University of St. Thomas, Minnesota UST Research Online Education Doctoral Dissertations in Leadership School of Education 2015 How International Leaders Overcome Difficult Social Conditions: An Exploratory Study of Biography and Leadership Development Wojceiech Wloch University of St. Thomas Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.stthomas.edu/caps_ed_lead_docdiss Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Wloch, Wojceiech, "How International Leaders Overcome Difficult Social Conditions: An Exploratory Study of Biography and Leadership Development" (2015). Education Doctoral Dissertations in Leadership. 111. https://ir.stthomas.edu/caps_ed_lead_docdiss/111 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Education at UST Research Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Education Doctoral Dissertations in Leadership by an authorized administrator of UST Research Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. How International Leaders Overcome Difficult Social Conditions: An Exploratory Study of Biography and Leadership Development A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS ST. PAUL, MN By Wojciech Wloch IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION 2015 i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, I want to thank my Dissertation Advisor, Dr. Jean-Pierre Bongila, for this wonderful journey through my dissertation process, for his consent to conduct the interviews, which were always on a short notice, and for his patience. I also owe Dr. Bongila my deep gratitude for leading the study tour to South Africa, where my initial gist about this dissertation turned from an idea to a conviction. I am grateful to my Dissertation Committee, namely Dr. Kathleen M. Boyle, Dr. Thomas L. Fish, and Dr. Jean-Pierre Bongila for their guidance and encouragement. Secondly, I want to thank the Department of Leadership, Policy and Administration of the University of St. Thomas for structuring this program in such a way that it was possible for me to succeed in my studies despite the distance. I thank all of my Professors for helping me find this dissertation within myself. In addition, I appreciate their help in discovering the content of the courses I had the privilege of taking. It kept me craving for more. Big thanks also go to my fellow cohort members whose feedback, constant encouragement, and sometimes direct assistance made reaching the end of this journey possible. I also want to express my gratitude to my current employer for offering me flexibility when I made arrangements to travel to my classes and to any and all events that made me feel part of the University of St. Thomas. I am also grateful for my employer for constant readiness to assist me in any and all ways possible so that I could travel to interviews with the Nobel Peace Prize laureates. I especially thank Dr. Sharon K. Hahs, my university President and Dr. Richard J. Helldobler, its Provost, and my boss, Dr. Lawrence N. Berlin, for their constant encouragement. Furthermore, their frequent inquiries into my progress made me feel even more obligated to keep going with this project. Also, I want to also thank Drs. Theophilus Okosun and ii Dr. Kimberly Sanborn for being the first reviewers of my findings and for helping me phrase some of them in a more scholarly and precise way. I am also grateful for my long-time colleague and friend, Daniel Gillespie, for helping me persevere and constantly reminding me that faith is the base, and Dr. Anthony Adams for always being interested in my progress. This work would not be possible without direct participation of my interlocutors – President Lech Wałęsa and Madam Leymah Gbowee. The conversations we had were so deep and inspiring that when analyzing the content of these discussions I kept encountering vital findings in almost every line of their transcripts. Indeed, they did contribute to the development of new knowledge. However, these conversations would not have been possible were it not for the long-term planning and assistance of many individuals. The interview with President Lech Wałęsa was possible thanks to Mr. Piotr Gulczyński, past President of the Board of the Lech Wałęsa Institute Foundation, his assistant, Ms. Iwona Kukwa, and President Wałęsa’s interpreter, Ms. Magdalena Iwińska. More currently, assistance of Ms. M. Victoria Wałęsa, Referent at the Lech Wałęsa Institute Foundation and Mr. Jerzy Brodzikowski, Director of International Cooperation at Lech Wałęsa Institute. Both helped me immensely in fulfilling the formal requirements of this work and in providing me with confirmations of some of my initial findings. I also want to thank Jola and Ben Sipiora. Without Ben’s assistance I would not have been able to conduct my interview with President Lech