Leadership as Soul Work: Living, Leading, and Loving the Work

Abstract

A Love Supreme was written and performed as John Coltrane’s truth and testament to the power, glory, love, and greatness of God. Music, jazz in particular, enhances my gifting in the realm of teaching and leading as well as grounded in my strong spiritual beliefs. This album defined the work in a whole new way for me; it touched my soul. It prompted and has continued to prompt the (re)consideration and the (re)visioning of what did/does it really mean for me to be an educator and a leader? This chapter will illumine my ideas of living, leading, and loving the soul work of education and leadership via my beliefs in the ethics of care, justice, and responsibility, all viewed and spoken through the prism of parrhesia.

Citation

Alston, J.A. (2015), "Leadership as Soul Work: Living, Leading, and Loving the Work", Living the Work: Promoting Social Justice and Equity Work in Schools around the World (Advances in Educational Administration, Vol. 23), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 395-404. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-366020140000023021