Healthassist, Inc.: leading through a pandemic

Case study abstract The purpose of this case study is to illustrate how Dianne Savastano, founder and CEO of Healthassist, Inc., a US-based health-care advocacy firm, successfully led her clients and team through the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. To gather the data for this case study, the authors interviewed the protagonists, the members of her team and two clients. The authors read Healthassist Newsletters and the firm’s documents; and in fact, they included one Newsletter and several documents in the Exhibits of the case study. The authors conducted a literature review for articles in newspapers and journals about the newly developing field of “health-care advocacy,” a field which Savastano helped to create. Findings of the case study The authors illustrate how Savastano, using the five practices of exemplary leadership by Kouzes and Posner, in The Leadership Challenge, led her team through the pandemic of 2020. This is a story of a woman leader, using traits such as warmth, empathy, analysis and decisiveness, keeps her small business afloat when so many other firms collapsed in 2020. Research The authors conducted seven interviews and literature searches on the topics of health-care advocacy; women leaders; leading through a crisis; and COVID-19. Practical implications The case study illustrates how a woman founder and CEO can lead her firm through a crisis. Value of the case study This is an example of how a woman leader managed through the 2020 pandemic. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Exemplary Youth Leadership Series: Model the Way

This publication series is designed to outline strategies and experiences to expose youth to and engage them with leadership concepts. In this series, activities have been developed to introduce youth to Kouzes and Posner?s five practices of exemplary leaders. This new 2-page article allows students to engage with the first practice: modeling the way. Leaders must identify and exemplify values in order to be effective. The two outlined activities help students illustrate the idea of identifying values and modeling expectations. Written by Megan Stein and published by the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural Education and Communication. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/wc346

Higher LEAP: Learning Area Coordinators’ Leadership Approaches and Faculty Performance in a Philippine University

Leadership is a connection between those who aim to influence and those who choose to be influenced and follow. Leaders at all levels practice definite patterns and systems that guide them to perform at their best. The descriptive-correlational study was conducted to identify the most common leadership approaches of learning area coordinators and determine its association with their faculty performance rating. Seventy – six senior high school faculty members were randomly selected to answer an adopted leadership practices inventory instrument developed by Kouzes and Posner. The survey questionnaire measured the learning area coordinators’ level of application of the five leadership approaches. Faculty performance evaluation was also retrieved. Data analysis was carried out using the Chi-square test of correlation. The study findings revealed that learning area coordinators apply the five leadership approaches (modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act and encouraging the heart) very frequently. Furthermore, about 70% of faculty performed from very satisfactorily to outstanding. Among these leadership approaches, it is modeling the way, challenging the process and encouraging the heart that was associated, X2 (15, 76 = 27.91, 33.66 and 33.11) =24.99, p<.05) to faculty performance evaluation. Based on the findings, recommendations that would enhance and develop leadership styles and practices are given.

Leadership roles and transformative duties – preliminary research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present empirical evidence about the roles of leaders and how those roles mesh with transformative leadership as a new theory of ethical stewardship. Design/methodology/approach – Statistical methods are implemented to test the associations between specific leadership roles and six transformative leadership perspectives. Data are collected from Likert-type responses from a survey of 399 faculty, staff, and students of a Catholic University in South Florida. Findings – Analysis results indicate that there are significantly positive associations between six leadership perspectives of transformative leadership and the five roles of leadership in the Kouzes and Posner (2012) model. Originality/value – This paper contributes to empirically transformative leadership, a new theory that incorporates six highly regarded leadership perspectives. It provides a framework for understanding the ethical duties of leaders and affirms the importance of those duties as they correlate with Kouzes and Posner’s highly regarded five-role model.

Teaching the Core Values of Caring Leadership

This article describes how the authors have taught the core values of the McDowell-Williams Caring Leadership Model to hundreds of nursing leadership staff at Wake Forest Baptist Health using one-page summaries. The model brings together the caring theory of Watson (2008) and the leadership theory of Kouzes and Posner (2012). The summaries stimulate discussion and provide opportunities for leaders to reflect on their own leadership within a caring framework, as well as to help light the fire within their staff as is illustrated by the exemplars of each of the core values that are included in this article.

A Caring Leadership Model for Nursing’s Future

This article describes the McDowell-Williams Caring Leadership Model that brings together the caring theory of Watson (2008) and the leadership theory of Kouzes and Posner (2007). This model provides institutional guidance for continuing the effective shared governance by the nurses at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (WFUBMC), as well as strategies for leaders to use with staff as they make their workplace the best place to work and the best place to receive care.

Thinking style preference, emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness

In this study, the researchers investigate the relationship between thinking style preference, emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness in an institution of higher education. The measuring instruments used were the Neethling Brain Preference Profle (NBPP) and the Mayer, Salovey and Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), as well as the Kouzes and Posner Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI). The sample comprised 138 managers within a higher education institution. The researchers found some evidence to support the relationship between thinking style, emotional intelligence (EI) and leadership effectiveness. The researchers concluded that facets of brain dominance and emotional intelligence may be potentially useful predictors of transformational leadership behaviours.

Comparing leadership practices between the United States, Nigeria, and Slovenia: does culture matter?

The article explores the impact of culture on leadership practices in three countries in culturally and economically different regions: the United States, Slovenia, and Nigeria. It uses the visionary approach to leadership as developed by Kouzes and Posner (1987), who have identified five leadership practices (actions or behaviors) employed by effective leaders. Hypotheses about expected differences in the usage of those practices were developed on the basis of Hofstede’s (1980) country score. The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI: Kouzes & Posner, 1993) was used to collect self‐ratings from 351 MBA students in the respective countries. Contrary to expectations, the data reveals that there are not many significant differences between the leadership practices of American, Nigerian, and Slovenian MBA students, suggesting that some charismatic leadership behaviors may be universally practiced. Some differences to occur in the leadership practices of Modeling the Way and Enabling Others Act. Culture seems to affect gender differences in leadership practices. These differences are greatest for Nigerian respondents and smallest for Slovenian MBA students.

Relating Leadership and Credibility

Using responses ( N = 998) from their subordinates, the relationship between leadership and credibility was examined. All three dimensions of credibility (trustworthiness, expertise, and dynamism) were significantly correlated with five behavioral practices of leaders (challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modeling the way, and encouraging the heart) as identified by Kouzes and Posner (1987). Implications for leaders are discussed.