“I Will Be a Hummingbird”

Lessons in Radical Transformative Leadership from Professor Wangari Maathai

Bibliographic Data

ID20067945
AuthorsFaith Wambura Ngunjiri (0000-0003-3098-068X, corresponding author)
Year2014
Pages123-141
Publication date2014-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueLeadership in Postcolonial Africa (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan US (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/9781137478122_6
OpenAlexW2480390520
ISBN9781137478122
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited17

The late Professor Wangari Maathai is perhaps the best-known daughter of Africa, having won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her leadership and activism in political and environmental justice issues. An unsung local heroic leader for many years before she gained international attention and won many international awards, Professor Maathai initiated a grassroots movement to plant trees as a practical solution to the problems brought about by massive deforestation in Kenya (Maathai 2007, 2010). As a leader, Maathai demonstrates many leadership approaches, the overall approach being "radical leadership," defined as engaging in transformative actions toward the common good in spite of the personal cost. In this chapter, I profile Professor Maathai's leadership journey, focusing on using her story to illustrate leadership lessons that may resonate with established and emerging leaders, particularly those invested in social justice leadership.KeywordsRural WomanAfrican WomanServant LeadershipGreen BeltIvory TowerThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves

Environmental ethics · Grassroots · Leadership · Leadership style · Management · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Transformative learning · African cultural and philosophical studies · Global and Cross-Cultural Management · Law · Workplace Spirituality and Leadership

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