Charismatic Leaders: how much should we focus on them?

Today on the Schools page, I wrote about my visit to Laguna-Acoma Jr/Sr High (say that three times fast).

In the story, I tried to capture the key elements of what Laguna-Acoma is doing that has raised test scores at the predominantly American Indian school. I focused on the school because principal Tom Trujillo and his assistant principal both went through leadership training that may soon be used more widely in NM.

But training or no, Trujillo is clearly a charismatic guy. (And I’m not just saying that because his niece is a Journal designer). He seemed to know every student: not just their names but also their interests and plans. He high-fived the kids as he took me on a tour around the school, and when he called me later he said, “Hello, this is Tom Trujillo from Laguna-Acoma High, home of the hawks,” just by way of saying hello.

The temptation in writing this story was to focus on Trujillo, and to write a feature on this man making a difference. I’ve spoken to other education reporters about this issue: when writing about the Harlem Children’s Zone, the clear temptation is to write a feature on Geoffrey Canada.

But is that what we should be writing about? Or should we be focused on the systems these leaders are putting in place, and asking questions about whether HCZ will outlast Canada or Laguna-Acoma can be successful, independent of Trujillo? I don’t know the answer but would like to know what readers think, and what they like to read.