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 had Native American groups speak before 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.
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
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?
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 define challenging situations and
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 by cohesive relationships
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 deeply rooted connection to the
name and did not create a plan to hear, understand, and appreciate this connection. If the
– Regulate distress: The board did not do an adequate job regulating distress. The meetings
– Give the work back to people: The board did allow the students to vote on a new name and
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:
Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
Below is a way to structure a class based on skill theory and case study 11.3:
• Hold a lecture on adaptive leadership.
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 change.
What advice would you give them? Develop a memo or talking points in small groups.