Simulchieving forward: A grounded theory of presidential leadership of highly effective private higher education institutions

Given the important role of universities in economic growth and societal transformation, it behooves us to understand the concerns of the individuals who lead them. Using the classic grounded theory method, it was discovered that the main concern of presidents of highly effective higher education institutions is leading their organizations well, and to continually resolve this main concern, they follow a cyclical basic social process called simulchieving forward. The process involves determining aims that connect not only with current school realities and major trends in higher education, but also with a compelling long-term vision as well as the essence of the vision of the founder and then constantly moving forward on those aims, taking advantage of any synergies arising from simultaneously achieving apparently conflicting aims. As a substantive grounded theory of presidential leadership of educational institutions, simulchieving forward, with its six activities and ten best practices, has several theoretical and practical implications, including its applicability even to distressed institutions, and its potential utility for evaluating presidential effectiveness and for preventing presidential failures