Have you ever worked with a school leader whom some found inspiring but others had a completely different experience with? This has always fascinated me in how the same person can generate not just different views, but wildly different ones. 

Recently I came across the term “Dark Leadership” which has some similarities to this idea. If you are new to the term like me, Dark Leadership is essentially leaders who display narcissistic, Machiavellian, and psychopathic traits. While many leaders may display some of these qualities from time-to-time, the difference is that these are leaders who are deliberately and consistently manipulative to others in an effort to advance themselves. 

There have been several articles on this topic so I won’t go into too much depth as they can likely explain the nuance of it better than I can. However, the overlap is that these leaders can be polarizing to the people around them. By this, I mean that the same leader can be beloved and thought highly of by some, while others would find the experience horrible. 

I think a lot of this is related to if you are on the inside or outside of their inner circle. To be clear, no one is really on the inside of the circle when it comes to true Dark Leadership. Here people are a means to an end. If you have the ability to further their agenda, then you likely reap the rewards. These rewards can include preferential treatment, greater opportunities or public recognition. If you are outside the circle then these leaders may have little use for you and you may find yourself struggling to get recognition or choice positions. 

In this way, two teachers could have a completely different opinion of that leader. To be fair, it is arguable that this is true for even good leaders. Some may have specific negative interactions that define their opinion, while others may not see those aspects.  

In education, I think that true Dark Leaders are rare. A Dark Leader is intentional in their actions in an attempt to seek power and education isn’t really a position of power in society (typically) when compared to politics or corporations with high salaries. So I do think as well that some that may be thought of as Dark Leaders are not necessarily intentional about it, but rather have a lack of skills, have insecurities, or may be thinking in terms of ‘me’ rather than ‘we.’

As a quick check-in to the last of these, ask yourself:

• How often do you put the needs of others above your own? 

• Have there been times you negatively impacted someone else to get ahead?

• How often do you praise your school and your staff publicly rather than take credit for yourself? 

When it comes to a lack of skills, it may be that communication isn’t great because they struggle to balance what they should and should not send out. Perhaps to be safe they send out as little as possible. It’s also possible it’s an oversight and they assume people already know. 

We cannot presume intentions; we can only make educated guesses based on behaviour. Typically, when things negatively affect us we tend to assume they are done on purpose or with malice. It may be worth stepping back to consider alternative explanations before assuming malicious intent. A true test of intentions may be how constructive feedback is received. Does it create changes or at least dialogue about changes? If so, this is likely a matter of skill and not intent. If they react poorly by getting defensive or angry, then it may be insecurity or something more sinister at play.

While everyone experiences the same leader differently, when you see people with wildly different opinions on a leader, that may be a signal that there is something at play that may want you to dig a little deeper. Is the leadership lacking, or is it simply a misalignment of priorities for both you and them? Is it a matter of leadership growing pains, or something intentional? When leadership is lacking but willing to grow it can be an investment to come along on that journey since you can work with them to create something better. If it is a matter of intention, that can be much more difficult to navigate and may be a signal for a change. 

We can never fully know the true intentions of another person. What we can do is pay attention to patterns of behaviour, how they respond to feedback and how they treat everyone around them. These observations may not tell us everything about a leader, but it can tell us whether or not their leadership is something that we want to be a part of.