Wałęsa on the departure side of O’Hare International Airport. Ben also helped me make initial arrangements with another Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Even though this interview ended up not happening, I am grateful to Ben for keeping me in mind and to Jola for so patiently letting her husband spend time helping me. The interview with Madam Gbowee was possible thanks to Dr. Artika Tyner (my fellow cohort member) and her friend Mr. Ahmed Sirleaf, adjunct lecturer at the Kofi Anan Center for iii Conflict Transformation at the University of Liberia. Both helped me reach out to Ms. Williametta Saydee-Tarr, Executive Director at Gbowee Peace Foundation USA who then referred me to Ms. Hafeeza Rashed, past Officer of Strategic Partnerships at the same organization. Ms. Rashed not only assisted in arranging the actual interview, but also agreed to have a conversation that grounded some of my most important findings. Special thanks to Ms. Iwona Bocheńska for nominating me to serve as a special liaison between the Lech Wałęsa team and the organizers of 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Chicago (April 23-25, 2012) during which I made my arrangements for the dissertation interview with President Lech Wałęsa, and met and talked to many other laureates who were my potential interlocutors as well. I also want to extend my special thanks to Maureen K. Reed, MD, past Executive Director of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, who went above and beyond to help me meet and introduce myself to two more laureates. Though these conversations never took place, I thank you for the opportunity. Another person who deserves special thanks is Dr. Carla Knorowski, CEO of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Foundation. Thanks to Dr. Knorowski, I had the chance to introduce my very initial ideas about this dissertation to President Lech Wałęsa. Also, since learning about my work, Dr. Knorowski has been a great supporter of this undertaking. Drs. Janet and Marcel Fredericks were also very encouraging. As my previous boss, Dr. Janet Fredericks pushed me to further my education and helped me identify the University of St. Thomas as the best fit for my studies of international leadership. Her husband Dr. Marcel Fredericks was and still is ready with advice. His experience as an immigrant and a successful academic is invaluable to me. iv Additionally, I want to also thank some of my friends, who helped me find the courage to pursue doctoral studies. Małgorzata Ptaszyńska of WNVR 1030AM Chicago urged me to share my thoughts with the Polish community in Chicago. Kazimierz Długosz provided endless hours of intellectual conversations. Wiktoria Długosz and Michalina Maliszewska were always there for me. Rafał Sokołowski, Ivo and Vihren Paunov, Radek Rajkowski and so many others contributed to the depth of my formative years. I also appreciate assistance of all my friends who supported me financially throughout the process, especially Prof. Maciej Karwowski and Piotr Jakubowski and their teams at the Academy of Special Education in Warsaw and MillwardBrown Polska. My special thanks also go to the people who provided a home for me during my frequent travels from Chicago to Minneapolis while I took classes: Randall Hallett and his wife Mary Lyn, Dr. Kevin Gerdes and his wife, Mickey, as well as Maciek Gralinski, Tammy Sommers, and their wonderful children: Rose, Adam, and Matt. However, I am most grateful to all my family members. Without their support of all imaginable kinds, without their sacrifices, also of all imaginable kinds, completion of this work would never, ever have been possible. My grandparents, my mother, father, and sister made me who I am today. Their contributions make this dissertation part of my core. Finally, my wife and my daughters make this dissertation a beating heart that will hopefully keep pumping blood for this study to keep going and developing even further for the good of the humanity. I dedicate this dissertation to my grandmother, Irene. Although she has not lived to witness completion of this work, her experiences and stories triggered what the University of St. Thomas helped me find – fascination with ordinary people living extraordinary lives and doing extraordinary things. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i TABLE OF CONTENTS v TABLE OF TABLES xi TABLE OF FIGURES xii ABSTRACT xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 What led me to This Study? 1 Statement of the Problem and Research Questions 3 Significance of the Problem 6 Definition of Terms 7 Oppression 7 Story 8 Servant Leadership 8 Prosopography 8 Lived Experience 9 Conclusion 9 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 10 Oppression and Counter-oppression in the Lives of