by Samuel T. Barber
Associate Librarian
California State University, Fullerton

This article utilizes three metaphors (ripples, bridges, islands) to identify, describe, and explain three elements of leadership phenomena gleaned from personal experience and via the observation of others. Though to some extent representing personal insights, the citation of research from a range of multi-disciplinary literature attempts to add weight and relevance for a wider audience. It is anticipated that current and past leaders will identify with the phenomena when considering their own experiences. Future leaders, therefore, may also benefit from consideration of these factors before making their transition into a leadership realm.

Select Literature Review

Ripple effect theory in the context of leadership and change management is presented across a range of multi-disciplinary literature. Bahar Hewertson (2015) stresses the importance of leading by example owing to the ripple effect of a leader’s actions and impacts on others, and states “learning how to generate a positive ripple effect must be a top priority for anyone who accepts a leadership role and wishes to succeed” (p. xiii). Groom and Vellacott (2020) frame an understanding of ‘nudges’, ripples, and their effects as central to a behavioral science approach to business and management. They provide several real-world business examples to demonstrate that “seemingly inconsequential ideas can have seismic outcomes” since behavioral science approaches tend to identify ideas that represent common sense, even if that idea is not yet commonplace (pp. 54-55).

Arena (2023) frames the impact of ripple effects on organizational culture as ‘behavior contagion’. No leadership behavior, action, or event exists in isolation. “Instead, they have a cascading and interconnected impact that extends beyond their initial occurrence, influencing not only immediate colleagues but also individuals further removed within the professional network (p. 3). Book (2023) notes that, although employees often view change in terms of 180-degree turnarounds, in practice it is the ripple effect’s “imperceptible changes, the one- or two-degree increments, made consistently over time, that eventually add up to the 180-degree change we seek” (p. 2). An additional example of the ripple effect is presented by Burhan and Khan (2023), where increasing levels of empowering leadership in turn leads to enhanced employee engagement, knowledge sharing, and task performance.

Of the three main phenomena at the center of our current focus, by far the most prevalent in the context of library-specific literature is mentorship. Distinctions are commonly made between library-based mentorship programs, and those provided by professional organizations, such as the American Library Association’s (ALA) CORE Mentoring Program (American Library Association, 2025). Freedman’s (2021) survey of librarians identified both formal and informal mentorship programs and practices at American academic libraries. This original research revealed that twice as many respondents experienced informal mentorship (31.6%) than received formal mentorship (15.8%) from their own library. The prevalent source of formal mentorship (34.2%) was provided by professional organizations. The research positively notes the “powerful, purposeful, and developmental relationship between a mentor and a mentee” (p. 1), while also noting some barriers to the establishment of mentorship programs. For prospective librarian mentors, these include potential conflicts of interest and the risk of erroneous assumptions of supervisory accountability toward the mentee. Administrators, on the other hand, claimed a lack of available time and resources, insufficient interest among librarians, and inadequate levels of incentive as reasons to not pursue mentorship programs. Whether involving formal or informal approaches, Malecki and Bonanni (2020) conclude that “mentorship is not a standardized practice and seldom is a one-size fits all program” (p. 35), and Wong (2017) also notes the benefit of applying flexibility in approaches to mentorship.

The mutual benefits of mentorship initiatives are also highlighted by several researchers. Freedman (2021) cites career growth, expanding knowledge and skills, and increased job satisfaction as benefits for mentees. Wong (2017) identifies mentorship as a means to nurture leadership skills for mentors and mentees alike. The predecessor to the ALA’s current CORE Mentoring Program – the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA) – cite a widely-held view that mentors learn as much as mentees, suggest that mentorship roles provide leadership experience outside the realm of direct line supervisory responsibilities, and note that mentors may increase their own levels of self-awareness (Library Leadership and Management Association, 2009). Notions of potentially negative experiences or dynamics for mentors are notable by their absence in library-specific literature.

The concepts at the heart of the islands metaphor may be historically mapped from Bentham’s eighteenth-century considerations of human expectation (Bentham, 2000, Wei et al. 2019), a notion more commonly referred to today as positive anticipation and/or reward motivation. For example, Luo et al. summarize several clinical studies demonstrating that, for healthy individuals, positive anticipation of positive future events increases ones’ personal sense of reward, encourages positive stimuli to be more readily memorable, generates positive affectation, and correlates with an increased sense of well-being (Luo et al. 2017, p. 2). Focusing on anxious, mixed (anxious-depressed), and control participants, MacLeod & Byrne (1996) convincingly demonstrate the opposite, whereby a correlation is made between an individual’s anxiety and their increased negative anticipation of future negative events.

