Ultimate Leadership: Winning Execution Strategies for Your Situation

Chapter 8. The Academic Organization: Learning from the Wharton Experience

Leadership in colleges and universities is a very complex exercise. The number of constituents multiplies enormously over what I experienced when I headed Touche Ross. In trying to do something for one group, I found that others probably felt that their ox was being gored. The constituents with whom a leader in academia—whether a dean, provost, or president—must contend include the university administration, faculty, alumni, students, staff, accrediting bodies, and so on. I later came to feel that if I got up in the morning and asked for a vote on whether the sun should come up tomorrow, after considerable debate the vote would be 51–49 and I could not be sure in advance ...