KATHY Johnson Bowles is a major figure in higher education who, among other things, wrote a compelling piece on leadership. Read what she has to say and see if you agree with her:
“A minister, a police officer, a psychologist and an executive walk into a university auditorium. The head of the faculty senate says, “What is this, some kind of joke? Where is our new president?” The head of the search committee replies, “No joke. We couldn’t find one person who could fit the leadership profile so we hired them all and we stayed in budget.”
Joking aside, how can the role of today’s university president be best described? What is expected? What are the necessary characteristics? After a year studying the role of the presidency in higher education as an American Council on Education Fellow, I can say with certainty a president must be strong physically, emotionally and mentally.
Travel to meetings, conferences, and donors’ homes; attending student events (plays, lectures, art exhibitions); and attending fund-raising and alumni events. Time also must be found for reading reports, responding to correspondence, contemplating strategy and vision, ensuring institutional fiscal health, and preparing for speeches and events.
To do this job you have to be physically ready. It is exhausting and near-impossible to find a moment to exercise or relax, to have a balanced diet (meals are almost always used for meetings with donors and volunteers), or a personal life. It is a 24/7 job like no other. A president is constantly “on” and many people want a piece of her time. It requires the agility, stamina and fitness of a boxer, and the ability to take a punch both physically and metaphorically.
Presidents give hundreds of speeches a year to an incredible variety of constituents (students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, law makers, etc.) and in a wide variety of venues (auditoriums, arenas and stadiums, classrooms, reception halls, tents, etc.). The chief of staff at the University of Virginia estimated that President Sullivan gave more than 175 speeches in her first year. A president is a peripatetic leader seeking to rally, inspire and engage all who can further the mission of the institution. She must motivate by inspiring hope and promise and by articulating a vision in a compelling, heartfelt, intelligent voice. She must know her audience and authentically share their values.
The words are important but the manner in which messages are delivered is perhaps even more important. Call it presence, command, or owning the room but when a president shows up people should literally feel the energy in the room. The institutional leader must exude passion, urgency and confidence (not to be confused with arrogance).
It is the type of passion that makes a crowd rise to its feet and erupt with applause; it is the type of energy that makes people call back from the audience with supportive cheers like a congregation shouting “amen,” and it is the reason people should want to support an institution by giving their time and resources. A president is like a minister. It is a calling. A president is entrusted with peoples’ lives. A college campus is a town, a community of people. Like any town, any place, something bad happens on a college campus every single year. Always.
There are many, many things that can and do happen — people break the law, people’s lives unravel, accidents happen, and tragedy strikes. This year alone a parking deck under construction at Miami Dade College collapsed and killed several workers; the Boston Marathon bombing suspect was a student at University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth; and 74 people were arrested during a drug bust on the campus of the University of Alabama. These are just a few of the incidents reported in the national news.”
Keep these thoughts in mind. We will enjoy the second part of this next week.
BC Cook, PhD lived on Saipan and has taught history for 20 years. He currently resides on the mainland U.S.
BC Cook
