A story about leadership. This is the 1st assigned reading for my Adaptive Leadership (AL) Fellowship at @NYUSilver. The practice of AL involves guiding cultural change in a status quo. 1/

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The framework was developed by educators at @Kennedy_School and it defines leadership as an act — a verb. The key tenets include the differentiation b/w authority & leadership as two distinct, often intersecting roles. 2/

i.e. those in authority don't always *exercise* leadership & leaders don't always hold positions of power. 45 is an infamous example of someone in authority that exercised no leadership. Activists from various generations tho were often ordinary folks exercising leadership 3/

Another tenet: adaptive change involves loss. Changing the culture of a status quo may include leaving behind values that did not serve the system AND also preserving values that did 4/

So according to the AL framework, leadership involves the distribution of loss at the rate at which people can absorb. 5/

& exercising leadership by this defn requires the ability to stomach discomfort & ambiguity. It involves loss and risk. Risk that has gotten leaders figuratively & literally assassinated 6/

But I think the cool thing about AL scholarship is that it reframes leadership to be accessible to everybody. You don't have to be authority or hold power to be a leader. In fact most leaders historically & presently have often not been! #AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter