Leading in Times of ‘Normal Madness’: On Rage, Love, and Refusing Despair

Educational leaders who name and challenge status quo injustices are often positioned as, “the angry leader.” We problematize these patterned, deficit framings to ask: How might anger, and what we specify as “righteous rage,” offer a strategic leadership resource amid climates of normalized oppression? Guided by Sandy Grande’s Red Pedagogy, we trace the historical constitution of the rational, emotionless managerial leader. We argue that prevailing constructions of the emotionless leader depend on ahistorical (mis)readings of schooling as distinct from settler colonialism and antiblack enslavement. We couple critique with a constructive reframing of rage as a gift: as a leadership resource and praxis of refusing despair and (re)centering love for historically aggrieved families, communities, and young people.