Case 11.1: Silence, Stigma, and Mental
Illness
Case Synopsis and Analysis
Madeline Halpert and Eva Rosenfeld wanted to write and publish an article in the high
school newspaper that detailed students’ battles with depression. They hoped that publication
of the article would diminish the stigma of mental illness and planned to use the full names
of students in the article. All students, and their parents, consented to the article.
Unfortunately, the high school principal felt that publication of the article could lead to
bullying of the students named in the article. Madeline and Eva protested, claiming that
printing an article with students’ real names was crucial to diminish the stigma of depression.
Learning Objectives:
• Students should be able to recognize the need for adaptive leadership in a given case
study.
• Students should be able to analyze whether a leader’s behavior comports with
Answers to Questions in the Text:
1. How do you define the problem the editors were trying to address? Was this a
technical or an adaptive challenge?
This was an adaptive problem. Adaptive challenges are problems that are not clear-
cut and cannot be solved by the leader’s authority or through the normal ways of
2. What is your reaction to what the principal did in this situation? How do you think
what she did fits in with providing direction, protection, orientation, conflict
management, and productive norms?
Students will likely be unsatisfied with the principal’s behavior. Some may recognize
the need to protect the students in the article, and others may feel that the students
should be allowed to share their stories. Either way, it seems as though the principal
could have handled the issue with greater compassion and collaboration. She was also
Conflict management refers to the leader’s responsibility to handle conflict
effectively. The question is not “How can people avoid conflict and eliminate
change?” but rather “How can people mange conflict and produce positive change?”
3. Describe the holding environment in this case. Was the holding environment
sufficient to meet the adaptive challenges in this situation? How would you improve
it?
4. Based on Figure 11.1, discuss who were the adaptive leaders in this case. Which of
the leader behaviors (get on the balcony, identify adaptive challenges, regulate
distress, etc.) did these leaders exhibit?
The student editors were adaptive leaders who fought to change people’s perceptions
about mental illness. Unfortunately, they were not effective at adaptive leadership.
Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publications, 2021
Potential Teaching Approaches:
Below is a way to structure a class based on Adaptive Leadership and Case Study 11.1:
• Ask students to read Case 11.1.
• Debate Exercise 1 below.
• Hold a lecture on adaptive leadership.
• 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. Debate: Students should read the case study and debate the publication of the article.
Should the principal have published it or not? The professor can ask students to split
2. In small groups, students should turn back the clock and . . .
Pretend that they are the editors poised to meet with the principal for the first time
about the article. The students know the principal does not want to publish and need
to develop a persuasive list of reasons why publication is important.
a. Pretend that they are the principal poised to meet with the student editors for the
3. Students again turn back the clock and role-play the first discussion with the principal
4. Based on the details in the case, students should write a “letter to the editor” (200–