student and instructor I thought it might be appropriate to give a review of a textbook. I found this book to be brilliant in both its content and its format. You can see Northouse’s expertise in communication throughout the book. The formatting of this book was exceptional. Chapters begin by describing the theory in easy-to-understand language, including applicable models; Northouse then discusses how the theory works, including settings and situations for which the theory is ideal. For example, “Servant leadership works best when leaders are altruistic and have a strong motivation and deep-seated interest in helping others. In addition, for successful servant leadership to occur, it is important that followers are open and receptive to servant leaders who want to empower them and help them grow.”[3] Northouse then discusses strengths and criticism of each theory, allowing readers to consider the presence or lack of empirical and other evidence that exists for each theory. Next, the application section goes beyond how it works and describes how to put it into practice for example in the Path-Goal Theory chapter Northouse writes “For instance the theory suggests that leaders should be directive when tasks are complex and that leaders should give support when tasks are dull.”[4] Having taught communications for over thirty years, Northouse knows the importance of how to structure various forms of communication (i.e. this textbook) to keep the audience’s interest.[5] These various sections alone are ideal in helping people understand the various models of leadership and determine whether it might be the best style for them and/or their organization. However, Northouse adds icing on the cake. Chapters contain case studies involving real people from a variety of different occupational sectors and questions to encourage critical thinking about the case study’s application to the leadership theory. Each chapter contains a Leadership Instrument for readers to take to determine how they fit within that chapter’s theory. Finally, each concludes with a short summary, ideal for doing an inspectional reading of the various theories. Besides traditional leadership models, Northouse dives into other related areas, such as followers, gender, and ethics describing how they impact leadership. I really appreciated his chapter on followership. Before reading this book, I did not give much thought to the various types of followers and how that impacts a person’s ability to lead. I appreciate what Northouse wrote. “Until more research is done on the intricacies of followership, our understanding of leadership will be incomplete.”[6] Overall, if I were picking a textbook on leadership for my students to read, I would have no issues with adopting this as a course text.
In his chapter on Leadership ethics, Northouse discusses “The Darkside of Leadership.”[7] Northouse discusses, Padilla, Hogan and Kaiser’s “The Toxic Triangle,” that includes destructive leaders, susceptible followers including conformers and colluders, and conducive environments.[8] As soon as I saw the diagram, I immediately thought about Jo Nelson’s “Leadership Derailment” lecture given in Oxford where she referenced the toxic triangle[9]. I took out my notes and reviewed her lecture. Some memorable quotes from her lecture include “Leadership is hard,” leadership “can be extremely lonely.” “two-thirds of managers are insufferable.”[10] Just as Northouse’s chapters end with leadership questionnaires or inventories, Nelson ended her talk with a series of reflection questions that I thought would be worthwhile to revisit.
- Are there wrong beliefs I have that may be impacting how I lead?
- How am I at my best and my worst?
- What are my triggers?
- When do I feel like I am not being the leader I know I can be or perhaps displaying unhelpful behaviors, such as tiredness, criticism, boredom?
- What do I do when I am feeling the pressure?
- How can I stay healthy in my leadership?
Being a first-year student, Oxford was a little overwhelming; I wrote these questions down, but honestly, forgot about them. However, these are some great questions and while I don’t necessarily have the space to answer each of them right now, I do believe that they are questions that we should take time to process. I also believe that this program has provided us resources to help us answer each of these through the various books that we have read and the lectures we have listened to over the past three semesters. This would include, but definitely not limited to, Bobby Duffy’s Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything, Edwin Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve, Simon Walker’s The Undefended Leader, and Carol Dweck’s Mindset. My hope is that I can make time to fully process and answer these questions.
[1] Peter. G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory & Practice 9th Edition, (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2022), 6
[2] Northouse, 5.
[3] Northouse, 267.
[4] Northouse, 144.
[5] Northouse, xxii.
[6] Northouse, 393.
[7] Northouse, 431-433.
[8] Northouse, 432.
[9] Jo Nelson, “Leadership Derailment,” (lecture, Portland Seminary, Oxford Town Hall, September 23, 2023).
[10] Nelson, lecture.
About the Author
Jeff Styer
Jeff Styer lives in Northeast Ohio's Amish Country. He has degrees in Social Work and Psychology and currently works as a professor of social work at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. Jeff is married to his wife, Veronica, 25+ years. Together they have 4 beautiful children (to be honest, Jeff has 4 kids, Veronica says she is raising 5). Jeff loves the outdoors, including biking, hiking, camping, birding, and recently picked up disc golf.2 responses to “A Review of Northouse and Reflection Questions from Oxford”
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Jeff, Thank you for your great review! I, too, really liked the practical approach. Thank you for tying in Jo Nelson’s evaluation questions. I want to spend some time during Christmas break reflecting on these. I am curious, what resonated most with you as you read through the different leadership topics and styles?
Hi Jeff, I echo Kari’s comment. Thank you for revisiting Jo Nelson’s questions. I can relate to you. I remember feeling overwhelmed in Oxford, and if it wasn’t for you, those questions would have remained hidden in the dark abyss of my long-term memory storage. Now that we are nearly halfway through this program and taking all we have learned, which of Jo’s questions is the most impactful for you in this season of your leadership journey?