Leadership in the Interests of the Institution

Exercising Leadership in the Interests of the Institution

We need to look not only at the immediate problems facing us but also at the opportunities that are ours to seize, and we need to take the longer, not the shorter view of things. (Reflections offered in response to UC Board of Regents Resolution in Appreciation—David Pierpont Gardner, September 18, 1992 Board of Regents Minutes, p. 2)

Most academic communities cannot and will not be led by directives or slogans or the force of a single personality.  They require empowerment, and leaders who exercise consensus, persuasion, reason, civility, patience, a tolerance for ambiguity, respect for competing views, and the flexibility to change their minds if that is where the evidence points...When [empowerment] works, the institution not only moves forward with confidence and clarity, but its people move forward as well, having tested the boundaries of their own talents and abilities in ways that would be less possible under a more directive style...("Empowerment: Unlocking Potential," in 21st Century Leadership--Dialogues with 100 Top Leaders, by Lynne Joy McFarland, Larry E. Senn, and John R. Childeress.  New York: Leadership Press, 1994, p. 77.)

EXPANDING INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION: THE PACIFIC CENTURY 
FOSTERING RESEARCH INITIATIVES 
IMPROVING UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION