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Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
Case 11.3: Redskins No More
Case Synopsis and Analysis
Scott Gooding, a newly elected member of the school board, fought to change the school’s
mascot and name from Redskins to Redhawks. He believed that the name was essentially a
racial slur and Native American groups spoke to the board about the inappropriateness of the
name. A local Native American family fought for this change as well. However, many other
local families did not approve of a name change. They felt deeply connected to the school’s
50-year history as Redskins and believed that the name honored Native Americans.
Scott eventually succeeded, with a majority of the board voting to change the name. Students
at the school selected a new name, the Redhawks, and did not complain about the change.
Unfortunately, some locals revolted and were successful in having five board members
removed, including Scott. The two remaining board members fought to have the name revert
to Redskins, but a couple of organizations intervened and told the school that it could not
return to the Redskins name. The school remained the Redhawks, but some adults still
believe they should be the Redskins.
This case study allows students to see the complexity and difficulty of leading a wide change
effort. A minority of community members can derail an effort, and a strong leader should
work diligently to help all through the change process.
Learning objectives:
• Students should be able to recognize Adaptive Leadership in a given case study.
• Students should be able to analyze whether a leader’s behavior comports with
effective adaptive leadership.
• Students should be able to understand the difficulties of leading community change
efforts, particularly where community members have differing views.
Answers to questions in the text:
1. What change were the people in Gooding trying to avoid? Why do you think they
wanted to avoid this change? What tactics did they use to resist change?
The people in Gooding were clinging to their past and wanted to avoid changing an
athletic program that brought students and the community together. They felt deeply
Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
2. Would you describe Scott Gooding’s or the school board’s efforts as adaptive
leadership? Why or why not?
Adaptive challenges are problems that are not clear-cut and cannot be solved by the
leader’s authority or through the normal ways of doing things in the organization.
Adaptive challenges require that leaders encourage others, with their support, to
3. How would you describe the holding environment created by the school board? Do
you think it was successful? Why or why not?
Creating a holding environment refers to establishing an atmosphere in which people
can feel safe tackling difficult problems, but not so much so that they can avoid the
problem. A holding environment is a structural, procedural, or virtual space formed
4. Citing examples, describe how the school board engaged or didn’t engage in each of
these adaptive leader behaviors: get on the balcony, maintain disciplined attention,
and give the work back to people.
- Get on the balcony: The school board did not adequately get on the balcony to
consider the breadth of the problem. It did not consider the community’s
Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
deeply rooted connection to the name and did not create a plan to hear,
understand, and appreciate this connection. If the board had stepped on the
5. What group would you describe as the “low-status group?” How did the school board
seek to give voice to this group?
Potential teaching approaches:
Below is a way to structure a class based on Adaptive Leadership and Case Study 11.3:
• Hold a lecture on adaptive leadership.
• Students read Case 11.3.
• Discuss Questions 1–4 in the case study as a class
• Finally, the professor may choose to conduct in-class exercises listed below.
Exercises for this case study:
1) The school board made a number of mistakes. Students should turn back the clock
and establish plans, goals, and ideas for how to effectively change the Redskins name.
2) The school board’s change effort eventually “succeeded,” but was largely ineffective.
Another board, in a neighboring small town, is looking to implement a similar
Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
3) Unfortunately, this issue is not new or unique as several sport teams from local to
professional still hold onto racially inappropriate names. Have student groups
