Howard Gardner on Leadership Howard Gardner Leadership as the Communication of Stories Dr. Howard Gardner has developed an approach to leadership that has many helpful aspects. Gardner makes these points about leadership. Leadership is cognitive influence that affects the way other people think and therefore act. The fundamental process of leadership is to relate stories. In addition to communicating stories, leaders also embody those stories.
Leaders embody with integrity in their own manner of life the stories they relate.
The term story is the best way to convey this point. . . . Levels of Leadership From the cognitive perspective of stories, there are three levels of leaders. Ordinary Leaders relate the traditional story of their as effectively as possible. Innovative Leaders take a story that has been latent or under emphasized and give it new attention or a fresh twist. Visionary Leaders create a new story that encompasses a radically different way of answering the basic identity questions and relate these stories with exceptional power to others.