A Discourse Analysis of Portrayals of Community College Leadership in the Chronicle

The hero motif is well-nourished in Western culture through music, movies, and novels. Westerners understand the notion of a hero, and want to both have and be a hero. This extends to our organizational life. However, the masculine hero motif is self-focused, and, from our perspective, therefore, a failed hero. Joseph Campbell's hero motif of an other-focused hero offers a feminist-inspired metaphoric understanding of community college leadership. First, we wondered if and how the hero motif is used in the Chronicle of Higher Education reporting about leaders and leadership. Second, we wondered if the motif still has value and resonance in an organizational life premised on the ideals of feminism—equality, democracy, and emancipation. We employed the methods of discourse analysis to study 40 Chronicle articles about community college leaders and leadership, finding few examples of Campbell's hero-leader but many indications that the masculine hero model is still used to understand leading.