A leader calls for intellectual commitment by asking followers to support a purpose because they are logically convinced of its value. In order to convince them, the leader constructs what cognitive psychologist Howard Gardner calls a ‘‘story.’’ He wrote:
I view leadership as a process that occurs within the minds of individuals who live in a culture—a process that entails the capacity to create stories, to understand and evaluate these stories, and to appreciate the struggle among stories.
An important component of a leader’s story is a vision of the future. It is a picture that a leader draws for followers—a picture of some ideal future state. The story might also contain a rationale for why the leader’s particular story is better than the story his followers now accept, or why it is better than any particular competing story.
Leaders call for intellectual commitment by both communicating and embodying their stories. The stories related by Gardner’s leaders are about the leader and his followers pursuing a common quest. ‘‘Together,’’ wrote Gardner, ‘‘they have embarked on a journey in pursuit of certain goals, and along the way and into the future, they can expect to encounter certain obstacles or resistances that must be overcome.’’
Gardner believes that these stories are primarily about identity, about who the leader is and who the followers might become. One good example of such a leader is Margaret Thatcher, named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most important people of the twentieth century. Time called her the ‘‘champion of free minds and markets.’’ [4 ]Thatcher’s story was of a new kind of Britain, embracing a dramatic change. She convinced the British (not all of them to be sure, but enough to elect her as Prime Minister three times) to challenge their idea of themselves, to abandon governmental interference and embrace privatization of industry and services, as well as individual initiative. She reportedly told a group of aspiring business people, ‘‘The only thing I am going to do for you is make you freer to do things for yourself. If you can’t do it, I’m sorry. I’ll have nothing to offer you.’’
The British at the time were not accustomed to such talk from their leaders. Thatcher was intolerant of the socialism, bureaucracy, and powerful intransigent unions that suffused British society. Her message was clearly a different story from the one Britons had been living.
Intellectual commitment in combination with political commitment can accelerate lower-order change. If a person is politically committed to her work and a good idea presents itself, that idea will probably be pursued.