Ripples

Ripples personify change and the implementation of new ideas. More specifically, ripples describe change in both its nature and its method of implementation. The ripple effect theory describes this phenomenon, and is discussed by multiple researchers in literature across academic disciplines. Perhaps the clearest definition, however, is provided by a non-academic source: “grand gestures or monumental decisions only sometimes steer the course. Usually, it’s the small, seemingly insignificant actions that create the most significant waves. This phenomenon is known as the ripple effect” (Aurora Training Advantage, 2024).  A variant definition, focusing on a single such seemingly insignificant action, is offered by the Annenberg Institute for Social Reform: “a ripple effect can be defined as a gradually spreading influence or series of consequences caused by a single action or event” (Annenberg Institute, 2016).

Perhaps deeper consideration of this phenomenon may also be provided by its opposite. A great wave of change is sudden and forceful. Its impact on others may be jolting, surprising, even shocking. The effects of the change may be long-lasting, perhaps absolute. The duration of active change (in other words, the period of time during which the change itself occurs), however, tends to be limited. One might think of a short, sharp, shock of change, followed by a period of relative calm as those impacted grow familiar with the newly changed landscape. The effects of the change may be clear, even unalterable, though the wave of change itself has likely already dissipated.

Ripples of change, on the other hand, represent far more subtle actions and impacts. The duration of ongoing changes created tend to permeate and remain active for far longer periods of time. As we shall see, ripples may prove more successful in achieving meaningful and lasting change. To help us understand why, we might consider a natural tendency of humans to resist change.

According to Krugel and Traub (2018), approximately 70% of institutional efforts to enact change fail, with the main cause being employee resistance to change. Vos and Rupert (2018) note that such resistance often stems from employees’ insufficient motivation levels, their sense of uncertainty, and the increased anxiety generated when faced with prospect of change.

If we concede, then, that attempting to counter such resistance to change with a great wave is somewhat akin to an irresistible force meeting an immovable object, then might we also consider that perhaps a subtler, humbler, approach may be required? Curiously, we may find further development of this idea from a seemingly surprising source: physics.

Unlike linear waves, solitons are solitary waves that maintain their amplitude and shape and do not widen or disperse over time (Hutchinson 2010). Accordingly, their impact is reminiscent of optimal ripples of change, as they also possess the characteristics required to endure great distances over substantial durations. First observed as a canal water wave in 1834 by Scots engineer John Scott Russell, current soliton research tends to focus on subtler instances of waves in the realm of quantum physics, nonlinear mathematical physics, nonlinear dynamics, and optical and quantum electronics (see Springer Nature, 2025). For the present purpose, however, we may limit our considerations to a primary practical application of solitons pioneered towards the end of the last millennium: data transmission via small soliton waves in fiber-optic cables. For example, in 1995 Japanese researchers successfully transmitted data at 160 Gbit/s over a distance of 200km with no discernable degradation (Nakazawa, et al., 1995) and at 10 Gbit/s over 2900km (Yamada, et al., 1999) via such small waves. In other words, particularly impactful results (successful data transmission) were achieved by subtle waves (solitons) over significant distances.

Might solitons in this context also illuminate further aspects of ripple effect change theory? Firstly, one might consider the notion that an optimal level, or amplitude, of change may achieve optimal longevity. Physicists in 2009 predicted such an optimal soliton, whose everlasting energy gives rise to its name: the ‘immortal’ wave (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2009). Is it possible to consider seeking similarly optimal levels of ripple effect change? Some initial observations in the context of faculty mentorship have recently been reported that support this suggestion. Minor yet consequential changes subtlety introduced in 2020 represent ripples that still permeate today, including the enduring use of a simple dedicated instant messaging communications channel for tenure-track faculty seeking advice, support, and a  general sense  of fellowship (see Barber and Parramore, 2025). Although representing a small ripple, the resulting initiative remains widely appreciated and utilized several years after its inception. Though perhaps far from deserving consideration as ‘immortal’ as this juncture, the ripple and its accompanying change has most certainly endured.

It is perhaps the absolute exception rather than the rule that a leader may assume their position of responsibility and not be expected to precipitate and enact change. Delivery of such change is typically ordered, demanded, requested, expected, and/or craved by senior leadership and subordinate colleagues alike. Are there other examples where subtle, though transformative, change may prove optimal?

