Leadership is the new black or at least it's the new vernacular when it comes to referring to educational administrators. When looking at the latest trends in organizational theory one thing has changed and that is that we don't necessarily manage static cogs in a machine, we now lead innovation and change within the organization. In Eugene Kowch's article "Wither Thee, Educational Technology?" (Kowch, 2013) he uses a sort of dichotomy to contrast managing's transition to leading. One of the ways in which this is shown is using the complicated versus complex systems to show how organizations have now become complex organic organisms or ecosystems which are in a constant state of flux. Organizations are always shifting, changing and demanding that the leaders that operate them not only understand the management aspect of the organization, but through the shift to a leadership paradigm these leaders now need to have a intimate knowledge of technology. Leading through technological innovation has become necessary for the modern organization.
Furthermore, Kowch makes reference to leading complex organizations and states that "Tension can be good." (pg. 31, 2013) Tension, as Kowch refers to it in this article has a great use for organizations as they develop their networks to innovate through. This means that in a complex organization there really is no status quo to settle on. An organization must be continuously adjusting to anticipate the next trend that will help them get an edge and stay current, if not ahead of the curve. In education, this means that our leaders must not only have the ability to lead but must also have the ability to have a vision around technology integration to lead effectively. An educational leader is also an educational technologist that have their foot in both arenas. This will allow for the most effective educational opportunities to be provided to the student.
