A Leadership Deficit: the Discipline of Development

The world is facing a leadership deficit within higher education institutions. These very institutions have the opportunity to fill the gap by identifying emerging “best practice ” leadership programs and developing curricula to eliminate the deficit. A narrow functional expertise in leading post secondary institutions is passé; what universities demand will be those who are familiar with ways of increasing revenue, running competitive commercial-like organizations, and yet be a traditional administrator in a university setting. They must understand what universities are about and empathize with them, but they must also know how to run a business within a university. Few college presidents have served previously as deans of business schools, but the task of leading a college is demanding the incorporation of business capabilities as an important intellectual engine in the leading of these institutions. A specific course curriculum to develop this type of leader may be the critical success factor in eradicating the deficit