This author has both witnessed and participated in various aspects of a concerted attempt to change institutional culture. In this particular situation, the stakes were high. Precipitated by a student-led town hall reporting negative campus and classroom experiences, efforts to change institutional culture through increased awareness, positive action, and revisions to university policy were launched. The implementation process very much resembled a series of ripples. Initially emanating from 2020, these ripples of change may still be clearly identified today. For example, revisions of faculty evaluation policy to formally recognize the phenomena of cultural taxation (see Padilla, 1994) were completed in 2023, and became effective at departmental level in 2024-2025 (see California State University, Fullerton, 2025a). Further, these ripples remain in motion, as this policy documentation will continually undergo further revision, as part of ongoing iterative processes. By definition, a change of culture cannot be achieved by a single individual: leader or otherwise. Such change requires at least a majority of those within the culture to implement, support, and perpetuate the change, whether actively or passively. Indeed, to truly represent meaningful and lasting change at this scale, transformation must typically outlast both the tenure and influence of the instigating leader. Ripples, therefore, appear to be the most appropriate method to achieve change of this magnitude.

To further illustrate this aspect of longevity, we might note another real-world example of an initial ripple leading to subsequent iterative ripples extending beyond the direct input of the initial instigator. First reported in the Journal of Creative Library Practice in 2020 (Barber, 2020), a project was launched to promote archival visual resources at a library. The collection represented a series of digitized films capturing on-campus talks delivered by leading activist and radical leaders in the 1970s. The promotion methodology eschewed traditional library methods of extended curatorship, content summaries, and other forms of ‘accompanying material’. Instead, a pop-up method was employed, without fanfare or promotion. Although it would be an exaggeration to describe more traditional promotional approaches as representing great waves, the subtlety of the methods employed certainly resemble the primary characteristics of a ripple. The choice of the pop-up presentation method centered on the project leaders’ trust in students to take the historical campus talks as they found them, to enquire further should they wish, and – potentially – to pick up what was presented to them and take their curiosity further. As it transpired, this is in effect what subsequently happened.

Roughly two years after the initial project was launched, the local newspaper Orange County Register reported an event organized and held by a student group in February 2021. The online event involved a complete screening of one of the archival films selected for the pop-up project, and was attended by 140 students (Orange County Register, 2021). The initial library project and the subsequent student event were not directly connected. However, the library’s initial efforts had ultimately raised sufficient awareness of the archival film and its content to inspire the subsequent event. One ripple, therefore, indirectly led to another.

Roughly three years after the initial library project was launched, a further ripple was instigated. In March 2022, approximately 600 students attended a new talk delivered by the speaker featured in the original archival film (CSUF News, 2022). Again, no direct connection existed between the library project and this event. As that year marked fifty years since the original talk was delivered on campus in 1972, it is conceivable that a 2022 anniversary talk may have occurred regardless of the library’s past efforts. It remains likely, however, that the original ripples lead to this further ripple for reasons beyond coincidence and serendipity. And, perhaps more importantly, the subsequent ripples wholly transcended direct input from the original instigator to produce iterative events of continuing longevity.

Bridges

Bridges describe a particular phenomenon that is commonly experienced by leaders. Its dynamic stems from good intentions and a desire to assist others. Many leadership positions involve responsibilities to mentor and support colleagues, often for the mutual benefit of mentor and mentee. On occasions, though such assistance to others is viewed as a rewarding part of the job, the individual offering the help may also find such work detrimental to their own professional interests.

The bridge metaphor is quite simple. Before an individual lies an obstacle or challenge. That individual is on one side of the obstacle or challenge and aspires to traverse it in order to reach the other side. A bridge is the obvious requirement to assist them reach their goal. Whereas in most contexts a bridge is a human-made feat of engineering, in this metaphor the bridge is represented by a human. For example, this phenomenon could be experienced by faculty offering academic advising services to students, along with other elements of mentorship. As an undergraduate, the student finds themselves at one side of the obstacle (their degree course). They wish to traverse the obstacle to the other side (graduation). An advisor (bridge) may be required to assist the student to achieve their aim. Faculty performing these roles may find it necessary to identify and maintain a balance whereby students are sufficiently supported without faculty risking a drain on their available time and resources to successfully pursue their own professional development and research activities.

A further example is provided by the typical mentorship responsibilities of faculty department chairs. Often tasked with primary mentorship roles for junior faculty embarking on tenure-track journeys, the satisfaction and sense of achievement in helping others to succeed may be tangible. However, it may also come at a personal cost. Should the department chair in question have already achieved tenure, as is typically the case, requirements for the post-tenure pursuit of research and scholarly activities endure. The available time and resources required to fulfill these obligations may be reduced by mentorship duties. To cite Spring 2025 data from this author’s own institution, 148 faculty are probationary, tenure-track Assistant Professors, 252 faculty are ranked as tenured Associate Professor and 412 faculty have achieved maximum promotion to the rank of tenured Full Professor (California State University, Fullerton, 2025b). Of course, not all Associate-ranked faculty will necessarily experience the bridge phenomenon. However, it is eminently possible several have, and this may at least be a partial explanation for the relatively high proportion (38%) of tenured faculty lacking full promotion.

