ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on becoming a leader. Despite the very different backgrounds and experiences of the three contributors, several common themes are apparent, not least the articulation of profound statements relating to awareness of leadership capabilities. The value of such criticality, especially at a time when becoming a leader in higher education (HE) brings with it a need to challenge a number of assumptions surrounding the validity and utility of HE, is vitally important. For Masika Rachel and Rumschlag Booms Emily, in different ways and with different emphases, each espouses idea of leadership as service. Rachel refers explicitly to servant leadership as a guiding principle as well as need for ‘purpose’ – not simply to establish where one is leading, but why. For Thomas Dave, leadership appears to revolve around combating the structural inequalities he routinely encounters that manifest as, among other things, the racial ‘attainment gap’ that pervades all levels of HE and of which he offers compelling examples.
