The Rabbi, Guru and Sage: Profiles of an Educational Leader from Judaism, Hinduism and Daoism

This book chapter presents three profiles of an educational leaderEducational leader as informed by Jewish, Hindu and Daoist texts. It does so to introduce readers to theories or education leadershipEducation leadership outside mainstream bodies of research on leadership whose origins lie primarily within the post-industrial West. While this chapter does not pretend to offer an exhaustive treatment of any of these rich traditions’ philosophies of education leadership, it does present several key attributes that each tradition holds to be essential to the character of an effective leader. These are as follows: for JudaismJudaism, discernment and flexibility; for HinduismHinduism, holismHolism and selflessness; and for DaoismDaoism, self-awarenessSelf-awareness, guidance, flexibility and selflessness. The book chapter then presents three themes which present themselves across these traditions in common: selfless flexibility, seeing the unseen and approaching leadership holistically. It is hoped that this article will serve as a springboard from which readers might explore approaches to leadership informed by multicultural sources more well-suited to the growing diversity and multiculturalismMulticulturalism within contemporary educational contexts.