Academic Leadership is a Full-Contact Sport: Reflections from a Law School Dean

Leadership in any setting is hard, often physically as well as emotionally. Academic leadership requires a full-dimensional, mind-body-soul effort that uniquely calls upon one’s baseline character, positionality, and preparation for leadership. Our willingness and ability to read the word as we also read the world combine to shape our approach and range as leaders. And ultimately, our legacy is our imprint on people.

This article shares the views of a law school dean on how life experiences, leadership lessons, and book learning intertwine to inform our humanity and charter our influence on people and organizations.