Leadership perception and schemata

Of all behaviors of human, the most often 'mis' or 'less' understood yet the most still fascinating 'mystery' to uncover, no doubt, is of the cognitive behavior. The various cognitive processes such as input processing, retention, production, to name a few, are among the interests of many researchers trying to figure out the relationship between these cognitive processes and leadership behaviors, processes and practices.

It is human nature to be greatly 'awed' by spectacular events or happenings as they are simply and truly 'believable' and 'unbelievable' to the eyes. The eyes, of course, are our most trusted 'tool' of perception. Well, as they say, "Seeing is Believing"; i.e. we only believe in things people say when we have actually seen them  ourselves. Until then, we always keep our options open. 

Similarly, it is simply easy to be greatly inspired by leaders we 'perceive' as 'charismatic'. Though it is not easy to substitute the term 'charisma' with another single, parallel word, the multiple terms used indicate a 'complex' personality; i.e. which actually is the 'attraction'.  In other words, the more difficult we find in 'describing' a person, the more 'curiosity' is aroused in us. The more 'curiosity' is aroused in us, the greater the 'admiration' we have of that personality. That of course, often in 'distant'-kind of acquaintances.

It is an 'ordinary' occurrence to find that most of us 'freeze the movement' of our mind at that very point when our perception 'hits' the exact raw neural node of our emotional nerves. To the extent, it seldom travels back to where it starts, i.e. the mind. Often, we keep ourselves occupied by 'replaying' the  great 'performance' we had witnessed in our mind over and over again, to 'revel' in the great feelings awakened within us. Such is the great impact of perception on our emotional state of being.

Thus, it is not surprising to find how easy it is for our emotion to be swayed by the perception that we have of others. In fact, the frequent contacts that we have with the 'charismatic' leaders, subconsciously  and gradually shape a 'leadership schemata' in our mind. Consequently, it 'narrows' our perception  and  rigidly define our expectations. Without realizing, we tend to trap our minds into perceiving 'good' leadership as one that corresponds to our own leadership schemata.

Yet, in an organization where apart from personal or physical attributes, leadership is also defined through the organizational roles and functions, relying on our 'existing' schemata alone may not be appropriate. Others may have developed their own schemata of leadership based on their own experiences  with  other leadership 'figures'. Often, quite paradoxically,they may strongly assert that not everything that we see is believable, and thus, unreliable. 

Undoubtedly, leadership perception is a critical issue. As a matter of fact, being in an educational organization which is deeply rooted within a social domain, there are bound to be multiple leadership perceptions and expectations of us as educational leaders by different stakeholders. Our self-concepts as educational leaders, therefore, need to be developed accordingly so as to meet these various expectations.