Lots of great responses so far. But for those who are
interested (and I can understand if you are not if you are
retired) let me add a few things from what I have observed and
studied recently. I believe that there are a lot of
administrators that are OK when things are going well with the
budget and enrollment and they have the ability to delegate
things to enough people who good at various things. But when
there are major problems these administrators get off balance
and what little people skills they had are practically gone. My
Dean, for example, is a basically a decent individual and I
would call him my friend, but he has been so budget and
enrollment driven for the past 5 or 6 years he really doesn't
see beyond today. At commencement, for example, he was
unprepared and could not pronounce the names of the students
getting awards or explain why they got the awards...it was
embarrassing and a great opportunity to impress the thousands
of parents in the audience was lost.

What we are talking about here is a field of study that has
blossomed in the last 10 years called "Relational Leadership"
and/or "Emotional Intelligence."

According to Kouzes and Posner’s (2002), there is a need to
develop leaders who:
1. Are exemplary coaches and team players that are more
collaborative and value people first over profit;
2. Can harness the value of a connected planet while
appreciating the importance of face-to-face interaction;
3. Can generate and encourage a human network or “social
capital—the collective value of people who know each other and
what they’ll do for each other”;
4. Have a global understanding and show respect for people from
many different cultural backgrounds;
5. Can balance our “hurry up culture” with slowing down long
enough to cultivate and build in “quality time” for
indispensable human relationships;
6. Are willing to create commitment by delivering “on the
promise of offering exciting and meaningful work and treating
even the most temporary of workers with dignity and respect; and
7. Can create an environment that “provides a climate for
people to bring their souls to work, not just their heads and
hands,” and one that offers more hope in an incredibly cynical
world.

These seven points outline what Kouzes and Posner believe it
takes to be a leader in today’s society.

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