A good beginning point for this discussion is to answer the question, What is leadership?  I favor Joseph Rost's definition:

Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and their collaborators who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes.

(From Rost, J. C., 1993, Leadership in the new millennium, The Journal of Leadership Studies, p. 99.)

Since human communication is generally defined as the process of sharing and understanding meaning between message senders and receivers,

leadership communication is the interaction between leaders and their constituents/followers, characterized by the influence which leaders and followers seek to exert over one another (D. S. Fox, Ph.D.).

James Comer, Ph.D., at Yale University is noted for making this statement:

No significant learning occurs without an significant relationship.

While I firmly believe this to be true in the teacher-learner relationship, I also see a parallel in leadership.  Since leadership is fundamentally a relationship of influence, rather than of coercive or reward-based power associated with organizational line authority, that relationship between leader and follower is significant.  If the nature of the influence becomes tainted, twisted, contorted or distorted in some way, then the effectiveness of the relationship comes into question.  Interpersonal trust and mutual respect are at the core of effective leadership.  Credibility (what others see as believable about you) and integrity (what you know to be true of yourself) are central to effective leadership.  These are true of both leader and follower, undergirding the essence of a relationship of influence.  The degree of trust between leader and follower is an essential indicator of success, as is interpersonal credibility.  No significant leading occurs without a significant relationship.

A study of leadership must necessarily take us in the direction of interpersonal relationships, the nature of power, modes of influence, ethics of influence, and definitions of effectiveness.  In this course we will explore these very issues, challenging ourselves to become more like the leader we wish to be with those around us.  Your profession or vocation matters not; for where you are, there you lead.  In the living room, class room, board room... there is where you lead, and there is where we succeed and fail at being leaders.

Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck leads the flock to fly and follow.

-- Chinese proverb.

About the professor, Dr. Dan Fox

Dr. Fox started teaching at MPC in Fall 2001.  Prior to that he taught at CSU Fresno, Mira Costa College, Southwestern College, and Southern Illinois University (as a graduate teaching assistant).  He comes to MPC with credentials in instructional communication and organizational communication.

He started his academic journey at Southwestern College (A.A., 1988), then to San Diego State University (B.A., 1992), CSU Chico (S.S. & M.S. teaching credentials, 1994), and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (M.S., 1995, Ph.D., 1999).

Leadership experience he brings to the course includes:

1.  Observed leadership in multiple contexts:
a.  business world (retail management)
b.  military world (Navy)
c.  academic world (classroom teachers and professors, classroom colleagues, department chairs, college deans, university presidents)
d.  church world (protestant organized churches, foreign missionary arena)
e.  family world (parents, step-parents)
f.  political world (presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush)

2.  Functioned as a leader in multiple contexts:
a.  academic: graduate student organization chair; Executive Director of professional association.
b.  business: training manager.
c.  church:  ministry leader, summer mission teams head trainer.
d.  family:  husband, father.

Texts used for this course

Text: 

Hackman, M. Z. & Johnson, C. (2000).  Leadership: A Communication Perspective, 3^rd Ed.  Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc.

ISBN: 1-57766-069-2

Hackman & Johnson Text Chapters:

1.         Leadership and Communication

2.         Leadership and Followership Communication Styles

3.         Traits, Situational, and Functional Leadership

4.         Transformational and Charismatic Leadership

5.         Leadership and Power

6.         Leadership and Influence

7.         Leadership in Groups and Teams

8.         Leadership in Organizations

9.         Public Leadership

10.      Leadership and Diversity

11.      Ethical Leadership and Followership

12.      Leadership Development

Possible Supplementary Texts: 

Fairhurst, G. T. & Sarr, R. A. (1996).  The Art of Framing: Managing the Language of Leadership.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

ISBN: 0-7879-0181-4

Fairhurst & Sarr Text Chapters:

1.         Framing: Seizing Leadership Moments in Everyday Conversations

2.         From the Inside Out: How Your Own View of Reality Shapes Communication Goals

3.         Vision-Based Framing: Enabling People to See the World You See

4.         Context Sensitivity: Recognizing Opportunities and Constraints

5.         Tools for Framing: Metaphor, Jargon, Contrast, Spin, and Stories

6.         Avoiding Mixed Messages

7.         Preparing Yourself to Frame Spontaneously

8.         Establishing Credibility: What You Frame, How You Frame, and How Others Frame You