Back to the Future: Leadership, Tradition, and Authority in a Post-Critical Age

Abstract

Both modern and postmodern approaches to knowledge view tradition and authority with suspicion, even contempt, though each approach does so in different ways. Our profession vacillates between those epistemological orientations, struggling to find direction and meaning. Leadership, in particular, is in a quandary; what does leadership look like in a world bereft of authority and tradition? The work of Michael Polanyi (1891–1976) is insightful in this regard. His theory of “personal knowledge,” a comprehensive epistemology designed to make sense of knowing in its varied manifestations, is particularly well suited to demonstrate valued places for tradition and authority. This article explores his thought, the implications that it has for genuine knowledge production in our disciplines, and the applications that it makes for the development of leadership in our profession.