Superintendent Briggs Case

Case II: Superintendent Briggs is too busy creating visions

The case in question focuses on Mary Briggs, a school superintendent who does not function as an effective strategic leader in her work position. Briggs oversees and supervises a school district comprised of more than sixty schools. In recent years the schools have had a significant low performance. Parents often complain and blame this problem on teachers. However, others decided to "blame the problems of the school district on Superintendent Briggs, who, as the leader, should be able to fix most of the problems facing the district" (DuBrin, 2016 p. 444). It seems that for Briggs, the most important part of her job is to create visions. She believes that her job as a leader is to

However, it seems that she has not internalized that strategic leadership is more than just developing long-term. According to DuBrin (2016), "strategic leadership emphasizes balancing the short and long-term needs of the organization to ensure the enduring success of the organization, yet the emphasis is on the future" (p. 419). I believe that one the biggest mistakes she is committing as a strategic leader is being too focused in the future rather than solving pressing matters in the

Although it may take longer to develop solutions to problems that are strategic in nature; it's important that the superintendent distributes her time efficiently by working on what can easily be fixed and building the strategies and visions necessary for the long-term survival of an organization. Due to the immediate and visible nature of operational problems, I believe an efficient superintendent should be able to respond and help almost immediately when these sort of problems arise. However, a superintendent, that is also an strategic leader, should be able to acknowledge these issues without compromising the long-term feasibility of the organization or project. In Brigg's case, I believe she should ten to the operational problems affecting the schools without relinquishing the need to create visions. It's important than a strategic leader develops a clear vision, but it is also fundamental that the leader sets in place. According to DuBrin (2016 p. 422), "strategic leaders rely heavily on intuition as to what direction the organization should take." It's important than the leader applies his/her devised vision to see if the vision will work in the long term while, at the same time, addressing pressing concerns. I believe that although strategy problems can require more time in solving, the leader should not just forget or dismiss operational progress since, over time, these can