For a department chair, the bridge metaphor will often involve helping junior faculty successfully navigate the tenure-track process (the obstacle) to achieve tenure (by successfully traversing the obstacle). As suggested above, this may come at some cost to the mentor in terms of available time and resources to pursue their own professional goals. However, the bridge metaphor may apply in a related, but additional, way. Unless the department chair somehow finds a way to embody a temporary bridge (such as a pontoon), they may find themselves in a position that is relatively static, inanimate, immovable. Should their work lead to mentees successfully traversing the bridge, the mentor may also see their mentees passing beyond into the distance, leaving them behind. As this dynamic is seemingly absent from library-specific mentorship literature, we may instead cite Franz Kafka’s observation when imagining himself as a bridge: “without falling, no bridge, once spanned, can cease to be a bridge” (Kafka 2007, p. 108).

Future and current leaders, therefore, may benefit from awareness of the potentially negative aspects of the bridge phenomenon. One obvious suggestion might be to use awareness to mitigate its impact. Prior knowledge of the negative bridge dynamic might lead an incumbent leader to set a clear time limit (for example, one or two three-year terms maximum) for their new role, a strategy that was employed successfully by this author. An additional potential benefit of foresight is to allow a prospective leader to simply consider the phenomenon in advance of its occurrence, and to assist with reaching a prescient conclusion as to whether they believe such potential pitfalls are reasonable and manageable elements of the job.

Islands

Our third leadership metaphor is the briefest, perhaps the most universally understood, and likely the concept most applicable to all individuals. It may be argued, however, that leaders above all most frequently and consistently experience excessively high workloads, time-sensitive deadlines, and pronounced levels of stress. As a result, it may not always be easy for leaders in particular to keep this idea at the forefront of their mind. Even something that is relatively obvious and manifest may still at times be overlooked. This is regrettable, as islands can offer leaders an invigorating refuge of release and respite.

An island is defined as any future plan, goal, or aspiration that one might look forward to. Such a sense of expectation is often infused with the power to generate a positive frame of mind in the present. In 1781, Jeremy Bentham’s analysis of the types of human pleasure and pain presciently envisaged modern psychology’s concept of anticipation. Bentham suggested that “the pleasures of expectation are the pleasures that result from the contemplation of any sort of pleasure, referred to time future” (Bentham, 2000, p.37-38). It may be beneficial, therefore, for a leader to keep an island in mind at all times.

The island concept could be literal, denoting a future plan to retire to a remote island and live happily ever after. Or, it could serve as a metaphor, representing aspirations to, for instance, expand one’s family, acquire a new pet, buy a house, take that longed-for dream vacation, etc. To further illustrate just one of these examples, research studies focus on the concept of positive anticipation in the context of future travel plans. Sprott (2005) suggests that “sometimes happiness involves the anticipation of events yet to happen” (p. 30) and Gilbert and Abdullah (2002) identified this dynamic when surveying British travelers, concluding that “the anticipation of a favorable event (holiday trip) has affected the respondents’ subjective well-being equilibrium” (p. 352).

Whether the island represents future travel plans, or something else, it may serve as an element of reward motivation. Weinstein (2023) observes that “potential rewards have an incentive motivation for improving performance” (p. 2) and Bowen (2023) notes that improvement of several aspects of cognitive performance, including memory, have been linked to reward motivation by several clinical studies. A leader with an island consciously in mind, therefore, may experience benefits to both their present happiness and performance, whatever challenges face them.

If the experiences of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic brought any benefit to humanity, it is perhaps its influence over increasing awareness of the importance of self-care, wellness, and mental health in the workplace. Viewed in the enduring context of challenging times, islands promise to offer at least a semblance of psychological uplift to raise one’s spirits in the face of adversity.

Brief concluding remarks

Ripples, bridges, and islands therefore respectively offer a suggestion, an appeal for mindfulness, and a recommendation. The suggestion is that determining and implementing ripples of change at an optimal amplitude and velocity—akin to the subtle yet mighty soliton—will typically achieve optimal results. The forewarning supplied by the potential downside of bridges may prompt some pause for reflection. However, this obstacle itself far from insurmountable, and one might even view it, as Nietzsche suggests, as a virtue: “What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end” (Nietzsche, 1982, p. 127). Perhaps, when it comes to mentorship, the journey is itself the destination after all? Finally, identifying your personal future island (or islands) is recommended in accordance with the theory of reward motivation to provide happiness and motivation in the present, especially in challenging times.

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